A major contribution to the literature on Buddhist practice according to the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism from its foremost interpreter.
Although it was the last major school to emerge in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Geluk school has left an indelible mark on Buddhist thought and practice. The intellectual and spiritual brilliance of its founder, the great Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), has inspired generations of scholars and tantric yogis to place him at the heart of their daily meditative practice. The Geluk tradition's close ties to the Dalai Lamas have also afforded it an outsized influence in all aspects of Tibetan life for centuries. At its peak its combined monasteries boasted a population in the tens of thousands, and its sway encompassed the religious landscape of Mongolia and much of Central Asia.

This widespread religious activity fostered a rich literary tradition, and fifteen seminal works are featured here representing four genres of that tradition. They include works on the stages of the path, or lamrim, the genre for which the Geluk is most renowned; works on guru yoga, centered around the core Geluk ritual Offering to the Guru (Lama Chöpa); teachings from the unique oral transmission of Geluk mahamudra, meditation on the nature of mind; and instructions on the three essential points-what to practice in life, at death, and in the bardo.

Your guide to these riches, Thupten Jinpa, maps out their historical context and spiritual significance in his extensive introduction.

Thupten Jinpa was educated in the Tibetan monastic system, where he received the highest degree of geshé lharam. Jinpa also holds a BA in philosophy and a PhD in religious studies, both from the University of Cambridge, England. Since 1985, he has been the principal translator to the Dalai Lama. His works include Self, Reality and Reason in Tibetan Thought, several volumes of translations in The Library of Tibetan Classics, and the modern biography Tsongkhapa: A Buddha in the Land of Snows. He is currently the president and the editor-in-chief of the Institute of Tibetan Classics, and he also chairs the Mind and Life Institute and the Compassion Institute.

Rosemary Patton began studying Tibetan Buddhism and language in France with Dagpo Rinpoché in 1975 after earning a degree in English literature and drama at Queen’s University in Canada and a degree in anthropology at the Sorbonne. After attaining a further degree at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INaLCO) in Paris, she pursued her studies at Drepung Gomang in South India. She has been Dagpo Rinpoché’s English-language translator since the late 1980s.

Dagpo Rinpoché was born in Kongpo in southeastern Tibet in 1932, was recognized as an incarnate lama at age one by the Thirteenth Dalai Lama, and trained as a monk at Dakpo Shedrup Ling and at Drepung Monastery’s Gomang College in Lhasa. After the Communist takeover of Tibet in 1959, he crossed the Himalayas on foot, and the next year he emigrated to Paris, where he worked with scholars and taught at INaLCO until 1993. In 1978 he founded his first Dharma center, which in 1994 became the Ganden Ling Institute. He has traveled extensively, guiding students and creating numerous centers for the study and practice of Buddhism around the world.