TSONGKHAPA : GREAT TREATISE ON THE STAGES OF MANTRA

(SNGAGS RIM CHEN MO) Chapters XI–XII (The Creation Stage)  TSONGKHAPA THOMAS FREEMAN YARNALL
 

Tsong Khapa’s Great Treatise on the Stages of Mantra(Sngags rim chen mo)—considered by the present Dalai Lama to be one of Tsong Khapa’s two most important books (along with his Lam rim chen mo)—is his masterful synthesis of the principles and practices of all four classes of Tantra, which formed the basis of his innovation in creat­ing the esoteric “Tantric College” institution and curriculum in the early fifteenth century. With detailed reference to hundreds of works from the Tibetan Kangyur and Tengyur, the chapters presented and studied in this volume concern his treatment of the creation stage (bskyed rim) meditations of Unexcelled Yoga Tantra. This includes a detailed analysis emphasizing how and why such creation stage practices—utilizing deity yoga to transform death, the between, and life into the three bodies of buddhahood are indispensible to creating a foundation for successfully entering the culminal yogic practices of the perfection stage. (A subsequent volume will present the perfection stage chapters of this essential masterwork.)

An important work for both scholars and practitioners, this annotated translation is supplemented with extensive support materials.

 

Tsongkhapa Losang Dragpa (1357–1419) was one of the finest scholar-practitioners in Tibetan Buddhism. Renowned for both his written works and his meditative accomplishments, he founded the Gelug school, which produced the lineage of the Dalai Lamas.

 

Other books by Tsongkhapa: 
The Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment 
Illuminating the Intent 
Brilliantly Illuminating Lamp of the Five Stages 
Illumination of the Hidden Meaning, Vol. 2 
Illumination of the Hidden Meaning, Vol. 1 
The Splendor of an Autumn Moon 
Tantric Ethics 
A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages 
Tsongkhapa’s Praise for Dependent Relativity

 

Thomas Freeman Yarnall is an Associate Research Scholar in the Department of Religion at Columbia University.

 

Other books by Thomas Freeman Yarnall: 
In Vimalakīrti’s House

 

• Hardcover
• 408 pages, 6 x 9 inches