The Treasury of Precious Instructions by Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, one of Tibet's greatest Buddhist masters, is a shining jewel of Tibetan literature, presenting essential teachings from the entire spectrum of practice lineages that existed in Tibet. In its eighteen volumes, Kongtrul brings together some of the most important texts on key topics of Buddhist thought and practice as well as authoring significant new sections of his own.

The sixth volume of this series, and part two of Sakya: The Path with Its Result, completes Kongtrul's presentation of a selection of texts from the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. This volume includes the complete teachings and practices of the Eight Ancillary Path Cycles. These eight complete the nine path cycles that begin with Virupa's Vajra Verses found in volume five of the series. These path cycles are generally only taught to students who have received the entire Path with Its Result (Lamdre) teaching. They contain oral instructions transmitted to Drokmi Lotsawa by the early eleventh-century Indian masters - Acarya Viravajra, Mahasiddha Amoghavajra, Pandita Prajnagupta of Oddiyana, and Pandita Gayadhara. These cycles provide copious material on the creation and completion stages, which was incorporated later into the Three Tantras literature, the signature Vajrayana teaching of the Sakya school.

Sakya: The Path with Its Result, Part Two: Essential Teachings of the Eight Practice Lineages of Tibet, Volume 6 (The Treasury of Precious Instructions), Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye, Snow Lion Publications, Hardcover, 536 pages, $39.95

Jamgon Kongtrul Lodro Taye (1813 - 1900) was a versatile and prolific scholar and one of the most outstanding writers and teachers of his time in Tibet. He was a pivotal figure in eastern Tibet's nonsectarian movement and made major contributions to education, politics, and medicine.

Malcolm Smith is a translator of classical Tibetan. He began his studies of Tibetan Buddhism in the Sakya school in 1989 and entered a traditional three-year solitary retreat in 1993. In 2004, he was awarded the acarya degree by Khenpo Migmar Tseten of the Sakya Institute for Buddhist Studies. In 2009, he graduated from Shang Shung Institute's School of Tibetan Medicine. His principal gurus are H.H. Sakya Trichen and the late Chogyal Namkhai Norbu (1938-2018).