“It helps to recognize all teachings to be free of contradictions; it helps the dawning of all scriptures as pith instructions; it helps to find easily the enlightened intention of the conquerors; it helps also to guard against the abyss of grave negative deeds.” –Tsongkhapa, on the greatness of the Lamrim, from Songs of Spiritual Experience
Lamrim
Definitions
lam rim (ལམ་རིམ་)
Stages of the Path — graded path; graded stages of the path; graded stage of motivation; graded stages of pathway minds. A course of training in the Mahayana sutra teachings through which one makes progress by developing graded stages of motivation, which act as pathway minds leading to enlightenment. (Berzin Definitions)
JABL Subject Headings
Five Lamrim Texts by Tsongkhapa
The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
ལམ་རིམ་ཆེན་མོ་ (Lam rim chen mo)
archive.org: volume 1, volume 2, volume 3
- Tsong-kha-pa Blo-bzang-grags-pa and the Lamrim Translation Committee. 2002. The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Snow Lion Publications. JABL
The Medium Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
ལམ་རིམ་འབྲིང་པོ་ (Lam rim ‘bring po)
- Quarcoo, Philip, trans., and Yongzin Ling Rinpoche. 2021. The Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Wisdom Publications. WorldCat
The Concise Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
ལམ་རིམ་བསྡུས་དོན་ (Lam rim bsdus don)
(also known as)
Song of the Stages of the Path
ལམ་རིམ་ཉམས་མགུ་ (Lam rim nyams mgu)
- Maureen O’Malley and Lama Zopa Rinpoche, trans. 2020. The Foundation of All Good Qualities. FPMT. Lama Zopa Rinpoche Practice Series. (shantidevanyc.org)
Foundation of All Good Qualities
ཡོན་ཏན་ཞིར་གྱུར་མ་ (Yön tän zhir gyur ma)
Tibetan
- Berzin, Alexander, trans. The Foundation of All Good Qualities. Study Buddhism by Berzin Archives. English
Three Principal Aspects of the Path
ལམ་གྱི་གཙོ་བོ་རྣམ་པ་གསུམ་ (Lam gyi gtso bo rnam pa gsum)
Tibetan
- Thubten Jinpa, trans. 2003. The Three Principal Aspects of the Path (tibetanclassics.org)
Modern Commentaries
- Bstan-‘dzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV. 2011. Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment. Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive. JABL
- Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV, and Guy Newland. 2020. From Here to Enlightenment: An Introduction to Tsong-Kha-Pa’s Classic Text The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Shambhala Publications. JABL
- Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV, Lhakdor, Jeremy Russell, and Tsong-Kha-Pa Blo-Bzang-Grags-Pa. 2019. The Essence of Tsongkhapa’s Teachings: The Dalai Lama on the Three Principle Aspects of the Path. Wisdom Publications. JABL
- Lhundup Sopa, Geshe. 2004. Steps on the Path to Enlightenment. Simon and Schuster. JABL
- Yangsi Rinpoche, Tsering Tuladhar, trans., and Namdrol Miranda Adams, ed. 2003. Practicing the Path. Simon and Schuster. JABL
Other Lamrim Texts
- Atiśa and Richard Sherburne. 2003. The Complete Works of Atīśa Śrī Dīpaṁkara Jñāna, Jo-Bo-Rje: The Lamp for the Path and Commentary, Together with the Newly Translated Twenty-Five Key Texts (Tibetan and English Texts). Aditya Prakashan. JABL (archive.org)
- Bstan-ʼdzin-rgya-mtsho, Dalai Lama XIV, and Thupten Jinpa, trans. 2002. Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment: A Commentary on Atisha Dipamkara Shrijnana’s a Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment and Lama Je Tsong Khapa’s Lines of Experience. Thubten Dhargye Ling Publications. JABL (archive.org)
- The Eighteen Jangchup Lamrim Commentaries. jangchuplamrim.org
- Jinpa, Thupten, Rosemary Patton, and Dagpo Rinpoche, trans. 2022. Stages of the Path and the Oral Transmission: Selected Teachings of the Geluk School. Wisdom Publications. WorldCat
- Panchen Losang Yeshé and Szegee Toh, trans. 2023. The Swift Path: A Meditation Manual on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. Wisdom Publications. WorldCat
- Sonam Rinchen, Ruth Sonam, and Atīśa. 1997. Atisha’s Lamp for the Path: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen. Snow Lion Publications. JABL
Lamrim Teachings
His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Lehigh University, 2008. (YouTube)
From 2012 to 2015, at the request of His Eminence the 7th Kyabje Yongzin Ling Rinpoche, and Gaden Shartse Monastery, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama kindly bestowed rare and precious transmissions of the 18 Great Lamrim Texts, with His own unique and distinctive commentary. The teachings took place over four years, at the great monastic seats of learning, at Gaden, Drepung, Sera, and Tashi Lhunpo Monasteries, in South India. More than 30,000 people attended each year, while hundreds of thousands watched worldwide, via live webcast.
- Gaden Monastery, 2012 — jangchuplamrim
- Sera Jey Monastery, 2013 — jangchuplamrim
- Ganden Monastery, 2014 — jangchuplamrim
- Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, 2015 — jangchuplamrim
Bhikṣuṇī Thubten Chodron
Lamrim Teachings:
- 1: Foundations of the Path — thubtenchodron.org
- 2: Initial Scope — thubtenchodron.org
- 3: Intermediate Scope — thubtenchodron.org
- 4: Advanced Scope — thubtenchodron.org
Guided Meditations on the Lamrim: Study Guide — thubtenchodron.org
Indian Sources
Bodhisattvabhūmi
Bodhisattva Bhumis (Asaṅga)
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་ས་ (Byang chub sems dpa’i sa)
- Asaṅga, and Artemus B Engle. 2016. The Bodhisattva Path to Unsurpassed Enlightenment: A Complete Translation of the Bodhisattvabhūmi. Snow Lion JABL
Śikṣāsamuccaya
Compendium of Training (Śāntideva)
བསླབ་པ་ཀུན་ལས་བཏུས་པའི་ཚིག་ལེའུར་བྱས་པ་ (Bslab pa kun las btus pa’i tshig le’ur bya ba)
Sanskrit Tibetan
Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra
A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life (Śāntideva)
བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའི་སྤྱོད་པ་ལ་འཇུག་པ་ (Byang chub sems dpa’i spyod pa la ‘jug pa)
Sanskrit Tibetan
Suhṛllekha
Letter to a Friend (Nāgārjuna)
བཤེས་པའི་སྤྲིངས་ཡིག་ (Bshes pa’i springs yig)
Sanskrit Tibetan
- Nāgārjuna and Alexander Berzin (trans.) “Letter to a Friend.” Study Buddhism by Berzin Archives. English / Tibetan
- Nāgārjuna, Red-mdaʼ-ba Gzhon-nu-blo-gros, Lobsang Tharchin, and Artemus B Engle (eds.) 1979. Nāgārjuna’s Letter: Nāgārjuna’s “Letter to a Friend” with a Commentary by Venerable Rendawa Zhön-Nu Lo-Drö. Library of Tibetan Works & Archives. JABL
Abhisamayālaṅkāra
Ornament of Clear Realization (Maitreya )
མངོན་རྟོགས་རྒྱན་ (Mngon rtogs rgyan)
- Hopkins, Jeffrey and Jongbok Yi. 2015. Maitreya’s Ornament for the Clear Realizations. UMA Institute for Tibetan Studies. (uma-tibet.org)
- Maitreyanatha, Arya Vimuktisena (Vrtti), Haribhadra (Aloka), and Gareth Sparham. 2015. Abhisamayalamkara with Vrtti and Aloka. Vols. 1-4. Jain Publishing. JABL
Ratnāvalī or Ratnamāla
Precious Garland (Nagarjuna)
རྒྱལ་པོ་ལ་གཏམ་བྱ་བ་རིན་པོ་ཆེའི་ཕྲེང་བ་ (Rgyal po la gtam bya ba rin po che’i phreng ba)
Tibetan
Abhidharmakośa
Treasury of Abhidharma (Vasubandhu)
ཆོས་མངོན་པའི་མཛོད་ (Chos mngon pa’i mdzod)
- Vasubandhu, Étienne Louis, and Leo M Pruden. 1988. Abhidharmakośabhāṣyam. Asian Humanities Press. JABL
- The Universal Vehicle Discourse by Asaṅga, Maitreyanātha & Vasubandhu (Mahāyānasūtrālaṁkāra)
Asaṅga, Maitreyanātha, Vasubandhu, Robert A. F. Thurman, and L. Jamspal. 2004. The Universal Vehicle Discourse Literature = Mahāyānasūtrālaṁkāra. American Institute of Buddhist Studies. JABL (archive.org)
