
                     CLASSICS OF {LOGO} MIDDLE ASIA

                           PREPARING FOR TANTRA
                         THE MOUNTAIN OF BLESSINGS


TSONGKAPA (1357 1419), also known as Je Rinpoche Lobsang Drakpa,
was perhaps the single greatest commentator in the 2,500 year
history of Buddhism.  He was born in the district of Tsongka in
eastern Tibet and took his first vows at a tender age.  As a
teenager he had already mastered much of the teachings of Buddhism
and was sent by his tutors to the great monastic universities of
central Tibet.  Here he studied under the leading Buddhist scholars
of his day; it is said as well that he enjoyed mystic visions in
which he met and learned from different forms of the Buddha
himself.
     The 18 volumes of Tsongkapa's collected works contain eloquent
and incisive commentaries on virtually every major classic of
ancient Buddhism, as well as his famed treatises on the "Steps of
the Path to Buddhahood."  His students, who included the first
Dalai Lama of Tibet, contributed hundreds of their own expositions
of Buddhist philosophy and practice.
     Tsongkapa founded the Great Three monasteries of Tibet, where
by custom nearly 25,000 monks have studied the scriptures of
Buddhism over the centuries.  He also instituted the great Monlam
festival, a period of religious study and celebration for the
entire Tibetan nation.  Tsongkapa passed away in his 62nd year, at
his home monastery of Ganden in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.  

PABONGKA RINPOCHE (1878 1941), also known as Jampa Tenzin Trinley
Gyatso, was born into a leading family in the state of Tsang in
north-central Tibet.  As a boy he entered the Gyalrong House of
Sera Mey, one of the colleges of the great Sera Monastic
University, and attained the rank of geshe, or master of Buddhist
philosophy.  His powerful public teachings soon made him the
leading spiritual figure of his day, and his collected works on
every facet of Buddhist thought and practice comprise some 15
volumes.  His most famous student was Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche
(1901 1981), the junior tutor of the present Dalai Lama.  Pabongka
Rinpoche passed away at the age of 63 in the Hloka district of
south Tibet.

KHEN RINPOCHE, GESHE LOBSANG THARCHIN (1921    ) was born in Lhasa,
and as a boy also entered the Gyalrong House of Sera Mey.  He
studied under both Pabongka Rinpoche and Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche,
and after a rigorous 25 year course in the Buddhist classics was
awarded the highest rank of the geshe degree.  He graduated from
the Gyumey Tantric College of Lhasa in 1958 with the position of
administrator.
     Since 1959 Khen Rinpoche has taught Buddhist philosophy at
various institutions in Asia and the United States, and in 1975
completed studies in English at Georgetown University.  For twenty
years he has served as the abbot of Rashi Gempil Ling, a Kalmuk
Mongolian temple in New Jersey.  He is also the founder of the
Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Centers of New Jersey and Washington
D.C., and author of numerous translations of major Buddhist texts.
     In 1977 Khen Rinpoche directed the development of the first
computerized Tibetan word processor, and currently serves as chief
editor of the Asian Classics Input Project (ACIP), an international
effort to preserve the important literature of Asia in digital
form.  He has played a leading role in the re-establishment of Sera
Mey Monastic College, one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in
the world, where he holds the positions of abbot emeritus and
lifetime director.

MICHAEL PHILLIP ROACH (1952    ) received the Presidential Scholar
medallion from Richard Nixon at the White House in 1970, and
graduated with honors from Princeton University in 1975.  He
studied at the library of the Government of Tibet under the
auspices of the Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs, and
then for over fifteen years under Geshe Tharchin at Rashi Gempil
Ling, also earning the rikchung degree at Sera Mey Monastic
College.  He is employed in the New York diamond industry and has
been active in the restoration of Sera Mey, where he was ordained
a Buddhist monk in 1983.  Mr. Roach is current director of both
ACIP and the Asian Classics Institute, a training school for
translators and teachers located in Manhattan.

{recto}



                                 TSONGKAPA


                           PREPARING FOR TANTRA

                         The Mountain of Blessings





                           with a commentary by

                             PABONGKA RINPOCHE




                               translated by

                               KHEN RINPOCHE
                          GESHE LOBSANG THARCHIN



                                   with

                               Michael Roach


                      CLASSICS OF {LOGO} MIDDLE ASIA

{verso}



                         CLASSICS OF MIDDLE ASIA



            Published by the Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Press
                         112 West Second Street
                             Freewood Acres
                      Howell, New Jersey 07731, USA

                                    
                                    
           Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
                          Preparing for Tantra
                        The Mountain of Blessings
                        (Classics of Middle Asia)
                       {data to be supplied here}
                           ISBN 0-918753-11-2
                                    
                                    
                                    
                    Copyright {copyright symbol}1995
                  Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin
                            and Michael Roach
                           All rights reserved
                                    
                                    
                                    
            Printed and bound in the United States of America


{recto}


                             Table of Contents



FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

NOTE TO THE TRANSLATION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

HOW THE TEACHING WAS GIVEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

THE PRELIMINARIES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

    I. Why the Steps?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@
   II. How to Take a Lama. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@
  III. Advice to Take the Essence of Life. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@


STEPS SHARED WITH THOSE OF LESSER CAPACITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

   IV. Steps Shared with Those of Lesser Capacity. . . . . . . . . . . . .@


STEPS SHARED WITH THOSE OF MEDIUM CAPACITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

    V. Learning How to Want Freedom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@
   VI. Finding the Right Path to Freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@


OPEN STEPS FOR THOSE OF GREATER CAPACITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

  VII. Developing the Wish for Enlightenment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@
 VIII. General Training in Bodhisattva Activities. . . . . . . . . . . . .@
   IX. Training in the Final Two Perfections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@


SECRET STEPS FOR THOSE OF GREATER CAPACITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

    X. Entering the Way of the Diamond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@
   XI. Keeping Vows and Pledges Pure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@
  XII. Meditating on the Two Secret Stages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@


THE CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

 XIII. A Request for Good Circumstances. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@
  XIV. A Prayer for Future Care. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

EQUIVALENTS FOR TRANSLATED PROPER NAMES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

NOTES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@

BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .@


                                 FOREWORD


Before you start this little book, decide on your motivation for
reading it.  Think to yourself,

     I want to reach enlightenment as soon as possible.  I
     want to reach it in this very life.  And when I do, I
     will free every living being from every pain of the
     suffering existence we all live now.  Then I will take
     all these beings up to the level of a Buddha, which is
     the ultimate state of happiness.  This is why I am going
     to read this book, which shows all the steps to
     enlightenment.

Take a moment now before you go on.  Make sure you have this
motivation.

This little book covers absolutely everything that the Buddha ever
taught.  In Tibet we have a hundred great volumes of the Buddhas'
own teachings, translated into Tibetan from Sanskrit, the language
of ancient India.  And this small book covers all of them.

All the old, great books of Buddhism have but one main goal, and
that is to show how any one of us can reach the state of perfect
enlightenment.  They tell us everything we have to do: how to reach
the goal, how to practice, and how to learn.  They show us how to
begin, they show us how to finish.  Everything we need is in those
books.

Five hundred years ago in Tibet there came a master monk and
teacher, whose name was Tsongkapa the Great.  He took these ancient
volumes and arranged them into a kind of book known as the Lam Rim,
which means "Steps of the Path to Enlightenment."  Here he laid out
all the steps that any of us can go through, one by one in the
proper order, if we truly wish to reach enlightenment.  He took
care to present the steps clearly and simply, yet covering
everything that must be done, as we start on the path, and travel
along it, and finally reach its end.

The small book here is called the Source of All My Good.  It is the
absolute essence of all the Lam Rims, of all the books on the Steps
to enlightenment.  The text was written by Tsongkapa himself, and
it is named from the opening lines, which read: "The source of all
my good is my kind Lama, my Lord."

In the teachings on the Steps this work is also known by another
name, something of a secret name, which is Begging for a Mountain
of Blessings.  The word "blessing" here refers to the blessings of
all the Buddhas of the universe.  "Mountain" comes from a Tibetan
word which means a huge pile, a great mass of things all heaped
together in one place.  The word "begging" is meant to show how
much we need and want these blessings.

When we recite this work out loud, then, it's as though we are
begging the Buddhas to grant us their blessings, to help us achieve
everything from the beginning up to final enlightenment.  We are
asking them to help us reach all the various paths, all the
different levels of knowledge; we are asking for the power of their
blessings, we are begging them for help.

Just whom are we asking for help?  Normally when we perform the
secret Ceremony of the Tenth*, we begin with the Practice of Six*,
followed by the Thousand Angels*.  Just after that we start this
Source of All My Good.  Therefore we still have in front of us the
same holy beings who were there during the Thousand Angels.

Sitting in the center, in mid-air before us, is Tsongkapa.  Inside
his heart is Gentle Voice*, or Manjushri, who is the image of all
the Buddhas' wisdom.  In the heart of Gentle Voice is another holy
being, Vajradhara this is the Keeper of the Diamond*, or the Buddha
of the secret teachings.  His body is blue, and within his own
heart is the Sanskrit letter huung.  This letter is marked with
another letter, mam.

On Tsongkapa's own right is his disciple Gyaltsab Je, whose full
name is Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen.  Within this disciple's heart is
Loving Eyes*, whose Sanskrit name is Avalokiteshvara, and who is
the embodiment of all the Buddhas' love.  Inside the heart of
Loving Eyes is again the Keeper of the Diamond, and in his heart
the letter huung, marked with a mam.

On the other side, to Tsongkapa's left, is his disciple Kedrup Je,
whose full name is Kedrup Je Gelek Pelsang.  Inside of his heart is
the Holder of the Diamond*, or Vajrapani, and in the Holder's heart
is the Keeper of the Diamond.  Within the Keeper's heart is a
letter huung, marked with a mam.

All of these beings are seated in the air in front of you, and they
are the ones whom you are asking for their blessing.  They are the
ones that you are requesting to help you, to grant you every kind
of knowledge, from the beginning of the path on up to final
enlightenment.

Now I want you to think about something.  What is the difference
between a Buddha and us?  What is it that makes all the Buddhas
different from us?  And what about you, yourself?  You are trying
to reach Buddhahood; but what is the difference between all these
Buddhas, and you?  This is a question you must examine, and then
the answer will come to you.

What are the Buddhas?  First of all the places where they live are
paradise.  Pure paradise.  The paradises where the Buddhas live are
completely pure, they are pure by their very nature, and there is
not a single thing about them which is not pure.

Inside themselves too the Buddhas are pure.  They have no inner
obstacles at all, no bad deeds stored up in them, no problems of
any kind.  They have none of the problems that are caused by any of
the four elements of the physical world, either around them or
within them.  They have no sickness, no getting old, no death. 
They do not even have a word for these things where they live. 
This is why their paradises have names like the "Heaven of Bliss,"
for they live in the highest happiness that there is.

When we think about our own lives then we can see the big
difference between Buddhas and us.  In one sense we are very
fortunate; we have all had the very great fortune to be born as a
human being, and we can enjoy that small amount of happiness which
human beings sometimes experience.  And so sometimes we think we
are happy.

But still we have problems, a lot of problems.  We have problems
all around us, and we have problems inside of us.  We have problems
that come with the very nature of the kind of life we live.  The
Buddhas have none of these problems.

Try to think about this difference between the Buddhas and you. 
Why did you get this book, why are you going to read this book? 
The main purpose is to reach enlightenment, to gain the highest
state of happiness that exists.  And to get there you must escape
all the sufferings that come with our present kind of life.

To do all this you are going to have to follow some kind of
practice.  You are going to have to move up through certain levels,
certain paths, one by one through a great many different Steps. 
You will have to go in order, gradually, through each of these
Steps.  Each higher Step you will have to reach by practicing, and
to practice you must learn what to practice.  If you never learn
what to do, you will never be able to do it.

In this little book you are going to learn what to do.  But this is
only a preparation for something else.

Generally speaking, this book is all you need.  If this is all you
ever learn, and if you practice what you learn here, then you will
reach enlightenment.  But it will take a long time to do so if you
restrict yourself to this way, to the way of the open teachings of
the Buddha.  It will take a very, very long time.

But you want enlightenment, you need it, and you need it now.  Why? 
Because the reason you are reading this book, the whole point of
studying these things and reaching these goals, is to help each and
every living being.  All of them have been your own mother, and the
purpose of everything is to help them.

Right now they are suffering, by the very nature of the life we
live.  Most of them are living in the three lower kinds of birth. 
Even those who live in one of the higher kinds of birth are
suffering too; by the very nature of things, they are in some kind
of pain, all the time.  Your goal is to save them from this pain,
your goal is to help them reach enlightenment, which is absolute
happiness.  This is why you are studying, this is why you are
practicing.

If you only use the way of the open teachings, it will take a long
time to reach the goal.  But you want the goal now, you want to
reach it quickly, because all these living beings around you, all
who have been your mother during some lifetime in the past, are
suffering in this kind of existence.  You cannot stand to have
their pain continue, you cannot let them go on suffering so long.

And so you will free them, and you will free them quickly, now. 
But is there any way to do it so fast?  The answer is yes, there is
a way, a path that works faster than any other, a path which is
very deep and powerful and holy.  This is the Tantric path, the
secret path of the Diamond Queen*: Vajra Yogini.

To practice this path you must receive an initiation to enter it,
and then you must receive her teachings.  But before you can do
this you must first be granted another initiation, one which will
qualify you to study and follow her path.  There are four great
groups of secret teachings, and to qualify to practice the path of
this Angel you must be granted an initiation that belongs to the
group which is called the "unsurpassed."  Therefore the most
important thing for you to do first is to seek an initiation of the
"unsurpassed" group.

According to the tradition of the Diamond Queen, the best
initiation to prepare yourself for her own initiation and path is
the one we call the "Union of the Spheres*."  There are though
other initiations of the unsurpassed group which you can seek if
you cannot get this one; for example, there is the initiation of
the being known as Frightener*, which is much shorter and easier
than the one for the Union of the Spheres, and still qualifies you
to take her initiation later.

There is another step you should take too before seeking her
initiation.  When you go to a college to get an advanced degree, or
any degree at all, you must first enter the college.  Then you go
to classes, do your study, and finally after a number of years you
complete all the requirements, and reach your goal.  To reach the
goal then it is very important that you study and learn, on a
constant basis.  But to study, and learn, you first have to gain
entrance into the college.

It's all the same here.  The first thing you have to do is to gain
entrance into the unsurpassed group of the secret teachings of the
Buddha.  To enter these teachings you have to go through the gate,
and this is the initiation.  The initiation is the door.

When you take the initiation, you commit yourself to a number of
vows.  Keeping these vows is like doing your study on a daily basis
once you've been allowed to enter the college.  In a school you
have to learn what to study, and then you have to maintain a
regular schedule of study.  Here in the secret teachings, the vows
that you took when you received your initiation are what you have
to study: these are what you have to maintain on a regular, daily
basis.

To keep the vows, you have to learn all about them.  This is why
it's essential that after your first initiation you study, in
detail, the secret vows, along with the regular vows of morality,
and the bodhisattva vows.  The very function of these vows, the
result of these vows, is very simple.  If you keep them, they
produce enlightenment in you.

Aside from this main function, keeping the vows has another effect
as well.  In the short run that is, while you are still on the
path, from the very beginning on up to the day you reach the
ultimate goal they help you, they keep you, they preserve you. 
They make you sweeter and sweeter, more and more pure, every single
day you keep them.  Everything about you gets better and better:
the way you act, the way you think, higher and higher, day by day,
month by month.

The vows then are your dear companion, the vows are your devoted
helpmate.  Vows are not some kind of punishment; the Lama doesn't
come to the sacred place of initiation, and say to you, "Well now
that you've got the initiation, here are some vows to keep, as a
punishment."  You must understand all the great good which the vows
do for you, and you must learn what they are.

Once you have learned the vows, you must keep them as your daily
practice.  You should reach a point where, as you look back after
some time has passed, you can see progress, you can say to
yourself, "A number of years ago, I used to act like that; I had a
certain kind of attitude, certain ways of behaving, the limitations
of my knowledge were such, and my ability too was only so.  Now
they have all changed, for the better.  Even in the last two years
I have changed; no, even in the last year I have changed."  You
should be able to see for yourself, you should be able to judge, by
yourself, whether you are keeping the vows, and how it changes
everything about you.

So we are working mainly towards the day when we can receive
initiation into the practice of the Diamond Queen.  This will allow
us to receive her teachings, and then to carry them out.  To do
this, we will first have to seek any one of the preliminary
initiations into the secret teachings of the unsurpassed group, the
highest group of secret teachings.

A person who seeks to be granted an initiation into this highest
group should himself be highest, in the sense that he is highly
qualified to receive the initiation.  Becoming highly qualified is
something that you must do in the proper stages, in certain steps,
one by one.

Above I asked you to think about what it was that made Buddhas
different from us.  In the beginning though all the beings who are
Buddhas now were just the same as we are at present.  They lived
the same kind of suffering life that we pass our days in now, and
they did so over millions and millions of years, over very many
lifetimes.

At some point though these beings were able to achieve an excellent
life as a human; the same kind that you have now.  Within that
human life they were able to meet with an excellent spiritual
teacher as well.  He or she gave them the proper training, and the
necessary initiations, and as a result these beings began to get
better and better.  Finally they achieved enlightenment: they were
able to stop all the problems within them and outside of them,
everything.  If they have been able to practice and achieve this
goal, then why can't you?  Why not?

And so it is possible for you to become someone who is highly
qualified, who is qualified to an unsurpassed degree to take one of
the initiations of the unsurpassed group of the secret teachings. 
To be qualified to take this initiation, to be a highly qualified
practitioner in this sense, means that you must be a practitioner
of what we call the Mahayana: the Greater Way.  This is because all
the secret teachings also belong to the greater way; they are in
fact the highest teachings and practices of the greater way.  You
too then will have to be an unsurpassed practitioner, of the
greater way.  But how do you reach this point?

You must first prepare yourself, with what we call the "shared"
practice.  The word "shared" means that this preliminary practice
is shared by the way of the open teachings, and the greater way,
and the way of the secret teachings all three.  It is a practice
which all three ways share in common.

Suppose you are planning to construct a very high building, a
building with many stories.  The most important thing to do first
is to build a good foundation, a very strong foundation.  If the
foundation is strong, then you can build as many stories as you
like on top of it.

The little book you have here Begging for a Mountain of Blessings,
complete with the commentary of the great Pabongka
Rinpoche presents this foundation.  It shows you the practice which
is shared by all three ways, and which will prepare you for
initiation into the secret teachings.  This is the strong
foundation upon which you will build your great, high house.

Think about it, and be happy.  Take some joy now in what you are
about to do.  You must realize what a precious opportunity you have
in your hands at this very moment, this one good time.  Read, and
learn, and try not to forget.  Try to remember what you learn in
this little book, and then try to put it into practice, in your
daily life, in a regular way.

By the time you finish this book you should be a different person. 
The person who picks this book up to read, and the person who sets
it down after finishing the last page, should be totally different
people.  On the inside.  You must change: you must change in the
way you think, you must change in what you know, in the way you
behave all day, in everything about you.  Try to change yourself. 
If you do, then you will win the result of reading this book, of
picking it up, and of entering into what it stands for.

Khen Rinpoche
Geshe Lobsang Tharchin

Je Tsongkapa's Day
December 27, 1994

Abbot Emeritus, Sera Mey Tibetan Monastery
Abbot, Rashi Gempil Ling Kalmuk Buddhist Temple
Freewood Acres
Howell, New Jersey, USA



                          Note to the Translation

Striking a balance in translation between the needs of the average
reader and more experienced specialists is always difficult.  For
this translation we have observed the following conventions.

We have tried not to leave in the text foreign words that might
prove a stumbling block to the average English-speaking audience. 
Proper names where the words of the name could be considered to
have symbolic significance have been translated for the benefit of
the average reader, who would otherwise miss this symbolism.  Since
these translated names will be unfamiliar to the specialist, we
have provided an appendix listing the English names with their
Tibetan and Sanskrit equivalents.  An asterisk appearing upon the
first instance of such a name indicates that it is found in this
appendix.

With some hesitance we have chosen to use a number of English
spiritual terms for words in the original Asian languages which are
close to them in meaning, and for which no exact English word
exists; this was again to avoid using foreign words unfamiliar to
the average reader.  We would like to note a few of these words
here.

The word "angel" is used for the Tibetan lha or mkha'-'gro, and the
like.  The reader should be aware though that the idea is not of a
messenger from God, but rather of a specialized form that an
enlightened being takes in order to perform specific sacred tasks,
including personal spiritual contact with normal humans.  The words
"heaven" and "paradise" are used for the Tibetan dag-zhing and
similar expressions.  These refer not to a perfect place beyond the
sky where good people go after their death, but rather to a state
of spiritual perfection, attainable at any point in a person's
life, wherein one's own being and the place where he lives consist
of total bliss, free of every form of suffering.  Further such
terms will be understood from their context.

Other personal names, words for plants or such objects that have no
common English equivalent, and the like have been left in a
simplified pronunciation which approximates the sound of the
original foreign word, but without the use of diacritical marks
which are not found in normal English writing.  Again, this is to
help the ordinary English reader.  The vowels for words that appear
in the simplified pronunciation should be pronounced as follows: a
as the one in "all," e as the one in "yet," i as the one in "bit,"
o as the one in "hoe," and u as the one in "Luke."

During the course of his teaching Pabongka Rinpoche quotes a great
number of profound sources.  We have located nearly all of these
references, and the specialists in reward for their patience with
our other simplifications are provided with full original spellings
and bibliographic data that will allow them to find and enjoy
reading the various source texts in the original language.

The bibliography notes the location of the works in libraries which
subscribe to the US Library of Congress SFCP Program, and also on
the CD-ROM materials of the Asian Classics Input Project.  We would
greatly appreciate hearing from any readers who can direct us to
the proper sources of the citations which are noted "not found."





                           PREPARING FOR TANTRA
                         THE MOUNTAIN OF BLESSINGS



Herein contained is a book named Opening Your Eyes to What You
Should Keep, and What You Should Give Up.  It consists of a brief
series of notes that were taken at a teaching delivered by the Lord
of the Secret World, Vajradhara, the Keeper of the Diamond*, the
Good and Glorious Pabongka.  The teaching was a profound
explanation of the text known as the Source of All My Good, a work 

which is the distilled essence of the Steps of the path to
Buddhahood.

In deepest reverence, expressed through all three doors, I bow to
the lotus feet of the person who is the Essence of Great Bliss, the
Venerated One, the Holy Lama, Lobsang the Great, Lord of All
Buddhas, the One Who Keeps the Diamond.




                        How the Teaching was Given


Here I will give just a brief account of a wonderful teaching
bestowed upon us by the One, the Lord of the Secret World, the
Savior of His Followers, and the Keeper of the Diamond: Pabongka
Rinpoche, whose kindness knows no match.

His teaching was a profound clarification of the one and only
highway used by each and every Victor of the past, present, and
future to reach the highest goals; the Steps on the path to
Buddhahood, its very essence distilled; the inner nectar of the
instructions imparted by our Father, the Lord, the Buddha himself
come again; and the ultimate elixir extracted from the highest of
words, the Speech of the Enlightened Ones: that is to say, the work
known to us as the Source of All My Good, also called Begging for
a Mountain of Blessings.

As he began the teaching, the Lord himself led us in reciting the
Essence of Wisdom, and then the prayer of Simhamukhi the Angel with
the Face of a Lion*, from the part where we ward off any evil that
might disrupt the teaching, all the way up to the words "May
goodness come to be," in the way we usually do them.

Then in turns we took the lead, sounding out in unison the various
verses that include the words "Virtues perfected finally," and
"Loving One*, Avalokiteshvara, with Asanga," and "Gentle Voice*,
Manjushri, with the one who destroyed the extremes of being and
not," and "The one of great compassion," and "Teaching what to
learn, to reach," and "Founder from the Land of Snows," and "All
three places of refuge in one," and "The constellations of the
highest of words," and "In all my lives."

The lead then went to the chanting master, who guided us in the
offering of the mandala, beginning with "The great Earth, filled
with the smell of incense," and on through "Atop a lion throne in
the space before me," as well as "Sponges of the sky, made of most
excellent knowledge and love," along with the lines that begin with
idam guru.

The lead returned to the Keeper of the Diamond, who deigned to
direct us thrice through the prayer for taking refuge and
developing the wish for enlightenment, the one that includes the
words "To the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha."  Here finally the Lord
himself bespoke the verses containing the lines "Pleasure beings
and those near so," along with "In the language of pleasure beings"
and the rest.


                             THE PRELIMINARIES






                            I.  Why the Steps?


"And so we begin," said the Lama.

Let me remind you, he said, of those lines by the King of the
Dharma of all three realms Tsongkapa the Great; the ones that
mention "This life of spiritual leisure, more precious than a jewel
that can give you whatever you wish for."  The refrain throughout
these verses reads: "Those of you who wish for freedom should seek
to master this, as I have done."  You and I have lived in this
circle of suffering life forever; and there is not a single form of
life, in any of the six realms of pain, that we have not already
lived.

In these lives we have suffered, and enjoyed the occasional
short-lived pleasure, wandering aimlessly from that high level
known as the "Peak of Existence," then down to the lowest hell,
"Torment with No Respite," then back, and back again.  We have
lived this way for time with no beginning, and yet we have never
gotten any meaning out of it; the time has slipped away from us
useless, senseless, empty.  And so still we are here, circling up
and down in the three realms of the wheel of life, and certain we
are to continue the round.

At some point in days gone by, you and I through sheer good luck
were taken for some brief moments under the care of a Lama, or the
Three Jewels, and so were able to gather together some bit of pure
and powerful karma.  The force of this karma, I will admit, has
allowed us to gain, just this once, the present life we enjoy full
of the various leisures and fortunes, free of the problems that
come when we lack the conditions that allow a proper spiritual
practice.

I will admit as well that everything we need has come together for
us this time: we have a Lama, we have some Dharma to practice, we
have every favorable condition that we need.  And so the capability
to follow the spiritual path is something we now hold in our own
two hands.  Yet suppose we fail; suppose that we find ourselves
unable to achieve the ultimate goal of the infinite lives we have
led.

Beyond a doubt then we will fall back again to the births where we
have no chance for Dharma.  And when we fall it matters not where
we fall; wherever we fall in a birth without the Dharma, our life
can never be anything but pain.

The way to avoid ever taking another birth where we have no chance
for Dharma is to practice the Dharma purely now; there is no better
way at all.  And our practice must start this minute; you will die,
you must die, it is certain you will die.  But you've no idea when. 
And what will happen after that?

Whatever we do now decides where we go then: if we do good, it will
throw us forth into one of the better births; if we do wrong, it
will throw us to a birth of misery.  So suppose we fail to
practice; suppose we die in the middle of our present evil way of
life.  It is only fitting then that we should go right where we
belong: to these very births of misery.  

We must then for the short term go for shelter to the Three Jewels,
to keep ourselves from a birth in the lower realms.  We must as
well open up and admit the things we have done wrong before, and
restrain ourselves in the future.  To do so we must make strong and
heartfelt use of the four forces that counteract the power of the
wrong.  We must too put all our effort into taking up even the
smallest virtue, and giving up even the slightest harms we commit
against others.

If in addition to all this we are able to follow perfectly the path
of the three extraordinary trainings, then we ourselves will come
to be free of each and every fear of the circle of suffering life. 
But it's not enough if it is only you who escapes the circle, for
we must recall the words of the Master Chandragomi:

     Even a cow knows how
     To take care of himself,
     To eat a few clumps of grass
     He easily comes across;

     Even the beast can merrily drink
     From a pool of water he finds
     As bitter thirst
     Torments him.

     But think now what it is
     To put your whole heart
     Into taking care of others;

     This is glory,
     This is a park of pleasure,
     This is the ultimate.

     The Sun
     Climbs aboard his fantastic chariot,
     Flies across the sky,
     Lights up all the world.

     The Earth
     Raises up his mighty arms,
     Bears the load,
     Holds up all mankind.

     And so is the way
     Of those great beings
     Who wish nothing
     For themselves,

     Their lives devoted
     To a single song:
     The well-being and the happiness
     Of every living thing.

We must do as the verses say: we must distinguish ourselves from
common animals, we must find that great courage of heart to
accomplish the goals of all other sentient kind.  And there is a
good reason why we should.

Every single creature in the universe has been our father, and been
our mother, not once, but more times than numbers can count.  And
there is not a one who when they served as our parent did not
shower us with every deep kindness, over and over again.

Suppose then I were to forget their kindness, and give no thought
to returning it.  This would truly be an evil way to act, the way
of a person without a conscience, of one who had no shame.  For the
Verses of Drumsong, King of the Serpentines, say as well:

     The sea is not my problem,
     My task is not the mountains,
     My job is not the earth;

     My calling's rather to attend
     That I should never fail
     Repaying kindness granted me.

So too say the lines,

     A kindness returned is goodness,
     And evil is kindness unreturned.

Think: everything we have now, from this precious human body on up,
has come to us through the kindness of other living beings.  And so
it is now that we must repay them.  The repayment must begin here,
in these circumstances, while I am able, while I possess this
perfect form for the practice of the Dharma.

If now I cannot accomplish this great goal, if all I have gained is
wasted, then there is little point in claiming to work for every
living being: it is little likely that I myself will be able even
to reach the higher realms of suffering life again.

What is the way then to pay this kindness back?  No way would be
higher than to see to it that every living creature has every
happiness there is, and that every living creature is free of every
pain which exists.  And I will do it!  Raise these thoughts of love
and compassion up in your heart bring them on fiercely.

And then you must resolve to take the load upon yourself: "I will
rely on no one else in this work; it should be I, and I alone who
brings every happiness to every being, and frees each one from
every pain."

And yet the ability to perform this noble task is had only by a
single being: only by a Buddha, there's no one else at all who can
do it.  If for the sole purpose of all other living creatures I can
reach the state of a Buddha, then I can fulfill completely both of
the ultimate goals, and so by the way achieve everything I ever
needed as well.

If this is not the way I go if instead I achieve a lower nirvana,
and become one of those foe destroyers they call a listener, or a
"self-made Buddha," then I cannot achieve all that I need myself,
and can accomplish no more than a shadow of what others need from
me.

And so I must reach the state of a Buddha, the One who has come to
the final end where his own and other's needs are perfectly filled. 
To do so, I must know how.  To know how, I must learn how.  I will
begin with the Dharma of this very teaching, and others like it; I
will follow these instructions well, and I will come to the state
of Buddhahood itself.  Think these thoughts to yourself, here as
our teaching starts, for they are the greater way's Wish for
Buddhahood.  At the very least, you must try to imitate this line
of thinking; even if you cannot do the real thing, let these
thoughts dwell in your heart all through the teaching that you are
about to hear.

And what is the teaching that you are to hear?  It was spoken by
our Gentle Savior, by the Lama, the Great Tsongkapa, at Yangon the
hermitage of the Victor.  This was at the monastery of Radreng,
standing to the north, at the foot of a great crag of rock shaped
like the mouth of a lion.


The Lord imparted these vital instructions to his disciples there,
acting only for the good of living beings and the Buddha's Word. 
The title of the text he spoke is the Source of All My Good; it is
also known by another name, Begging for a Mountain of Blessings.

This is a work of the kind we call the "Steps to Buddhahood"; books
like this contain within themselves each and every crucial point in
all the open and secret teachings of Buddhism.  They present these
points without the slightest error, from the very beginning to the
very end: from finding and serving a spiritual guide on up to the
perfect secret Union, where there is nothing more to learn.

These teachings on the Steps are the pure essence of everything
that all the victorious Buddhas have ever spoken, the sum rolled
into one.  They are the one and only form of the Teaching that
embodies all of the greater way; they are the point of the tip of
the highest, matchless peak.

Our Lord Lama, in his work entitled Songs of My Spiritual Life,
says,

     When within yourself you've developed
     The path that is shared,
     The one that's needed
     For both the highest paths...

What he means is that, speaking in a general way, this instruction
on the Steps to Buddhahood is one that you could never do without,
whether you are practicing the open or the secret teachings of
Buddhism.  To put it more specifically, the Great Fifth of the
Dalai Lamas has said,

     Everybody talks of it,
     The Secret Word, The Most Profound,
     Essential thread
     In the River of Dharma
     For those of the great capacity;

     But try it before
     Your mind is trained
     In the path that both them share,
     Climb atop a mighty elephant
     Still wild, and not yet tamed;
     
     You will only lose
     Yourself.

It is absolutely vital then, for anyone with hopes of entering the
door that leads to the way of the Secret Word, that you train your
mind first in this path shared by both the open and secret
teachings.

Now there is a reason why this text is known as "Begging for a
Mountain of Blessings."  As we recite it we are entreating our Lama
to grant us, in one big pile or mountain, each and every spiritual
realization: from finding and following a spiritual guide as we
should, on up to the perfect Union.  And we are asking that he do
so in the form of a personal blessing from himself.  As the
spiritual friend Tonpa has spoken,

     The ability to wrap the totality of the teachings into one is
     a special skill of my Lama's for the Father, nothing is not a
     teaching.

He has said as well that:

     His wondrous word is all three the collections,
     Advice adorned by teachings of three scopes,
     A gold and jewel rosary of the Keepers,
     Meaningful to all who read its beads.

Geshe Tonpa is describing here what our Lord Lama has spoken in all
his presentations of the Steps of the path, both the brief and more
detailed: that these very Steps are far superior to every other
form of instruction, by virtue of their three extraordinary
qualities, and four different kinds of greatness.  They contain
each and every crucial point in the three collections, which are
the entire teachings of the Buddha.  They are the single crossroads
where all the 84,000 massive stores of the Dharma intersect, they
are the one single way by which each and every victorious Buddha
has travelled, or travels now, or ever again will travel.  As the
shorter Gem of Fine Qualities says it,

     It is this perfection, nothing else, which is the path that's
          shared
     By all the Victors, stay they in the past, the present, or the
          future.

People like you and I can go to great Lamas all we want, and
receive from them high initiations, or special oral transmissions,
and teachings on texts or the like.  We can claim to have studied
the five great classics, and plumbed them to their depths, it
doesn't matter.  But if in the end we are unable to put these Steps
into practice within our own lives, joining them all into one, then
there's a risk that we'll end up as the Great Fifth described it:

     True we see fools
     Who know no better,
     Doing what's wrong
     For things of this life.

     But we err worse
     Who've studied much
     The holiest of words,

     And yet still see
     Our ultimate hopes
     Swept away on the wind.

So you must turn your learning within, into Dharma: you must take
those four great qualities of the Steps to Buddhahood and apply
them to your own heart.

And there is more you should know; verses like those of the Master
Translator of Taktsang:

     I sing Your praises,
     Vast treasure house
     Of fine explanation
     We lacked before,
     
     Elucidation of all
     The highest of speech,
     Especially the diamond way;
     
     Teachings on all
     The secret groups,
     Especially the Unsurpassed;

     On all the parts
     Of both the levels,
     Especially the magic bod     y.

There are as well the words of the Karmapa, Mikyu Dorje, who in the
later part of his life developed for Lord Tsongkapa an
extraordinary level of admiration, a kind that is found among those
of high intelligence, who follow the Dharma not out of faith, but
rather out of reason.  The lines read in part:

     I make this praise
     To the tradition of
     The Mount of the Heaven of Bliss*;

     To Tsongkapa,
     For in these days
     When the vast majority
     Of those in our Northern Land

     Act only wrong
     With the teachings of the Victors,
     He instead has wiped

     And cleaned away the dirt on them,
     Ever faultlessly.

That highest of Victors, Kelsang Gyatso, has said too:

     It is a pure tradition,
     The lineage of the Heaven of Bliss;
     It is no biased
     Or limited school of thought.
     It is the essential nectar,
     To learn and practice the Teaching
     So all the open and secret Word
     Seems personal instruction.

And that's just the way it is: our scriptural tradition, that of
the Mount of the Heaven of Bliss, is one that is totally complete
and spotless, on both sides in the open and the secret Word.  It is
a kind of teaching that is found nowhere else.  And it possesses a
multitude of unique and unrivalled qualities: its depth, the speed
with which it works, and so on.  Thus it is that this teaching on
the Steps of the Path to Buddhahood, as it was inaugurated by the
Gentle Protector, Tsongkapa, looks to contain a nearly limitless
number of spiritual advices found in none of the other schools, nor
even among the older Keepers of the Word.

Could any system be more profound or far-reaching than this Dharma,
the Steps of the Path?  Certainly not those teachings that others
claim are oh-so-deep, or oh-so-high and inscrutable.  People
chatter about attaining some realization, some supposed zenith of
some very secret way: they talk of termination; they talk about the
levels of creation and completion; about the channels and winds and
drops; the great seal, or the great completion, whatever.  But if
one never makes use of these very Steps, he can never even plant
the seeds, much less bring the path in full to grow within his
mind.

This then is why it is so very important to go through the Steps,
in the three stages of learning, and contemplating, and meditating
upon them.  So it is too that I shall now present you, said our
Lama, with just a very brief explanation and oral transmission of
the work known as the "Source of All My Good," for it contains
within it the complete heart of the Steps of the Path to
Buddhahood.


                          II.  How to Take a Lama

The text of the Source of All My Good may be divided into four
different parts:

     1) the very root of the path, which is how to take a Lama and
          serve him or her properly;
     2) how to train your mind, once you have taken a Lama;
     3) a request so that you can attain all the favorable
          conditions for succeeding in the path, and stop all the
          circumstances that might prevent you from doing so; and
          then finally
     4) a prayer that in all your future lives you may be taken
          under the care of a Lama, and so gain the strength to
          reach the final end of the various levels and paths.

The first of these is presented in a single verse, the first one of
the work:

                                    (1)

     The source of all my good
     Is my kind Lama, my Lord;
     Bless me first to see
     That taking myself to him
     In the proper way
     Is the very root
     Of the path, and grant me then
     To serve and follow him
     With all my strength and reverence.

This Step of taking a Lama is itself divided into two sections:
developing clear faith in him, which is the very root of the Path;
and then building up reverence for him, by considering the great
kindness he has paid us.  The instruction in developing faith comes
in two stages: how to follow a Lama in one's thoughts, and then how
to follow him in one's actions.

Now the Secret Teaching of Sambhuta says,

     You will never be able to take a boat
     To the other side of the river
     Unless you take the oars up in your hands.

     You will never reach the end of suffering life
     Without a Lama,
     Even if you perfect yourself
     In every other respect.

The Shorter Sutra on the Perfection of Wisdom concurs:

     The Victorious Buddhas,
     Who possess the highest
     Of all good qualities,
     Speak as one when They say:
     "Every single part of the Buddhist way
     Depends on a Spiritual Guide."

It says as well:

     And so the wise
     Who seek the high state of enlightenment
     With a fierce wish deep inside
     Should smash all pride within them,

     And like a mass of sick men
     Who flock to medicine for a cure,
     Take themselves to a spiritual guide
     And serve him single-mindedly.

Our Gentle Savior, Tsongkapa the Great, has too spoken these words:

     There is a single key
     For finding a perfect start to reach
     Your every wish, both happiness
     In the short run and ultimately;

     And the highest words ever spoken
     Speak it always the same:
     It is your Lama.

     And so you must devote yourself
     To meditation upon him,
     Upon the essence of all
     The three different kinds of refuge;
     Ask him, for all your goals.

All these lines are saying the same thing: if you have any hope of
reaching up to the high spiritual qualities of the various levels
and paths, then from the outset you must absolutely find and follow
a Lama who can show you how to do so.

And the Lama that we are describing here is not just any one you
might happen to come across; it's not just anyone they call a
"Lama."  Rather, he must have in him the ten high qualities
described in the Jewel of the Sutras.  He must first of all be
subdued, at peace, and at high peace; that is to say, he must
possess all three of the trainings.  He must display fine
spiritual qualities that exceed those of his student, and exhibit
exceptional effort.  He should have a total mastery of the Dharma
in the form of scripture, and should have realized suchness.  He
should be highly skilled in teaching the Dharma, he must have a
great love for his disciples, and he must never become tired or
discouraged in his teaching, no matter how much or how often he is
called upon to do so.
We are though now in the days of degeneration, and so perhaps it is
difficult to find someone who possesses each and every one of these
qualifications.  In such a case, we must follow the advice of the
Lord of Lamas:

     If you take my advice,
     Man of the land of Gyalkam,
     Take yourself to the ultimate
     Spiritual guide:
     To one who grasps Reality,
     To one who has controlled his senses,
     Who takes your heart away
     As soon as you lay your eyes on him;
     To the one that,
     When you follow what he teaches,
     The good in you begins to flower,
     And the bad begins to fade.

These and other such lines are telling us that the Lama we seek
must at least possess a complete set of five different qualities:
He must have brought his mind under control, by following the three
trainings; he must have realized thusness; and He must have love.

As a bare minimum, the Lama must surely fit the following
description.  He must occupy himself more with the Dharma than with
the things of the world.  He must as well occupy himself more with
the concerns of the future life, than with those of the present
one.  He must occupy himself more with helping others, than with
helping himself.  He is never careless in what he does, or says, or
thinks.  And, finally, he never leads his disciples along a path
which is mistaken.

Suppose you are able to find a Lama like the one we have described
above.  What are the benefits you can expect from following him
properly?  Simply put, you will win each and every good thing in
this and all your future lives.  What are the dangers of refusing
to follow him, or of following him less than properly?  You will
undergo a great mass of unendurable pain, in both the short term
and the long.  You must seek to grasp these facts fully.

Your Lama is like the source, he is like the very root, from which
every single good quality of all the different levels and paths of
both the open and secret teachings spring.  If you ever succeed in
stopping a single personal fault, it will be because of him.  If
you ever manage to cultivate a single spiritual quality, any good
at all, that too will come from him.  The whole range of virtues,
from the final attainment of secret Union on down to having a
single wholesome thought, all flow from him.

Your Lama is also the one and only "source" in the sense of being
the embodiment or actuality of all the mighty deeds, all the great
good, that all the victorious Buddhas perform in their holy
actions, words, and thoughts.  Try now to develop this root of the
path clear faith in him or her.

If with eyes made clear by this faith you begin to see your Lama as
a real Buddha, then the blessing of a real Buddha will follow in
your mind-stream.  It's essential therefore that you train your
mind in the relevant parts described in the texts on the Steps: the
reasons why you should see that your Lama is a Buddha; the reasons
why you can see that your Lama is a Buddha; how to see him, and so
on.

The word "kind" in the verse here is meant to convey the Step of
building up reverence for your Lama by considering all the kind
things he has done for you.  The word "Lord" is a translation of
the Sanskrit word Svami, a word that applies to someone who is like
a crowning jewel which all the beings of the universe, including
the great worldly beings of power, humbly place above their heads.

What does it mean to "follow your Lama properly?"  You must
understand that it means to surrender yourself completely to him or
her.  Here you should take yourself to him in the way of an
obedient child, and with the rest of the nine attitudes described
in the Arrangement of Trunks.

To put it briefly, you must absolutely conduct yourself correctly
in this regard; you must follow precisely every one of the
classical descriptions of how to find and follow a Lama.  If the
cornerstone of a house the walls of its foundation are solid, then
the house itself is solid.  If the roots of a tree are planted
firmly in the soil, then the branches and fruit and all the rest
grow strong.

What we hope to grow is the path, in its entirety: all the Steps
from recognizing the importance of the spiritual leisure and
fortune of our present circumstances, on up to the attainment of
secret Union itself.  We must find sure and solid knowledge, we
must see, that taking ourselves to our Lama properly will bring all
of this about, without any difficulty at all.

The entire subject of how to follow your Lama in your thoughts is
revealed in the words "first to see."  Thus you must come to see
your spiritual Friend as a real Buddha; and this brings us to how
you should follow him in your actions.

How can we please our Lama?  Relative to the path which is shared,
you should use the instructions found in the discussions on how to
find and follow a Lama in general.  Relative to the way of the
secret Word, use the instructions in the Fifty Verses on Lamas. 
Both of these describe how you should, to the very best of your
ability, "with all your strength," gladly take up any difficult
task in any of the three doors of expression of body, speech, or
mind in order to please him or her.

There are different levels of how we pay homage to our Lama: to
offer him or her gifts, material things; to give ourselves up to
his service, his honor; and to take what he has taught us and put
it into actual practice, accomplishing our spiritual goals.  Each
of these is higher than the one before it, and the last one is
supreme.

The root text here then is saying that we must take ourselves to
our Lama in a whole different number of ways, in keeping with our
personal mental capacity.

And as you serve your Lama, remember.  When a farmer goes to plant
his seeds, whatever work he does in the field, he does for his own
sake.  It's not as if he is doing the field a favor.  Here I am the
same.  It's me who hopes to reach freedom from pain, and the state
of knowing all things.  To do so, I must take up certain things and
give up others; but I am like a man who is blind I am totally
ignorant of which of these things are which.

My spiritual Friend is here to lead the blind; and in my service of
him or her I am obliged to do anything required of me, no matter
how exhausting, no matter how distasteful so long as nothing
morally wrong is involved.

And I am not to view this service as if I were laboring for someone
else; on the contrary, I should not even see it as a burden, but
rather as a reward: it is my great good fortune to have the
opportunity.  And so I must succeed in serving him or her in both
my thoughts and actions, with the deepest feelings of reverence.

If our service of our Lama is good, then in all our future lives we
will find ourselves taken under the care of Lamas.  Then too we can
count the life we have found now as the first in a long and
unbroken series of lives in which we enjoy each of the eight
spiritual leisures, and the ten fortunes.  And there will never
again be any mistake in this particular arithmetic: we will always
enjoy the exact number of circumstances needed to follow our
practice of the Dharma, and so finally reach the state of perfect
enlightenment.

The words "bless me" here mean "embellish me"; which is to say,
"transform the condition of my mind."  A minute ago my mind was
twisted wrong, and joined with every kind of bad thought.  Now, in
the very next moment, may I be blessed with the good fortune of
being able to find and follow my Lama properly, with every
reverence; may my mind be straightened, and become filled with each
and every Step of the path.  This is the thing I ask, my Lama.

The explanation of the words "bless me" here applies as well to
each of the other verses in which they appear.


                 III.  Advice to Take the Essence of Life

This brings us to the second major part of the text itself, which
describes how to train the mind, once you have properly taken a
Lama.  This part comes in two Steps: urgent advice to take the
essence of the present life, with its spiritual leisure and
fortune; and a description of just how to take this essence.  The
first step is contained in the single verse that follows next:

                                    (2)

     Bless me first to realize
     That the excellent life
     Of leisure I've found
     Just this once
     Is ever so hard to find
     And ever so valuable;
     Grant me then
     To wish, and never stop to wish,
     That I could take
     Its essence night and day.

The phrase about finding a life like this "just this once" is meant
to indicate that we would never be able to find this kind of life
on a regular basis in the future.

You may wonder too why, at a point where the concepts of spiritual
leisure and fortune are being presented, the verse says only "life
of leisure," and not "life of leisure and fortune."  The point is
that we actually do possess the entire set of eight spiritual
leisures, which consist of being free of the eight ways that a
person can lack opportunity.  These lacks of opportunity are birth
in the three lower realms, or as a long-life being of pleasure;
as a barbarian; as a person with a mistaken worldview; as someone
who is handicapped; or in a period of history when the victorious
Buddha has yet to appear in the world.

We do have all five of the spiritual fortunes that relate to one's
self, as described in the following verse:

     Born as a human,
     In a central land,
     And having one's faculties
     All complete;
     Not lost to the last of karma,
     And feeling faith for the place.

Here "born in a central land" refers to a land where there exists
the "core of the Dharma," meaning that there are people in the
country who keep the vows of the "four attendants to the Buddha." 
This refers to the full ordinations for a man and a woman, along
with the novice ordinations for the same.  The main component of
the core is the fully ordained monk.

"Not lost to the last of karma" means not having collected, and
then failed to clear from oneself, the karma that comes from
committing one of the "immediate," heinous bad deeds.

The place from where each and every white and good thing grows is
the teaching on discipline; here the word "discipline" can by
extension be applied to the entire contents of the canon the three
collections of scripture since they all function to discipline
one's mind.  We do then possess the fortune of having faith in the
holy books.

Let us examine though whether we have the five fortunes that relate
to what is outside ourselves.  The classic reference here is:

     The Buddha is come,
     And taught the holy Dharma.
     The teaching remains,
     As do the ones who follow.
     There is compassion
     For the sake of others.

Here the Buddha must have come and still be present in the world. 
He or his direct disciples must be teaching the Dharma.  The
resulting teachings must also remain, and this during the period
before his final passing beyond all sorrow.  Certain of his
disciples must observe other disciples actually achieve the four
results, after he has taught them; and these disciples must
undertake to follow the same practices too.

All four of the fortunes just explained have been possessed even by
the likes of the monk Udayi, whereas the same cannot be said even
for the Savior Nagarjuna, who lacked them in their literal form. 
We too have met our Lamas, who are no different from a Buddha, and
they have spoken the Dharma and so on; these are a full substitute
yes, but we cannot say that we have all those fortunes in their
literal form.  We do however enjoy all eight of the spiritual
leisures; these then are our primary advantage, and it's with this
fact in mind that the verse reads "life of leisure."

What does it mean when the reference says, "There is compassion for
the sake of others?"  The "others" here refers to ourselves; our
sponsors and Lamas and other such persons act for our sake,
motivated by compassion, to see that we are provided with all the
conditions that will facilitate our practice of the Dharma: they
give us food, or clothes, and other necessities; They teach us the
Dharma; and so on.  Therefore this phrase should be understood as
describing the good fortune to have around us those who give us the
things we need to practice.

So you and I are free of the eight ways in which a person can lack
spiritual opportunity; and yet we fail to work here now, in the
days when we do have a Dharma to practice.  We find ourselves
locked in the handcuffs of the present life; we throw ourselves
into all sorts of meaningless activities aimed at gaining material
things, or other people's approval, or a taste of fame; we want to
fit into the world's way of life, and so on.  These make us so busy
that it's almost as if we have taken special care to invent a ninth
way of lacking spiritual opportunity.

We have here a wonderful life and body of exactly the same kind
that holy persons in the past have used to achieve enlightenment
itself; we though use these things as a big pot in which to stock
up our bad deeds.  We have turned our spiritual leisure and fortune
into a rich opportunity to suffer.

In order not to lose the good qualities of this life in our future
lives, we must manage to take some special essence of the
circumstances we have found, just this once; we must use this
life-time where everything has come together, where there is not a
single piece of the whole incomplete.  If we fail in this endeavor,
then it will be extremely difficult for us to find a life of
spiritual leisure and fortune ever again.

Whether you will be able to gain such a life again or not you must
judge from looking within yourself, to see if all the causes of
winning the various leisures and fortunes are there, or not.  It's
no use to look outside, to see whether or not there are a lot of
human beings around.  Humans are one of the six forms of suffering
life, and until all six disappear you will see no end to humans. 
There will always be some good number around, but if they lack this
complement of leisure and fortune, a big population will only mean
an even more tremendous amassing of sins.  You should take no
comfort, said our Lama, in the fact that there is such an abundant
supply of raw material for the circle of suffering life.

"Well then," you may ask, "just what is it that causes the leisures
and fortunes to come about?"  Attaining the good life, one of
spiritual leisure, begins with morals kept very good.  This
morality must be joined with giving and the other five perfections;
and the glue that holds it all together is to make the very purest
of prayers.  Therefore finding a life like ours is first of all
something difficult because of the causes needed to bring it about.

People like you and I are forever committing non-virtuous deeds,
and this is the single greatest obstacle to our reaching the state
of spiritual leisure and fortune ever again.  Beyond this are
statements from the Foundation Word on Vowed Morality, and other
texts, which describe how those born as animals are fewer than
those born in one of the other births of misery; those born as
humans are fewer than the animals; and even among humans those born
in a country where the Buddha's teachings have spread are fewer
still.

To be born in such a land, and then go on to actually encounter the
Dharma with a mind and body so very special as the one which we now
possess, is an occurrence which borders on the impossible.  This
shows how a life like ours is difficult to find by its very nature
as well.

There is yet a third way to show how difficult it is to find a life
so opportune as our own.  This involves using a metaphor, such as
the following from the Letter to a Friend:

     Suppose a turtle in the sea were to rise
     And poke his head right through the hole
     Of a wooden ring as it drifted around
     The surface of the great salt sea.

     The odds of being born a human
     As opposed to birth as an animal
     Are even more remote; make it come,
     Lord of Men, by living holy Dharma.

Right now we have the time to practice religion.  We possess the
outer condition we need to succeed, for we have come into contact
with a Lama, a spiritual Friend who is just like Lord Buddha
himself.  We also enjoy the inner condition, since our minds are
not defective in any way, and we are endowed with the intelligence
required to advance through the stages of learning, contemplation,
and meditation.

If I truly undertake to do so, it is certain that I can achieve
everything from temporal goals, such as achieving a good and useful
kind of birth in the higher forms of life among humans or the
beings of pleasure on up to the ultimate goal of becoming the
Keeper of the Diamond himself.

All this can be achieved because of the extraordinary kind of life
I have now gained; seek to understand this fact, try to truly
recognize how significant the one chance is.

Certain signs will come if you succeed in making yourself aware of
your spiritual leisure and fortune.  Think of a man who is
completely engrossed, either in some great good luck, or in some
great misfortune.  Every time he wakes up at night these thoughts
of happiness or unhappiness well up in him, vivid and automatic.

What we are requesting from our Lama here is that he bless us to
achieve this same level of obsession: bless me first to realize
that the excellent life I've found, complete with every spiritual
leisure, is hard to find and once found is ever so valuable.  Now,
in the one and only time I have ever managed to win this diamond
body and life, let me think of how the circle of suffering has
absolutely no beginning; how one must normally practice for many
millions of years to reach the state of a Buddha; and other such
truths.  And grant me then to wish, and never stop to wish, that I
could take this life's essence night and day: that I could at every
given moment keep this precious time from being lost to actions
which are pointless, devoid of any meaning.


                STEPS SHARED WITH THOSE OF LESSER CAPACITY








              IV.  Steps Shared with Those of Lesser Capacity

This brings us to our description of how actually to take the
essence of this life.  This part itself has three; the first is how
to train one's mind in the Steps of the path which are shared with
persons of lesser spiritual capacity, and is covered in the next
two verses of the root text:

                                   (3,4)

     My body and the life in it
     Are fleeting as the bubbles
     In the sea froth of a wave.
     Bless me first thus to recall
     The death that will destroy me soon;
     And help me find sure knowledge
     That after I have died
     The things I've done, the white or black,
     And what these deeds will bring to me,
     Follow always close behind,
     As certain as my shadow.

     Grant me then
     Ever to be careful,
     To stop the slightest
     Wrongs of many wrongs we do,
     And try to carry out instead
     Each and every good
     Of the many that we may.

And so we have attained this very special kind of life, with its
spiritual leisure and fortune.  But my body and the life in it are
fleeting, forever changing, and every passing moment they move
inexorably closer to my death.

But that's not all there are conditions all around me that can
strike and kill me in an instant: things like illness and harmful
spirits, sudden disasters, attacks upon me by the very four
elements that make up my own body.  They stand around me ready to
snatch away my life, like a pack of dogs circling around a piece of
fresh meat, lusting after it.

Still more, my body is like a bubble in the sea froth of a wave; it
has no power to resist even some very minor harm: we can see with
our own two eyes that even the prick of a thorn can lead to a
person's death.

In sum, my body and life are fragile; so death will destroy me
soon.  Here you should use the instructions on your coming death
that we find in works like the longer and briefer presentations of
the Steps of the path by our Lord, Tsongkapa.  These sections cover
the three principles of death and the nine reasons for them, along
with the three resolutions to be made.  They show how our death

is certain, and how uncertain we are of when it will come.  When it
does, none of the people close to us, nor any of the things we own,
nor anything else of the kind can help us.  In the end, not even
our body can be of any assistance.

Think on these points, recall them, again and again.  The object
here is not to reach a point where you sit in some confused terror
over the death that's coming to you.  Rather you must come to see
that, at the moment of death and as you take your future life, only
the Dharma can help you: everything else turns useless.  Remember
the words of the omniscient Buton, who has spoken:

     You are not long in this life 
     Death comes quick;
     You step ever nearer to it
     With every moment that passes,
     Moving on like an animal
     Dragged to the slaughterhouse.

     Your plans for today
     Your plans for tomorrow
     Will never all be filled;
     Let go all your thousand plans,
     Devote yourself to one.

     You will be summoned into
     The awesome presence of Lord Death;
     The end is lying on your bed,
     The breathing stops, the life is gone.

     And on this day,
     My Rinchen Drup,
     Nothing but the Dharma
     Is any help to you.

Pa Dampa Sangye too has said:

     The results of deeds you've done,
     The cause and consequence,
     Are finally true and fixed.

     People of Dingri listen:
     Avoid then any bad deed,
     Any wrong at all.

And then he states:

     In the land beyond us friends
     And relatives are few;
     People of Dingri listen:
     Turn your thoughts to Dharma.

The master teacher of Bodong, whose name was Jikdrel Chokle
Namgyal, has also said:

     The existence of past and future lives can be understood
     as well through logical reasoning.  If the human body
     could occur without any proper cause, then every existing
     object might just as well be stuffed full of human
     bodies.  If the human body could occur without any
     involvement of previous consciousness if it could come
     from physical matter alone then every bit of dirt, every
     rock, every mountain and stream might just as well be
     stuffed full of human bodies.

     For those who deny that life goes on, hearing these lines
     is like being struck by a bolt of lightning.  There are
     moreover quite numerous accounts of many wise and
     accomplished practitioners who have used clairvoyance to
     perceive the past and future lives, as well as the state
     between death and rebirth, which they and others have
     passed through.  There are also cases like those of the
     non-Buddhist adepts who attain clairvoyance that allows
     them to recall eighty of their different lives.

Since nothing else can help then, it is essential that we give up
on life and be sure to devote ourselves to death, by practicing
some pure form of the Dharma, as a way to assist our future self. 
It's not as if, after you and I have died, the stream of our mind
just stops and we turn into nothing.  Rather we have no choice but
to take another birth.  And there are no more than two places where
we can take that birth: in the higher realms of happiness, or the
lower realms of misery.

We have absolutely no control over which of the two places we go;
we must follow where we are sent by the separate causes for each
place, and these causes are the things we've done, the white and
black, respectively.

Our mental streams contain very, very few of the causes that will
take us to a higher birth; but we have a vast multitude of the
causes that will lead us to one of the births of misery.  Right now
we are doing both white deeds, and black deeds: the good and the
bad.  At the moment of death, the power of one or the other will be
activated, and force us over to our next birth.  The seeds of the
deeds which are more plentiful are the kind that are likely to be
activated.

And after we cross over to our new birth, the fair or foul
consequences of our virtue or our evil will follow close behind. 
These consequences can never go wrong; good must come from the
good, and bad from the bad.  They will attach themselves to my
consciousness and pass on to wherever it goes, as certain as my
shadow.

This fact, that pleasure and pain are the respective results of
good and evil, is spoken in the various collections of the
immaculate Word of the victorious Buddhas: in the sutras, in the
books of discipline, and so on.  They describe things like how
karma is certain to produce similar results; how it multiplies; how
consequences of a karma not committed can never be experienced; and
how the consequences of a karma committed can never just fade away
on their own.  It is spoken as well that:

     The karma of sentient kind
     Never just fades away,
     Even in hundreds
     Of millions of years.

     When the causes convene
     And the time is come,
     The consequences
     Can do nothing but flower.

Master Bodongwa quotes these same lines from sutra and says,

     People like you and I may have blurry eyes but we must to
     look on this Word of the Buddha as perfectly accurate. 
     If you die, then die; if you drop from old age, then
     drop; but if nothing else keep your trust in the
     Teacher.

The thinking behind these lines is expressed in a verse by the
Master Shantideva:

     The way karma works
     Is beyond comprehension;
     Only the All-Knowing
     Know it.

Because of these facts you and I must seek a way to find sure
knowledge, where we recognize the truth of the simply limitless
workings of karma and consequences described by the Teacher.  Once
we have found this knowledge, we then understand that the necessary
consequence of all the harmful deeds we have amassed up to now will
be for us to pass on to the births of misery in our next life.

And what of these three lower realms?  Think fiercely on their
sufferings: the heat of the molten steel, the cold; the hunger, the
thirst, exhaustion and terror; being unable to talk, living in dark
ignorance, eating each other to survive, and all the rest.  It will
bring you fear, and from the depths of your heart you will go for
shelter to the ones who can protect you: to the three Jewels.

If harmful actions provide the causes that push us to these lower
realms, then needless to say we must from this point on avoid doing
any of the many wrongs that we do: those obvious non-virtues that
anyone can see are mistaken.  We must also though seek to recognize
and abandon even the very slightest harms we commit; the ones we
barely realize that we do.

The most important thing is for us to follow the words of that King
of the Dharma, Dromton Je:

     We have little time to live,
     It's sure we'll not long be here.
     
     Let the world pass the time
     Working to feed themselves;
     Even the poorest know how.

     Those who follow the rules of Dharma 
     Need not worry,
     The knife of hunger
     Can never touch and kill them.

     Leave this life behind;
     You can't work for the future life
     And for this one as well.
     
     The next is the more important one;
     Make effort in the Dharma.

He says as well,

     Whether you fill your belly
     In this life well or not,
     Still you will live on.

     What's difficult is
     To meet the Dharma
     In your future life;

     For this life then
     Put all your efforts
     Only in the Dharma.

     If now you cannot do your best
     To do what's virtuous,

     Be sure that in the life beyond
     You will feel only pain.

And so we have no other choice, if we hope to pass on to one of the
better births in our next life, than to prepare the proper cause;
that is, to do the things we should, and not do what we shouldn't. 
There are quite nearly a limitless number of instructions on how to
carry this out to make it easy for us, the compassionate Teacher
provided a guide of what to take up and what to give up: this then
is the list of ten good deeds and ten bad deeds, the broadest
simplification.

Keeping this morality, of avoiding the ten bad deeds, is just one
typical example of the many different kinds of good that are
contained within the broader and the more subtle instructions on
how to go for refuge.  We must engage in each and every one of
these virtues by being ever careful by acting with proper
recollection and watchfulness in every moment of the day.

And we must go further: on every occasion that we train ourselves
in these thoughts, in the Steps which are shared with persons of
lesser and medium capacity, we must do so with the ultimate intent
of using them as a foundation for training ourselves in the path
for those of great capacity.

In short, said our Lama, we must understand how to employ these
Steps as a means for developing the Wish for enlightenment.  And in
these lines we are requesting our Lama to help us find the ability
to do so.



                STEPS SHARED WITH THOSE OF MEDIUM CAPACITY








                     V.  Learning How to Want Freedom


With this we have reached the second part in the advices on how to
take the essence of this life; that is, how to train one's mind in
the Steps of the path which are shared with persons of medium
spiritual capacity.  Here there are two divisions.  The first is
learning how to want freedom, and is presented in the single verse
of the root text which follows:

                                    (5)
     Bless me to perceive
     All that's wrong
     With the seemingly good things
     Of this life.
     I can never get enough of them.
     They cannot be trusted.
     They are the door
     To every pain I have.
     Grant me then
     To strive instead
     For the happiness of freedom.

Suppose we are able to follow all the instructions above: we
contemplate how death works, and think on the sufferings of the
lower realms.  Then we make all the effort we are supposed to in
going for refuge, and in observing the laws of deeds and their
consequences.  Admittedly then we could manage, once or twice, to
reach one of the better forms of life as a pleasure being or
human and also acquire some incredible amount of wealth; at least
for the time being.

But the nature of all pleasant things in the circle of life is
that, no matter how much we get, and no matter how much we enjoy
what we get, we never feel as though we've had enough.  It only
makes us want more, it only increases our desire.  And this then
delivers to us a whole variety of unbearable pain.  The pleasant
things turn around, and become the door to every pain I have.

That highest of Victors, the Great Fifth of the Dalai Lamas, has
said as well,

     What happened before?
     Someone has been in my mind for time with no beginning.

     When was that?
     There's never been a moment when they were gone.

     Who are they?
     I live, and live again, the mental afflictions.

     And in the end?
     They will leave me to rot in the ocean of suffering
          life, without an end in sight.  

     And the karma?
     It comes like the wind, with all the things I never
          wanted.

     How far?
     It whips around me everywhere, and stirs great waves,
          the three forms of suffering.

     How long?
     I could wander around this sea forever; the torch would
          spin, and the circle of light would blaze.

     What should I see?
     Think on this, and see that the afflictions of the mind
          are the one true enemy.

     What must be done?
     The enemy of living for this life must die.

     Who shall do it?
     You will have to pretend that you are warrior enough to
          be the one.

     When will it come?
     Your foes, the afflictions in your mind, have always
          been there waiting, ready for the battle.

     Now then?
     The time has surely come: go forth now and defeat them. 

As the lines point out, there is one thing which acts as the very
root of all our sufferings here in the circle of life.  This is
none other than the enemy of the mental afflictions, so dearly
cherished by us, so close to our hearts.

From time with no beginning up to the present moment, this enemy
has led us by the hand to all kinds of unbearable pain.  And if
still we find ourselves unable to discard these bad thoughts once
and for all, they will force us to collect karma.  Then the karma
will force us to take yet another birth in this house, in the
circle of suffering life.  And there once again the afflictions
will start, and then we'll collect the karma anew.  And so it is
decided: this karma again will force us into the impure parts of a
suffering being, in one of the six forms of life.  We'll be born,
and then again, and over again and again, wandering through these
six.

Once we have taken a birth in the cycle, we'll find ourselves
tormented by the three different kinds of suffering, without the
slightest break.  It doesn't matter at all whether we take a
higher birth or a lower one; there exists no such thing as a
pleasant moment here.  Whatever place we go is a place that brings
us pain.  Whatever friend we go with is a friend who brings us
pain.  Whatever possession we have is a possession which brings us
pain.  They cannot and will not ever be anything else.

"What way then," you may ask, "must I follow to escape this pain?" 
You must find a way to stop the stream of births, the circle of
life that has karma and the mental afflictions as its very nature. 
Until you manage to do so, you will never find a place that is free
of this suffering.

The key to stopping the stream of suffering births is found in the
root text of the Three Principal Paths, where the Lord of Lamas
says,

     Think over and over how deeds and their fruits
          never fail,
     And the cycle's suffering: stop desire
          for the future.

Suppose at first we are able to find the very highest of the
supposed good things of this life: we attain the celestial form or
fantastic wealth of a god-like being such as Pure One, or Hundred
Gift, or one of those emperors who rules the world with a disk of
power.  None of these forms can be trusted though, for the
inevitable end of each is that we meet the karmic fruits of bad
deeds we collected before.  These deeds throw us into births like
those of the lower realms, where we are forced to go through the
unlimited variety of pain here in the cycle of suffering life.

We must understand this process, and think over and over about all
the problems brought to us by the great source of all pain:
ignorant deeds and the mental afflictions.  We must stop desire for
any future lives.

Before we can do this we need something else:

     Leisure and fortune are hard to find, life's not long;
     Think it constantly, stop desire for this life.

As the verse says, we must stop desire for this life first.  To do
so, think how hard it is to find this leisure and fortune.  And
think too on the following: while you may have managed just this
once find a perfect body and life, still you must die.  You cannot
stay here long there is no way to tack on any extra years to your
life, and the years you do have leak away constantly, never
pausing.

Whatever you and I hope to accomplish whether it be keeping
ourselves out of the three lower realms, or attaining freedom and
the state of All-Knowing we must learn to stop this habit of hoping
for the "good" things of this life.  This is absolutely essential
all through our Dharma career: from the very beginning, on through
the middle, and up to the final end.

These last few points are covered especially well in the works of
the new and older schools of the Keepers of the Word, as well as in
the texts of the original masters in the Lineage of the Word.  If
you use these books for training your mind in these Steps, you will
have powerful results.

Listen to these descriptions of suffering life, first from the lips
of the Victor, Yang Gonpa:

     You can't be sure you will live,
     Nor fix the time you die;
     
     This monster, the Lord of Death,
     Has no interest
     To come at your convenience.

     The four elements of your physical body
     And your mind
     Could go today their separate ways;

     Think about it:
     Can you ever feel secure,
     Can you ever feel at peace?

He adds other lines including:

     This devil, greed,
     Collected money

     Ignoring all comfort
     And hardship to do so;

     But we have no power
     To carry even
     A bit with us that day.

     What's the use of money,
     That's never there
     When you need it?

     Our friends and family
     Stayed with us
     Through thick and thin;

     We won and kept them
     By fitting in,
     And maintaining our reputation.

     But there's not one
     Who can take one step
     Along with us that day.

     What's the use of family, friends,
     Who are never there
     When you need them?

     With toil and sweat
     We built a great
     And wonderful house for ourselves;

     To do it we obliterated
     Every rule
     Of what to do, or say, or think.

     But what happens when
     Lord Death decides
     He'll not sleep in one morning?

     What's the use of a house
     That's never there
     When you need it?

And then he says,

     In the summer
     Great clouds crowd the sky,

     And lightning comes,
     And lightning goes 

     The suffering called impermanence
     Drags our life
     Downhill;

     Dispense with the sense
     Of permanence,
     Of feeling prepared.

     The rain brings it on,
     The fortuitous moment,
     When everything is just right,

     And a rainbow comes,
     And a rainbow goes 

     The suffering called impermanence
     Drags our happiness
     Downhill;

     Dispense with
     Looking your best,
     And strutting around.

     A sudden sound
     Brings it on,

     And an echo comes,
     And an echo goes 

     The suffering called impermanence
     Drags our fame
     Downhill;

     Dispense with
     The hope for greatness,
     The hope for a name.

     They travel to the big city
     To sell their wares,
     And stop in some hotel,

     The guest comes in the morning,
     The guest leaves in the eve 

     The suffering called impermanence
     Drags our friends
     Downhill;

     Dispense with hoping
     To fit in with your friends
     And family.

     In the summertime the bees
     Labor and build up
     Their hives,

     But anyone can see
     How they are wiped out
     In an instant 

     The suffering called impermanence
     Drags our food and money
     Down the hill.

     Dispense with trying
     To gather together
     All this money and food.

Contemplate on these quotations, and on works like the verses by
Drom Gyalway Jungne, where he urges himself to perfect his
practice.  Think them over constantly, and try your hardest to
follow the instructions on how to give up living for this life.

This in itself though is not enough, as expressed in the following
words of Kelsang Gyatso, the highest of all the Victors:

     This thing they call
     The three realms of cyclic life
     Is a house of red-hot steel;

     Wherever you go
     In any of the ten directions,
     The suffering will burn you.

     You wish so badly
     That it weren't happening,
     But this is its very nature.

     How pitiful our life,
     To wander aimlessly
     In such a house of horrors.

This cycle of life, with its three different realms, is absolutely
nothing but suffering, by its very nature.  It doesn't matter at
all whether you take a higher birth within it, or a lower it's all
the same.  Consider carefully the truth of these words, then go and
seek some way of finding freedom from the cycle, and a way to smash
your enemy: the afflictions of the mind.

You and I might have some delusions about getting it all together
in this world; a good body, lots of things, power, fame. 
Regardless of how far we progress in these things though, let's be
honest.  If we judge ourselves properly, we can see that we aren't
really much more advanced in our intellect or strength than common
animals, than bugs or birds or whatever.

These things are hardly something worth getting attached to,
nothing you would want to hang on to until your dying breath,
nothing you could trust at all.  Much less; for you can even attain
the ultimate pleasures and possessions of all cyclic life you could
become the mighty being called Pure One, or Hundred Gifts, or else
enjoy all the many riches in the kingdom of a world emperor.  In
the end though it always turns out the way that the Letter to a
Friend and other such works describe it: wandering aimlessly around
in a house of horrors, the three lower realms of life.

It really doesn't matter what kind of so-called "good" thing you
can get here in the world of suffering, eventually all it can do is
deceive you.  You must by yourself expose the lie; you must learn
to think clearly about all the problems these things always bring
to you.  In time you will see, you will know, that every inch of
this suffering cycle is in its essence pain.

By then you will have renunciation, the kind that wants to reach
the joy of the nirvana beyond both extremes, freedom in the short
run from the sufferings of the three lower births, and ultimately
from each and every pain in the cycle of life.  And it will be the
extraordinary form of renunciation, not the rough kind that you get
just from following whatever someone else tells you, not the one
that stays in the mouth and not the heart, in words and not in
truth.

What we are requesting then here, said our Lama, is that our Lama
grant us the strength to develop a very fierce desire, a strong and
genuine wish to reach the happiness of freedom.


                  VI.  Finding the Right Path to Freedom

This brings us to the second division of how to train one's mind in
the Steps of the path which are shared with persons of medium
spiritual capacity; that is, defining just what kind of path can
take us to this freedom.  This point is covered in a single verse
from the root text:

                                    (6)

     Grant that these pure thoughts
     May lead me to be watchful
     And to recall
     What I should be doing,
     Grant me to give
     The greatest care
     To make the vows of morality
     The essence of my practice;
     They are
     The root of the Buddha's teaching.

Up to now we have explained how to truly see that even the supposed
good things of the circle of life have no essence at all.  When
that happens, we begin to feel a total disgust for every corner of
the cycle of life.  These fierce feelings of renunciation, these
pure thoughts where we wish to reach the happiness of freedom, will
lead us on to something else, as described by the Omniscient One
himself:

     The entire extent
     Of the highest of spoken words,
     The teaching of the Buddhas,
     Is contained in the three collections.

     This then is why
     The three different trainings
     Are the essence of the teachings.

     These three start
     With the training
     Of morality,

     And it's spoken that
     It resides
     In the collection on discipline.

     This explains why
     So much of the holy Dharma,
     Spoken so very well,

     Was set down in the form
     Of the works
     On discipline.

     Could it ever happen then
     That those wise men
     Who understand

     The proper order
     Of the teachings
     Would not take joy in these?

     Nowhere does it say
     Anything else but this:
     If you hope to develop

     Insight, the training
     Of wisdom well,
     You must find quietude,
     That of concentration.

     It says as well
     That if you wish to develop
     Pure single-pointed mind,

     You must have the training
     Of morality;
     And this is fine advice.

     Some brave souls
     Claim they'll keep
     A lot of different vows,

     But it's oh so common
     To see them smash
     Whatever pledges they've made.

     The way of the holy
     Is to strive
     To maintain their morality pure,

     Exactly as
     They have agreed
     To do so.

     Once you see
     The truth in this,
     Then use your watchfulness,

     Constantly check
     Your thoughts, words and deeds
     To stop any wrong to come.

     Recollect yourself,
     Take the greatest care,
     Have a sense of shame,
     And consideration;

     Use them on
     The horse of the senses
     When he mistakes the way.
     
     Use your strength
     To rein him in,
     For this is the state of mind

     That you can bring
     To focus and stay
     On any virtuous object

     Solidly,
     Whatever you want,
     However you wish it to be;

     And this is why
     They sing the praises
     Of morality as the way

     To reach one-pointedness of mind.

The process that Je Tsongkapa is describing goes like this. 
Recollection comes at the beginning, and keeps you from forgetting
what you should be doing, and what you shouldn't be doing. 
Watchfulness then stops by from time to time to check whether or
not the activities of your body, speech, and mind are tending
towards right or wrong.  One's ability to take great care in his
life functions throughout; it prevents every sort of improper
thought or action, and keeps one within the bounds of what is
appropriate to undertake.

The essential points of the entire teaching of the victorious
Buddha, the meaning of the contents of the three collections of the
Word, all this is included within three precious, extraordinary
forms of training: the trainings of morality, of meditative
concentration, and wisdom.  The crux on which the latter two
trainings turn, their basis, their root and the ground they stand
upon, is in the main a single item: morality, in the form of the
various vows of freedom.  As the great Panchen Lama, Lobsang
Chukyi Gyaltsen has said,

     It all begins
     When you think to yourself
     "It won't hurt much

     If I break a few
     Of these minor vows
     In a minor way";

     Before too long
     You have gone against
     A great many of your vows.

     If you really think about it,
     This kind of attitude
     Is like a butcher

     Who comes to
     Rip out the life
     Of your future higher birth.

The point here is that, if something so small as breaking a single
minor vow can escalate so far, then needless to say when we amass
a collection of even greater transgressions it's only proper that
it would eventually lead us precisely to one of the three lower
realms to a kind of pain which is totally beyond our ability to
withstand it.

For this reason we must be sure never to think lightly of any
transgression we might commit, even down to the minor vows; we must
absolutely keep all our vows just so.  And so you must become
masters in understanding all the various vows and advices related
to whichever one of the eight sets of the vows of freedom you have
assented to follow.  And once you have learned them perfectly, well
then you must make them the essence of your practice.

This is what you are requesting, said our Lama, from your Lama in
this verse.  You are asking that he or she help you gain the
strength to keep your vows perfectly; that you learn to think of
the vows contained within your being as the true representative of
the Buddha himself, inside you; that you love and cherish your
vows, and always hope to defend them.  You are asking, he said, to
be granted the ability to follow the way of this and the other
extraordinary trainings, exactly as they were meant to be.  


                 OPEN STEPS FOR THOSE OF GREATER CAPACITY





               VII.  Developing the Wish for Enlightenment 


This brings us to the third and final part of the advices on how to
take the essence of this life: how lastly to train one's mind in
the Steps of the path for persons of greater spiritual capacity. 
Here too there are two divisions.  The first is how to develop the
Wish for enlightenment, and is presented in the single verse of the
root text which follows.


                                    (7)

     I have slipped and fallen
     Into the sea
     Of this suffering life;
     Bless me to see
     That every living being,
     Every one my own mother,
     Has fallen in too.
     Grant me then
     To practice this highest
     Wish for enlightenment,
     To take on myself
     The task of freeing them all.

Now the Sutra that Viradatta Requested says,

     Were the merit of the Wish for enlightenment
     To take on some kind of physical form
     It would fill the reaches of space itself
     And then spill over farther still.

The book called The Bodhisattva's Life too has lines like the
following:

     All the other
     Kinds of virtue
     Are like a bamboo tree;

     They give their fruits
     And then they always
     Die and go away.

     But the Wish
     For Buddhahood
     Is an evergreen that always

     Gives forth its fruits,
     And instead of fading
     Flourishes even more.

The Great Lord has also spoken:

     Those great beings
     Who meditate
     On the method,
     
     And so upon
     The various kinds
     Of wisdom,

     Achieve then
     Enlightenment
     With speed.

     It cannot be done
     By meditating
     On no-self-nature alone.

Our Lord Lama himself says finally,

     The Wish for enlightenment
     Is the central beam
     That holds up every path
     Of the way which is supreme.

We can see from these and other works that the fine qualities of
the Wish for enlightenment are limitless.  From the first moment
that you and I decide we are going to try to reach the state of a
Buddha, this Wish for enlightenment is something we can never do
without.

The minute we reach this state of mind, even if we have no other
admirable qualities at all, we win the title of "Son (or Daughter)
of the Buddha."  We also then enter the ranks of people who live
the greater way.

If though we lack this great Wish, then it doesn't matter how many
great virtues we might possess abilities like being able to
meditate on the ultimate view, where we see that things have no
nature of their own.  We still won't be able to join the ranks of
those on the greater way, much less reach enlightenment.  And so
the Wish is vital.

In the sections where we trained ourselves in the steps that are
shared with practitioners of lesser and medium capacity, we
meditated on the sufferings of the lower realms, and of the entire
circle of life, but relative only to ourselves.  In this way we
developed the virtue of a healthy disgust for the kind of life we
live.

Here you take the same thoughts and transfer them you try to feel
them relative to the condition that others are in.  Then compassion
and the other attitudes will start to grow within you; train your
mind thus in the proper progression, using either the "seven-part,
cause-and-effect instruction," or else the practice called
"exchanging self and others," following these methods as the books
on the Steps of the path to Buddhahood describe them.

You must train yourself in all the relevant details; an example
would be committing yourself through formal rituals to the Wish as
a prayer and to the Wish as actual action, once you had reached a
point such as finding your first strong feelings of familiarity
with the Wish.

The meaning of the root text here then is as follows.  I myself
have slipped and fallen into the sea of the pain of this suffering
life; that is, I have dropped into the ocean of the circle of
births.  I cannot even guess how deep it is, nor how far its edges
lie.  The great sea-waves of my deeds and the afflictions of my
mind, of birth and getting old and death, rage around me.

A great host of ruthless creatures living in the water rise up and
attack me constantly; these are the three sufferings the suffering
of outright pain, the suffering of pleasure that changes, and the
suffering of simply being alive.  They rip at me, they torture me,
relentlessly, unceasingly.

And the same thing is happening to every other living being.  Every
one of them has in the past been my own mother; in the
beginningless string of lives I have lived through, they cared for
me and sheltered me, with incredible kindness.

I must learn to see how all these fellow beings have fallen in too,
how they have been thrown down into misery by this mass of
suffering.  And then I must resolve to take upon myself the task of
freeing them all from every pain, and from every cause of pain.  I
must assure they reach every form of happiness.  I will do it
myself, alone, without waiting or depending on anyone else.  Beyond
everything, I myself will see to it that every one of them climbs
to the state of a Buddha.

In short, said our Lama, we are asking our Lama for the ability to
find fierce feelings of love and compassion, states of mind where
we can bear not a moment longer to watch our fellow, mother beings
live so bereft of happiness, and so plagued by suffering.  We are
asking that these feelings inspire in us the highest aspiration,
the true and uncontrived Wish for enlightenment.  And we are asking
our Lama for the ability to meditate upon this Wish, and practice
it, and make it totally perfect, right here, on this very seat,
before we stand up again.


             VIII.  General Training in Bodhisattva Activities

With this we have reached the second division to the instruction on
how to train one's mind in the Steps of the path for persons of
greater spiritual capacity.  This division covers training yourself
in the activities of a bodhisattva, once you have managed to
achieve the Wish for enlightenment just described.

Our discussion proceeds in two parts: training in the open half of
the bodhisattva activities, and training in the secret half of the
bodhisattva activities.  The former has two steps as well; the
first of these explains how to train oneself in the activities as
a whole, and is presented in a single verse of the root text.


                                    (8)

     Bless me to see clearly
     That the Wish itself
     Is not enough,
     For if I'm not well trained
     In the three moralities,
     I cannot become a Buddha.
     Grant me then
     A fierce resolve
     To master the vows
     For children of the Victors.

Suppose you are able, as described above, to reach the Wish for
enlightenment, where you truly hope to achieve the state of a
Buddha in order to help every living being.  This itself is not
enough.  Once you do reach the Wish, you must still take on the
vows of these bodhisattva princes and princesses, these sons and
daughters of the victorious Buddhas.  And then you must train
yourself in giving and the other five perfections.  Otherwise there
is no way you could ever come to enlightenment.

This fact explains why it is so very important when holy beings
have said that all six perfections are covered in the three types
of morality.

The first type is called the "morality of keeping oneself from
committing wrong."  Here you begin by being extremely careful to
keep the morality of avoiding the ten bad deeds.  This type of
good behavior is common to everyone, whether they wear the robes or
not, and must absolutely be maintained.

More specifically, with this first type of morality, you must in
addition exert yourself to the fullest, so to assure that your life
is never sullied in the least by overstepping the bounds of any of
the vows you have agreed to keep.  Here we refer to vows that
belong to any of the three traditional sets: the freedom vows, the
bodhisattva vows, and the secret vows.

The second type of morality is known as the "morality of collecting
goodness."  This is where you use a great variety of means to
gather or collect extremely potent stores of virtue into your
being; these are the virtues of amassing merit and wisdom.

The third type of morality is the "morality that acts for every
sentient being."  Here you take care to keep the different
varieties of morality mentioned above that involve restraining
yourself from wrong; but instead of doing so with a motivation
which is infected with any self-interest, you act only out of an
intention to reach total Buddhahood for the sake of all living
kind.

You must find a sure kind of knowledge where you see clearly how if
you lack a total fluency in these three types of morality, if you
are not well trained and completely accustomed to following
them then you cannot become one of those who has reached the fully
enlightened state of a Buddha.

Once you have found this knowledge, you must take on the vows for
the "children of the Victors" (that is, the bodhisattva vows), and
then with a resolve of fierce intensity you must learn and master
the three types of morality.  What we are requesting of our Lama
here, said our Lama, is that he or she grant us the ability to do
so.


                IX.  Training in the Final Two Perfections

Having presented the bodhisattva activities in general, we will now
turn to the more particular description of how to train oneself in
the final two perfections.  This point is covered in the single
verse of the root text which follows.


                                    (9)

     Grant that I may quickly gain
     The path where quietude
     And insight join together;
     One which quiets
     My mind from being
     Distracted to wrong objects,
     The other which analyzes
     The perfect meaning
     In the correct way.

The verse here speaks of objects which are "wrong"; this should be
understood as referring to objects which are mistaken, in a
particular sense.  One example would be trying to develop
meditative concentration by fixing the mind on a short stick of
wood, as some non-Buddhists advocate.  We must seek to "quiet" the
mind that is, stop the mind from being distracted to these types of
wrong, external objects.

There are Tibetan schools of the past too which have taught that
meditative quietude consisted of not thinking about anything at
all, just keeping the mind in some dark state of dullness.  The
high state of perfect insight then they explain as moving in this
stupor to a realization of the pure and simple emptiness of the
deceptive nature of the mind except they describe this emptiness as
what you come to when you analyze whether or not what we call the
"mind" consists of any shape or color, and then fail to find that
it's any such thing.

But none of these ideas is correct; rather, we must follow texts
such as the briefer and more expanded explanations of the Steps to
the path composed by the Lord himself, where he presents the
instructions given by the Great Regent, Loving One, in his own work
entitled Separating the Middle and the Extremes.

These treatises describe how one progresses in steps by eliminating
the five problems to meditation, taking the eight corrective
actions, and achieving the nine mental states, complete with their
four different modes.


One thus attains a kind of bliss, a total pliancy of body and mind,
which comes from staying in one-pointed meditation on any virtuous
object one chooses.  This then leads to what we call meditative
quietude.

The phrase "perfect meaning" here in the verse refers to a
particular object: the fact that nothing has any nature of its
own.  A kind of wisdom used for examining the nature of something
analyzes this object in a certain correct way, and by the end of
its analysis comes to a definite conclusion.  The mind stays in
meditation upon this truth, such that the analysis and a fixation
on this object join and work together.  This brings on a feeling of
bliss that fills the mind completely and one has thus achieved what
we call "perfect insight."

We seek to practice this process, where quietude and insight are no
longer separated one from the other.  When we recite the verse we
are asking our Lama to grant that, as a result, we may quickly gain
within our minds that exceptional form of realization where
meditative quietude and perfect insight join together.

                SECRET STEPS FOR THOSE OF GREATER CAPACITY





                    X.  Entering the Way of the Diamond

This brings us to the second part of our discussion about the
activities of a bodhisattva: training oneself in the secret half of
these endeavors.  Here there are three different Steps: how to
enter into the Way of the Diamond by making oneself a worthy vessel
and then receiving a pure form of the four empowerments; how to
keep pure the pledges and vows that one took on when he received
the empowerments; and how to meditate upon the two stages of this
path, as one continues to maintain his pledges and vows.  The first
of these three is presented in the single verse of the root text
which follows.


                                   (10)

     Grant that once I've practiced well
     The paths shared and become
     A vessel that is worthy,
     I enter with perfect ease
     The Way of the Diamond,
     Highest of all ways,
     Holiest door to come inside
     For the fortunate and the good.

You must first have practiced well the general Steps of the path
which are "shared" by both the open and the secret teachings; that
is, which are so important for both that you could never succeed
without them.  More specifically, you must have trained your mind
well in the three principal paths: renunciation, the Wish for
enlightenment, and the correct view of reality.  On top of this
you must have as your motivation a very fierce desire to reach
enlightenment for the sake of every living being.  These then make
you a vessel that is worthy to enter the Way of the Secret Word.

When this time has come you must surely enter the "Way of the
Diamond"; which is to say, this Way of the Secret Word.  It is the
highest of all the "different ways" the ways of the listeners, the
self-made Buddhas, and the bodhisattvas.  What makes the Diamond
Way higher is that is has certain unique features, such as using
the goal of practice as a path to the goal.

The Tibetan word for "diamond" here is dorje.  This is a
translation of the Sanskrit word vajra a term that has the basic
meaning of "inseparable."  The "diamond" here is the actual diamond
of the holy mind of the Buddha; that deep state of meditation which
can only be compared to a diamond.  You can also say it refers to
that one type of wisdom which is the inseparable combination of
what we call "method" (great bliss) and "wisdom" (emptiness).

The word for "way" here has a meaning of "conveyance" something you
get on and ride to reach a destination.  The "diamond way"
mentioned here is thus a kind of "diamond conveyance" as well.  In
the way of the perfections, one must carry on his practice for
three "countless" eons in order to reach Buddhahood.  This takes
so long that it's almost as if you were walking on foot, rather
than travelling on any sort of conveyance.

If though you use the Diamond Way, the Way of the Secret Word, no
such length of time is needed: you can attain the state of secret
Buddhahood, Union, in the length of but one lifetime even in one of
the very short kinds of life that we have here now, in the age of
degeneration.  In fact it's possible to reach Buddhahood in no more
than three years and three months.  This way then is a method which
is incredibly deep and quick; more like riding a fine racehorse.

The kinds of practitioners that we call "listeners" and "self-made
Buddhas" aspire only to reach a state of blissful peace, and this
too only for themselves.  They are deficient therefore in that
fortunate kind of good virtue that makes one want to take on the
burden of helping others.  Bodhisattvas, on the other hand,
disregard completely their own comfort and work only for the good
of others.  They are full of the wonderful fortune and goodness
that enables them to reach the state of a perfect Buddha, and the
ability to fulfil, totally, the ultimate needs of both others and
themselves.

What is the "holiest" (meaning highest) door, or gateway, for
bodhisattvas for these people who are so fortunate and good to come
inside this path?  It is receiving the four empowerments of the
Diamond Way, the Way of the Secret Word, and receiving them
perfectly, so that they are sure to plant the seeds for the four
bodies of a Buddha.

What we are requesting in this verse then, said our Lama, is that
our Lama grant us the ability to enter, with perfect ease, the
profound path just described: the Way of the Diamond, the
unsurpassed form of the Secret Word.


                    XI.  Keeping Vows and Pledges Pure

With this we have reached the second Step to training oneself in
the secret half of the bodhisattva activities; that is, how to keep
pure the pledges and vows that one took on when he received his
secret empowerment.  This Step too is presented in a single verse
of the root text:


                                   (11)

     Bless me to know
     With genuine certainty
     That when I've entered thus,
     The cause that gives me
     Both the attainments
     Is keeping my pledges
     And vows most pure.
     Grant me then
     To always keep them
     Even if it costs my life.

Now suppose you have entered thus you have made yourself a vessel
which is worthy of the Diamond Way, the Way of the Secret Word; and
you have received, in the proper manner, the four different
empowerments.  If you then follow the correct method you can gain
both the attainments: the one we call the "ultimate," and the one
we describe as "shared."

The ultimate attainment is reaching secret Union, where there is
nothing more to be learned.  This is the state of the Victorious
One, the Keeper of the Diamond.

The shared attainments are those such as the "eight great
attainments."  These include the special powers known as the sword,
the eye ointment, swift feet, the pill, passing underground,
disappearing, taking essence, and sky walking.

What then is it that can give you these attainments?  Their cause
or foundation, the very support that holds them all up, is one
thing, and only one: to keep most pure every one of the root and
secondary pledges and vows which you took upon yourself when you
were granted the empowerments.

We must therefore honor and keep, just as we are required, the
various vows and pledges.  For the bodhisattva vows, this means
never committing any of the eighteen root downfalls, or the
forty-six secondary violations.  For the secret vows, it involves
avoiding perfectly the fourteen root downfalls and the eight
serious offenses, while being sure to honor the general and also
the individual pledges of the Five Classes.

You will never be able to protect all your pledges and vows unless
you manage to slam shut the four doors through which the downfalls
make their appearance.  These four are ignorance, disrespect,
carelessness, and particularly severe mental afflictions.

To keep these doors closed we must, respectively, learn and know
when and how a downfall occurs.  We must contemplate the laws of
actions and their consequences, thereby gaining a deep respect for
the various instructions on how to keep these commitments.  We must
remain in a constant state of recollection and watchfulness. 
Finally, we must employ the antidote that will work against the
particular mental affliction that happens to be our own most
serious problem.

As for where to find instructions on the vows and pledges, you can
use a number of works by the Lord, Tsongkapa.  Some examples would
be his treatise called Highway to Buddhahood for advice on the
bodhisattva vows, or the Golden Harvest of Attainments for a
complete explanation of the root downfalls in the secret vows.

At the very least you should study the book of advices on the three
sets of vows known as the String of Shining Jewels, or one of those
summaries in verse that teach about the secret and bodhisattva
vows.  Use any of these presentations, brief or long, according
to the time you have available to you; come to a firm understanding
of each of the vows and pledges, and then at all costs keep them.

Let's say you are able to keep your vows and pledges as
described you live your life in proper accordance with them all. 
Certain results will follow then, even if you find yourself unable
to make great efforts in practices such as meditation on the stages
of creation and completion, and so therefore fail during this life
to reach the final end of the various paths and levels.

The immense power of the purity of your pledges and vows will lead
you over the string of your future lives to attain a very special
kind of life, where you can practice the secret teachings.  You
will always meet an authentic Diamond Master one who teaches you
the secret way.  And you will always find yourself able to put the
secret paths into actual practice.

As such you will, without a doubt, be able to reach total
enlightenment within seven lifetimes, or in sixteen at the very
most.  On this our Teacher, the Keeper of the Diamond, has spoken
the following in the Tantra of the Treasure of Secrets:

     If the person is granted
     A pure empowerment,

     Then life after life
     Will the power be given.

     Within seven lives
     The goal is reached,

     Even if the person
     Does not meditate.

     But those who keep
     The meditation,

     And further maintain
     Their pledges and vows

     Will reach the goal
     Within this life or,

     Past deeds preventing,
     At least in the next.

Vibhuti Chandra says as well,

     Even should he fail to meditate,
     A person will reach the goal
     Within the length of sixteen lives,
     So long as a downfall has not occurred.

The Book of the Five Pledges concurs:

     As long as there is no downfall,
     The goal is reached in sixteen lives.

You must come to know these facts with genuine certainty that is,
you must seek a kind of firm belief in them that is deeply rooted
within you, so much that no one else could ever change your mind. 
And because of this knowledge you must then protect your
commitments, "even if it costs your life."

What would it be to cost your life?  Imagine for example some
follower of a non-Buddhist religion, or some kind of barbarian, who
was really very cruel, very evil.  And suppose he came up to you
and said, "If you don't agree not to keep those pledges and vows of
yours, then I swear I will kill you, this very instant."  Suppose
it were completely decided: either you reject this morality, or you
die.

At the "cost of your life" then your choice would go like this.  If
I discard my morality now he will spare me; but the ultimate hope
of my infinite lifetimes will be murdered instead.  It's really the
same as being killed myself.  If though I can keep my morality I
will reach the happiness that I've lived all these lives to find. 
So if to keep my morality now I must let him kill me, then let it
be so.  I will never give up these morals.

In short, if it comes down to choosing between giving up your life,
and letting this morality degenerate, you had surely better choose
the first.  The one thing here in this birth that you cherish above
all else is your own life.  What you are requesting from your Lama
is that he or she grant you the power to always keep your vows and
pledges properly; that you reach a point where you cherish these
commitments infinitely more than your own precious life.



                 XII.  Meditating on the Two Secret Stages

This brings us to the third Step to training oneself in the secret
half of the bodhisattva activities, which is how to meditate upon
the two stages of this path, while one continues to maintain his
pledges and vows.  This Step too is presented in a single verse of
the root text.

                                   (12)

     Bless me next
     To realize precisely
     The crucial points
     Of both the stages,
     The essence of
     The secret ways.
     Grant me then
     To practice as
     The Holy One has spoken,
     Putting all my effort in
     And never leaving off
     The Practice of the Four Times,
     Highest that there is.

One may wonder, "Suppose I am able to maintain my vows and pledges;
what must I do after that?"  The highest of Victors, Kelsang
Gyatso, has spoken the following:

     The point
     May be birth or death or the state between them.

     The time
     Most important for planting their seeds is now.

     The way
     To transform them is the practice of creation and completion.

     The refuge
     You must learn is the three final bodies themselves.


What's being said here is that, first of all, you must continue to
keep each and every one of the secret vows and pledges, as
explained above.  Then you must practice the very essence of the
great sea of the secret ways.  Here first is the stage of creation,
which is exemplified by a number of methods.

We tend to see things in an ordinary way, we take them to be no
more than what they seem to us; we tend to grasp this way to the
place where we live, to our own body, to the things we own and use,
and to things like the parts that make up us, and the world: what
we call the "heaps," the "categories," and the "doors of sense." 
We have also always had to undergo an ordinary birth, ordinary
death, and ordinary passage between death and birth.

In the stage of creation we transform all these seemingly ordinary
things and events; we turn them into the three bodies of a
victorious Buddha.  We take whatever presents itself to us: all
that appears to our eyes, all that reaches our ears, and all that
comes in our thoughts, and we make it show itself as total and
absolute purity, as a galaxy of perfection, as great celestial
mansions, as holy angels, as a magical dance put on by our Lamas.

As for the stage of completion, some mistakenly equate it with
concentrating solely on a meditation that involves the various
channels and winds, and which results in achieving a rather
ordinary kind of inner heat.  Others make the error of thinking it
is some high spiritual path when you succeed in nothing more than
perceiving how the essence of the mind is that it is aware and
knowing.

The real stage of completion though is not like this; rather, you
take the various winds which course through the body because of
one's ordinary conceptual thinking, and redirect them all into the
central channel in a three-fold process of entrance, residence, and
absorption.  As a result a primal state of mind arises, the clear
light, the wisdom which is simultaneous.  And the power of this
wisdom makes all of existence appear as the play of bliss and
emptiness.

In the path of the stage of creation then we meditate over and over
on this and related practices, until finally we are able to bring
about the Union of the holy body and holy mind: we reach the state
of the Lord of the Secret World, the Keeper of the Diamond.

All this makes it clear why we must study, and study well, the path
that includes both the secret stages.  We will have to realize all
the crucial points of how to actually carry out these two stages. 
Our understanding must be unerring; it must conform precisely with
the true intent of Teacher, as revealed in the secret texts, and
the explanations of great and accomplished masters.

Then we must put forth all our efforts; that is, we must exert
ourselves continually and steadily, to the proper degree not
overdoing it, and not underdoing it.  These efforts should go
towards following the Practice of the Four Times of the day:
daybreak, morning, afternoon, and the early night.  We must make
this practice the single highest activity that there is in our
lives, and try never to leave off doing it.

Now there are false teachings that some persons simply make up on
their own, out of an ignorant desire for gain.  There are paths
that are absolutely backwards, and there are paths that will lead
you astray.  There are paths that are infected by mistaken concepts
from an old local religion, or from some non-Buddhist faiths of
ancient India, or anything of the like.

What we are requesting of our Lama here, said our Lama, is that he
or she grant us the power never to wander onto one of these paths. 
We are asking for the strength to practice, in exactly the proper
way, the instructions found in the highest of spoken words.  And
these are the teachings of the "Holy One" mentioned in the verse. 
These words refer to a person who can never deceive us; a being who
is incapable of lying; that ultimate meditator who keeps the
practice of the times: they refer to the victorious, transcendent
Buddha.

                              THE CONCLUSION






                  XIII.  A Request for Good Circumstances

This brings us to the third major division of the text, which is a
request so that we can attain all the favorable conditions for
succeeding in the path, and also stop all those circumstances that
might keep us from success.  This request is contained in the
single verse of the root text which follows.


                                   (13)

     Bless me, grant me that
     The spiritual Guide
     Who shows me this good road,
     And all my true
     Companions in this quest
     Live long and fruitful lives.
     Bless and grant me that
     The rain of obstacles,
     Things within me
     Or outside me
     That could stop me now,
     Stop and end forever.

So there are these different sorts of spiritual paths, of widely
varying quality: some are totally correct, some are totally wrong,
some slide off from right to wrong, and on and on.  You and I have
access to a path which is pure, and unmistaken, and free of any
error.  We can either enter it now or go off on some wrong road
that goes astray.  If this second is our choice then we can try to
follow such a way for a thousand years, but it is an absolute
impossibility that we will derive from it any good or certain
result.

The Great Fifth Dalai Lama has said,

     It's quite nice when you consider
     A teaching to be of your school
     When the Lama who teaches it wears
     A silk cap with the saffron stain.

     But remember many are robbed
     By the thief of wandering thoughts,
     Left empty-handed of riches,
     The unique word and the realizations
     Passed down the Family line.

These lines describe people in our school whose knowledge is so
little that the only difference they can see between followers of
traditions such as the Lineage of the Word or the Ancient Ones, and
the tradition of the Virtuous Way, is that some wear lama hats
which are red and others wear caps of yellow.  People like this are
unable to cite a single one of the unique, profound features that
distinguish the physical word and the mental realizations of our
teachings from those of the other traditions.  These people are a
disgrace to our school.

Don't let yourself be one of these.  For once in your many
lifetimes you have met up with a truly pure system, a school like
purified gold.  The beliefs that it teaches have been perfectly
refined and assayed, like gold that has been through the fire, the
shears, and the file.  These tests have been carried out with
endless hardships by our Gentle Protector, Tsongkapa the Great, who
has delivered to us this precious essence of the teachings of the
powerful beings of Enlightenment.

We have met with this system, and we must see that a real meeting
takes place.  We must find and take ourselves properly to a
spiritual Guide, one who is truly qualified, and who follows our
tradition perfectly in both his viewpoint and his practice.  We
should undertake to study the five great classics, the five great
volumes of the Word, and bring this study to its final end, thereby
coming to a firm and accurate understanding of how the two levels
of reality work.

We must examine and resolve every question about how to put into
practice within our own lives that path where method and wisdom are
ever inseparable.  We must, in short, ask for and receive teachings
on the immaculate system of the greater way; we must learn the
various clarifications of these teachings by our Lord Lama and his
spiritual Sons, and by those who have come after them; and we must
hear the private advices passed along in the oral tradition.  And
then finally we should use the traditional method to master these
teachings, in the three steps of learning, contemplation, and
meditation, each one always combined with the others.

If we do all this we will win a good goal, for we will have found
what the verse calls the "good road": the path that leads to the
land of Enlightenment, the path that never wanders someplace else.

To succeed like this, to actually carry out the path described
above such a good road in the way it combines the open and secret
teachings we will first need to achieve the various conditions that
are favorable for us.  We'll need to reach the state where our mind
is perfectly pliable, and other such qualities.  Most of all we
will need a spiritual Guide who can show us this road, and
companions in the quest genuine friends of a like mind, who are
true in keeping each and every one of the Teacher's instructions.

The first thing we are asking our Lama to grant us then is that
these true friends live long and fruitful lives, that their two
legs remain planted here on earth with the immutability of a
diamond.

Secondly we are requesting our Lama to bless and grant us, that
every last bit of the rain of obstacles which could ever appear
might stop and end forever.  The first kind of obstacles are those
things outside of us that could stop us now from reaching our
spiritual goals; the main ones would be living in a country where
the leaders behave in contradiction to the Dharma or where they
refuse to allow people to enter the Way by fighting against
religion, or the like.

The second type of obstacles are those that are within; examples
here would be things like illnesses and harmful spirits that attack
your body, or a mental inability to direct your thoughts towards
virtuous objects any way you want.  

Our Lama noted lastly that for this and the preceding sections
there were a good number of essential points covered in traditional
advices: what visualizations to perform at each point, how to bring
down a flow of nectar to purify oneself, and so on.  He said that
we should learn these by referring to descriptions found in the
more detailed, practical presentations of the Steps of the path.



                      XIV.  A Prayer for Future Care

We have come now to the fourth and final section in the text of the
"Source of All My Good."  This is a prayer that, in all our future
lives, we may be taken under the care of a Lama, and so gain the
strength to reach the end of the various levels and paths.  Here
again the point is covered in a single verse of the root text:


                                   (14)

     In all my lives
     May I never live
     Apart from my perfect Lamas,
     May I bask
     In the glory
     Of the Dharma.

     May I fulfil
     Perfectly
     Every good quality
     Of every level and path,
     And reach then quickly
     The place where I
     Become myself
     The Keeper of the Diamond.

The verse says, in all my lives that is, in this and in all my
future lives to come may I never live apart from my Lamas, may I
never spend a moment without them.  These Lamas are "perfect": they
are spiritual Guides who have all the right qualifications; they
are the great Lama Lobsang, Lord of the Powerful, who is the Keeper
of the Diamond.

And in these lives may I bask in the glory of the Dharma: may I
seek unceasingly to drink of the Dharma either in the sense of the
open and secret teachings, or the teachings that are "deep" and
"wide" the instructions on correct view and living the life of a
bodhisattva.

May I then put into actual practice all the Steps of the path,
exactly as these Lamas have taught me to do.  If I can do so then
I will fulfil each and every good quality of the ten levels and the
five paths.  And I will fulfil them just right, which is to say
perfectly, or to the highest degree which exists.

And may I reach then the place where I become myself the Lama,
Lobsang, Lord of the Powerful Buddhas, the Keeper of the Diamond. 
May I do so quickly: in this very life, or at least within seven
lifetimes, or no more than sixteen.

Make thus a prayer that you can have the virtuous fortune to make
all this come true.

This verse, the one that begins with the words "In all my lives,"
does not appear at the end of the original text of the Source of
All My Good.  Nonetheless, said our Lama, there is a reason why it
is added here in conclusion, and why I have given an explanation of
it.

Generally speaking, there are three different objects that you and
I can pray for: three goals towards which we can dedicate the power
of a great good deed such as the practice we have just completed. 
The first is to dedicate our virtuous act so that it might turn
into a cause for us to achieve Enlightenment.  An example of this
kind of dedication would be the verse which starts with the line,
"By this virtue may all beings..."

We can secondly dedicate our good deed to become a cause for the
teachings to spread in the world.  A typical verse here would be
the one that starts with "The prayers of bodhisattva princes, as
many as the drops of water in the Ganges..."

The third way to dedicate a great goodness is so that it brings
ourselves and others to be taken under the care of a Lama.  Here
there are verses like the one with the line about the "matchless
Word of the Teacher."

Once a Lama has taken us into his or her care, the other two goals
come then of their own accord.  For this reason, any verse
dedicated to the third kind of goal is a brief and powerful
combination of both dedication and prayer.  And this is why the
custom prescribed by a great many wise and accomplished saints of
our past lineage has been to attach this verse at the end of the
work.


                              _______________


And so I have finished fully offering up to you all this my
explanation of the lines known as the Begging for a Mountain of
Blessings.  It is but a brief explanation, barely enough to avoid
losing the basic outline.

This Mountain of Blessings contains the cream of the holy thoughts
of our gentle protector, the great Tsongkapa.  It is an
extraordinary instruction; it packs a tremendous amount of meaning
into but a very few words.  In a sense it rips open and lays bare
the innermost heart of all the 84,000 great masses of teachings
delivered by the Buddhas.

As I mentioned above, the works called Open Door to the Highest
Path and the Source of All My Good were composed by our Lord Lama
and delivered as a supplication above the hermitage of the Victor,
near the monastery of Radreng, which stands to the north.  

Once he had made his supplication, the precious Tsongkapa found
himself face to face with each and every Lama of the lineage of the
teachings on the Steps on the path to Buddhahood.  At the same
moment many auspicious signs occurred which portended how the Lord
would elucidate these same teachings, making them as clear to us as
the Sun in the sky.  These and other great deeds would he perform,
deeds both powerful and effective in furthering the teachings and
the needs of living beings.

Each and every one of us here, those of great intellect and those
of lesser, must all emulate the life of the Lord Lama, whose mighty
activities spread as far as space itself does.  We must do whatever
we can to see that these instructions on the Steps of the path to
Buddhahood take root and flourish within the minds of ourselves and
others.

To accomplish this we must first carry out certain preliminaries:
we must collect the power of great good deeds, clean ourselves of
our past bad deeds, and make a request to our Lamas for strength. 
For this we will need a practice, something like the text called
the Preliminary Practices, or else the Thousand Angels.

At the very least we should acquaint ourselves thoroughly with the
meaning of the verses of this very brief work.  We must make great
efforts in a wide variety of related practices, beginning with
review meditation to plant desirable seeds in the stream of our
mind.

Remember here the words of Tuken Chukyi Nyima:

     What is the Dharma we should learn?  And how are we to
     learn it?  There is one and only one being who sees with
     perfect accuracy each and every crucial point of what we
     should take up and what we should abandon; this being is
     the Buddha.

     Therefore the Dharma that we choose to learn should be
     the Lamp of the Path by Lord Atisha, and works like the
     longer and shorter presentations of the Steps which
     clarify his true intent.  The reason is that these
     instructions present in their totality the keys which the
     Buddha himself taught in the open and secret teachings,
     for actually carrying out the Dharma in one's own life.

     It's true that we could choose a different way and devote
     ourselves in the short term to learning all those weird
     little scraps of Dharma that somebody supposedly found
     under the ground, or supposedly fell out of the sky into
     somebody's lap, or supposedly got handed down by word of
     mouth from some ancestors of ancient times.

     In the long run though all these can only deceive us. 
     This is precisely what happened with great holy beings of
     the past, authentic masters such as Milarepa and
     Kyungpo.  For a time they deigned to study such works,
but later on they were forced to discard them like so
much manure, and go on to seek a different Dharma, one
that would actually make them enlightened.

This too we learn from the lips of Changkya Rolpay Dorje:

     It's true that
     In the past
     Buddhas beyond all counting

     Have spoken
     Perfect Dharmas,
     By the millions, in multitudes.

     Yet where else
     Is a book
     Like the Steps to Buddhahood,

     The eloquent
     Instructions
     Of the Lord, Lobsang Drakpa,

     Where he
     Takes all
     The highest of words, the teachings

     Of Buddhas of Power
     And combines their intent
     Into one, with nothing left out at all.

     His is a Dharma
     That benefits all,
     People of high intellect or lesser;

     His is a Dharma
     That never errs,
     In its view, meditation, and activities too.

     Let this then
     Be your practice,
     Those with the goodness to hear it.

And finally, Gungtang Tenpay Dronme has spoken too:

     It may seem
     There are many teachings they call "profound,"

     But the mind
     Settled down in the Dharma sees

     That when you go
     To take the essence of leisure and fortune,

     Your savior will be
     The cream of the thought of Victors of all three times:

     The supreme tradition
     Of the Lord, the Victor, Lobsang;

     Where every crucial point
     Is absolutely complete, and without any error 

     The definitions,
     And divisions, and order, and all other details

     Of the path
     Where open and secret, teaching and practice combine.

     For the main stage
     Follow review meditation on these,

     Every day that goes by
     It will plant many seeds in your mind.

     Follow as well
     For the stages of starting and ending

     Just what
     Our Lord Lama has taught us to do.

What these Lamas are telling us is that we have at our disposal
whatever Dharma we need: we have the longer, and medium, and more
brief presentations of the Steps to both the open and secret paths,
all set out for us by the Lord, his spiritual Sons, and the various
teachers who have followed them.

You have thus in your own two hands a great basket; the lid is wide
open, and the basket brims with precious jewels.  So don't let your
mouth start watering every time you hear somebody spout some
meaningless chatter about some new and very oh-so-very "profound"
Dharma they've discovered.

Rather take yourself through the great texts and special advices of
the wise and accomplished masters of our own tradition, all in the
proper order of learning, contemplation, and meditation.  Get to a
point where you are totally fluent in all the Steps of the path,
first by making a conscious effort, and then later in an effortless
flow.

Plant and nurture within your own mind, one by one, the various
realizations such as disgust with this suffering life, and the wish
to reach enlightenment for every living being, and the ultimate
view of reality.  Along with these then develop the path of the two
secret stages.  Work at them until you achieve an extraordinary
level of personal experience in each.

Right now you have found a body and life that have every spiritual
leisure and fortune you could ever wish for.  This is the only time
all this could ever come together for you.  Don't let it slip away. 
Don't waste it on things that are meaningless.  Don't waste it on
things that have only little meaning.  Don't wait until you have
lost it forever.

As far as space itself reaches, there live sentient beings who have
been your mother.  They are old and feeble, they live lives of
desperation, and over the reaches of time they have lavished every
kindness upon you.  For their sake then you must now go and attain
this precious gem, the state of secret Union, the being of the One
who Keeps the Diamond.

Make haste, give it all your strength, follow the path given here,
reach your goal.  You must go now, said our Lama, go, and take the
ultimate essence of this one good life you have.


                              _______________


     It is the one immaculate path
     Travelled by each and every Victor;
     It is a treasure of cherished jewels,
     High words from the One of the Sugarcane.
     It is the great book of teachings upon
     Profound view and the far-reaching deeds
     Come down to us from the royal Regent,
     The Invincible Savior, and Gentle Voice.

     It descended in a perfect stream
     From the Father, Nagarjuna, and his Son;
     From Asanga, the Brother, and others too,
     Unprecedented from great innovators.
     Because of the kindness of one great God
     Along with the Lord named Dromton Je,
     Those of the Land of Snow had the glorious
     Fortune to obtain this teaching.

     Tibetan translators and Indian masters,
     A crowd of wise and accomplished saints,
     Undertook thousands of hardships to find
     Millions of scriptures and commentaries
     In the Land of the Realized; then here in Tibet
     A noble tradition spread and grew,
     Till many years later some without wisdom
     Began to corrupt it; the sun nearly set.

     Then came Tsongkapa, who was in truth
     The one called Soft and Glorious Voice.
     He opened the way to a new innovation,
     The magnificent system of teachings upon
     The Steps to the path of all the open
     And secret word of the Able Ones.
     That day was a powerful blessing bestowed
     On the fortunate masses who seek for freedom.

     Especially when they call this teaching
     The "essence of the highest of words,"
     Their praise has a point, for only it fits
     The sharpest and middle and dullest of minds.
     The Steps are too a spiritual Guide
     Who shows the path that is totally pure,
     They are eyes that let you see without fail
     What things you should practice, and what to give up.

     This brief abridgement of the keys
     Of the deep and widespread Steps of the path
     Was drawn from a song of experience
     Sung in sixty most glorious tones
     By a highly accomplished Saint unmatched
     In propounding the open and secret Word:
     Pabongka, the Essence of Greatest Bliss,
     Lord over all of his secret world.

     This excellent explanation then
     Is like the mother of the moon,
     The treasure trove of a king of kings,
     That holds in it all the Buddhas' Word.
     By the strength of a trillion Lords of Serpents,
     Who uphold the way of the Heaven of Bliss,
     May this teaching spread in a glorious spring
     Bringing help and happiness far as space.


                              _______________


And so ends this very brief explanation of the Source of All My
Good.  It was compiled primarily from a series of notes taken on
the 22nd day of the fourth month according to the Mongol system, in
the year of the water monkey [1932], at the retreat house known as
Tashi Chuling.

The notes are of a teaching delivered by that God of a Secret
World, the Protector of All Around Him, the Lord, the Magnificent
Keeper of the Diamond: Pabongka, whose kindness knows no equal.  At
the time he had consented to confer a secret initiation upon a
group of some thirty very fortunate disciples, including among them
the good and glorious Lama of Golok, Jampel Rolpay Lodru, as well
as Ganggiu Trulku Rinpoche, the son of Sholkang.

A number of empowerments and instructions upon them were given,
centered on the Five Angels of the outer secret world, as well as
other aspects of the secret practice of Highest Bliss, according to
the tradition of Gantapada.  The present explication was granted as
the required preliminary to the initiation.

There were also a number of other occasions on which we received
brief but very profound instructions on this teaching directly from
this very Keeper of the Diamond.  For my own benefit, so that I
would be able to retain these advices, I had taken down some brief
notes and kept several sets of them in my possession.  It had
always been my intention to organize them into a single work at
some later point in time.

The notes came to the attention of the esteemed Yangdzom Tsering,
a high lady of noble family.  She is one of the great religious
sponsors of our land; her faith in the teachings of Lobsang, the
King of Buddhas, and in the Lamas and disciples who keep these
teachings, is totally unbreakable, unequalled, unshakable as the
diamond mountain at the center of the universe.

This noble lady insisted vehemently that I should with all haste
come out with a manuscript of the notes which would immediately be
carved onto woodblocks and printed.  This duty I undertook, not
daring to drag my feet or delay the project even so long as it
would take to offer the text to others for proofing, editing, and
other such tasks.

Along with this encouragement came a second motivation, which was
my own desire to benefit fellow disciples whose intellect might be
as feeble as the one I possess.  And so in a great rush I have put
together this treatise, combining together all my sets of notes,
and the most essential points of whatever I myself was able to
grasp with certainty from what he taught.

This labor was accomplished by myself, whose ordination name is
Lobsang Dorje, and who hails from the monastery called Den.  The
writing took place at Ganden Palace, located on the estate of the
family of Hlalu.  The final pages were completed on the auspicious
day of the Meeting of the Angels, during the waning of the moon in
the month of wo, in the year of the fire monkey [1956].

I pray that this good deed may act as a cause that will give me the
strength to further within my own and all other beings' minds the
immaculate essence of the open and secret Word: the teachings of
the Great Tsongkapa, the Buddha himself returned to us.


                              _______________


     She is a sponsor of the Dharma
     Whose gifts of faith spread far and wide,
     And Yangdzom Tsering in the deed done here
     Has given birth to a pure white force.
     May this power send her across the spiritual
     Levels and paths, with the speed of a carriage,
     And bring her quickly to the capital city
     Of secret Union, before and beyond all time.


                        Let goodness grow forever!


                 EQUIVALENTS FOR TRANSLATED PROPER NAMES


As explained in the "Notes to the Translation" in the foreword,
selected proper names with symbolic meaning in the original Asian
languages have been translated into English.  The following list
gives the equivalents for these names, in the following order:
phoneticized Tibetan, romanized Tibetan, phoneticized Sanskrit, and
romanized Sanskrit (the latter two only where relevant).


Ancient Ones: Nyingma (rNying-ma)

Diamond: Dorje Nelnjorma (rDo-rje rnal-'byor-ma), Vajra Yogini
(Vajrayogini{-})

Angel with the Face of a Lion: Sengdongma (Seng-gdong-ma),
Simhamukhi (Sim{.}hamukhi{-})

Ceremony of the Tenth: Tsechu (Tses-bcu)

Frightener: Jikje ('Jigs-byed), Bhairava (Bhairava)

Gentle Voice: Jampay Yang ('Jam-pa'i dbyangs) or Jampel Yang
('Jam-dpal dbyangs); Manjughosha (Man{^}jughos{.}a) or Manjushri
(Man{^}jus{'}ri{-})

Heaven of Bliss: Ganden (dGa'-ldan), Tushita (Tus{.}ita)

Holder of the Diamond: Chakna Dorje (Phyag-na rdo-rje), Vajrapani
(Vajrapa{-}n{.}i)

Keeper of the Diamond: Dorje Chang (rDo-rje 'chang), Vajradhara
(Vajradhara)

Keepers of the Word: Kadampa (bKa'-gdams-pa)

Lineage of the Word: Kagyu (bKa'-brgyud)

Loving Eyes: Chenresik (sPyan-ras gzigs), Avalokiteshvara
(Avalokites{'}vara)

Loving One: Jampa (Byams-pa), Maitreya (Maitreya)

One Who Keeps the Diamond: see Keeper of the Diamond

Practice of Six: Tundruk (Thun-drug)

Thousand Angels: Ganden Hlagyama (dGa'-ldan hla brgya-ma)

Union of the Spheres: Korlo Dompa ('Khor-lo sdom-pa), Chakrasamvara
(Cakrasam{.}vara)

Virtuous Way: Gelukpa (dGe-lugs-pa)


                                   NOTES



Hi Barbara:

These are the sections that have changed.  The words are all the
same with very minor changes.  Suggest you just replace the whole
paragraphs.

****************************************

Sitting in the center, in mid-air before us, is Tsongkapa.  Inside
his heart is Gentle Voice*, or Manjushri, who is the image of all
the Buddhas' wisdom.  In the heart of Gentle Voice is another holy
being, Vajradhara this is the Keeper of the Diamond*, or the Buddha
of the secret teachings.  His body is blue, and within his own
heart is the Sanskrit letter huung.  This letter is marked with
another letter, mam.

On Tsongkapa's own right is his disciple Gyaltsab Je, whose full
name is Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen.  Within this disciple's heart is
Loving Eyes*, whose Sanskrit name is Avalokiteshvara, and who is
the embodiment of all the Buddhas' love.  Inside the heart of
Loving Eyes is again the Keeper of the Diamond, and in his heart
the letter huung, marked with a mam.

On the other side, to Tsongkapa's left, is his disciple Kedrup Je,
whose full name is Kedrup Je Gelek Pelsang.  Inside of his heart is
the Holder of the Diamond*, or Vajrapani, and in the Holder's heart
is the Keeper of the Diamond.  Within the Keeper's heart is a
letter huung, marked with a mam.

***********************************************

And so you will free them, and you will free them quickly, now. 
But is there any way to do it so fast?  The answer is yes, there is
a way, a path that works faster than any other, a path which is
very deep and powerful and holy.  This is the Tantric path, the
secret path of the Diamond Queen*: Vajra Yogini.

**************************************************

According to the tradition of the Diamond Queen, the best
initiation to prepare yourself for her own initiation and path is
the one we call the "Union of the Spheres*," or Chakrasamvara. 
There are though other initiations of the unsurpassed group which
you can seek if you cannot get this one; for example, there is the
initiation of the being known as Frightener*, or Bhairava, which is
much shorter and easier than the one for the Union of the Spheres,
and still qualifies you to take her initiation later.

****************************************************

So we are working mainly towards the day when we can receive
initiation into the practice of the Diamond Queen.  This will allow
us to receive her teachings, and then to carry them out.  To do
this, we will first have to seek any one of the preliminary
initiations into the secret teachings of the unsurpassed group, the
highest group of secret teachings.

*****************************************************

Herein contained is a book named Opening Your Eyes to What You
Should Keep, and What You Should Give Up.  It consists of a brief
series of notes that were taken at a teaching delivered by the Lord
of the Secret World, Vajradhara, the Keeper of the Diamond*, the
Good and Glorious Pabongka.  The teaching was a profound
explanation of the text known as the Source of All My Good, a 

work which is the distilled essence of the Steps of the path to
Buddhahood.

********************************************************

As he began the teaching, the Lord himself led us in reciting the
Essence of Wisdom, and then the prayer of Simhamukhi the Angel with
the Face of a Lion*, from the part where we ward off any evil that
might disrupt the teaching, all the way up to the words "May
goodness come to be," in the way we usually do them.

Then in turns we took the lead, sounding out in unison the various
verses that include the words "Virtues perfected finally," and "the
Loving One*, Avalokiteshvara, with Asanga," and "Gentle Voice*,
Manjushri, with the one who destroyed the extremes of being and
not," and "The one of great compassion," and "Teaching what to
learn, to reach," and "Founder from the Land of Snows," and "All
three places of refuge in one," and "The constellations of the
highest of words," and "In all my lives."

**********************************************************

As such you will, without a doubt, be able to reach total
enlightenment within seven lifetimes, or in sixteen at the very
most.  On this our Teacher, the Keeper of the Diamond, has spoken
the following in the Tantra of the Treasure of Secrets:

     If the person is granted
     A pure empowerment,

     Then life after life
     Will the power be given.

***********************************************************

Ancient Ones: Nyingma (rNying-ma)

Angel with the Face of a Lion: Sengdongma (Seng-gdong-ma),
Simhamukhi (Sim{.}hamukhi{-})

Ceremony of the Tenth: Tsechu (Tses-bcu)

Diamond Queen: Dorje Nelnjorma (rDo-rje rnal-'byor-ma), Vajra
Yogini (Vajrayogini{-})









                         BIBLIOGRAPHY


We would like to acknowledge the valuable assistance of Dr. Artemus
Engle in compiling the bibliography and notes.  Information on many
of the works and authors mentioned is as yet far from standardized;
dates are taken for the most part from the listings of the U.S.
Library of Congress.  These are a tremendous resource resulting
from the selfless efforts of E. Gene Smith over the entire length
of the Library's commendable SFCP foreign texts collection program. 

We wish also to thank Dr. C.T. Shen, founder of the Institute for
the Advanced Studies of World Religions in Carmel, New York, for
kindly facilitating the use of the excellent Tibetan collection at
the Institute's Woo Ju Memorial Library.  Ven. Ngawang Thupten and
Ven. Jampa Lungrik of the Rashi Gempil Ling Kalmyk Mongolian Temple
also assisted in researching a number of texts.

Much of the task of compiling this bibliography was undertaken from
digital data supplied by the Asian Classics Input Project (ACIP). 
This is a new resource which reduces the time for much textual
research down to a fraction of what was previously required.  We
would like to express our gratitude to Sera Mey Tibetan Monastic
University and Dr. Robert J. Taylor for their efforts in making
this database available to the international scholastic community,
without cost.

Some of the works listed below include both Tibetan and Western
pagination; these are indicated by "f" (folio) and "p" (page)
respectively.  The following abbreviations are also used:

   ACIP = Available in electronic, searchable computer format from
          the Asian Classics Input Project.  Asian Classics Input
          Project CD-ROM Materials.  Washington, DC, and New York:
          The Asian Classics Input Project, as of 1995.

    KGD = bKa'-'gyur collection of Buddhist scripture, "Red Derge"
          (sDe-dge mtsal) edition in 103 vols.  sDe-dge: sDe-dge
          par-khang, 1730.  Reprinted at Delhi under the direction
          of the 16th rGyal-dbang Karma-pa: Delhi Karmapae Chodhey
          Gyalwae Sungrab Partun Khang, 1979, SFCP; also in
          microfiche from the Institute for the Advanced Studies of
          World Religions (IASWR), Carmel, New York.  Catalog and
          some parts available on disk from ACIP.

    KGL = bKa'-'gyur collection of Buddhist scripture, "Lhasa"
          edition in 101 vols.  Lhasa: Zhol par-khang, 1934;
          microfiche edition available from IASWR.  Catalog and
          some parts available on disk from ACIP.

   SFCP = Known to be available in hard copy at 18 American
          libraries among texts of the Special Foreign Currency
          Program, Tibetan Acquisitions Program.  Washington, DC:
          United States Library of Congress, as of 1994.

    SHE = Mi-rigs dpe-mdzod khang. Bod gangs-can gyi grub-mtha'
          ris-med kyi mkhas-dbang brgya dang brgyad-cu lhag gi
          gsung-'bum so-so'i dkar-chag phyogs-gcig tu bsgrigs-pa
          shes-bya'i gter-mdzod ces-bya-ba bzhugs so, stod-cha dang
          smad-cha.  Si-khron: Si-khron mi-rigs dpe-skrun khang,
          vol. I, n.d.; vol. II, 1983, ACIP refs. R0003, R0010.

    STP = Computer Catalog of the Tibetan Collection of the St
          Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of
          the Russian Academy of Sciences.  St Petersburg: St
          Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies of
          the Russian Academy of Sciences, with the collaboration
          of the Asian Classics Input Project, 1994.

    TGC = bsTan-'gyur collection of Buddhist commentary, "Chone"
          edition in 209 vols.  Co-ne, Tibet: Co-ne dgon chen, c.
          1725; microfiche edition also available from IASWR.

    TGD = bsTan-'gyur collection of Buddhist commentary, "Derge"
          edition in 215 vols.  sDe-dge: sDe-dge par-khang, 1730. 
          Reprinted at Delhi under the direction of the 16th rGyal-
          dbang Karma-pa: Delhi Karmapae Chodhey Gyalwae Sungrab
          Partun Khang, 1985, SFCP, also available from IASWR. 
          [This reprinting contains numerous errors.]  Catalog and
          some sections available on disk from ACIP; some hard-copy
          sections, properly edited, available from the University
          of Tokyo.

    TOH = Ui, Prof. Hakuju, et al. A Complete Catalogue of the
          Tibetan Buddhist Canons (Bkah{.}-h{.}gyur and
          Bstan-h{.}gyur), in 2 vols.  Sendai, Japan: Tohoku
          Imperial University, 1934 (for ref. nos. 1-4569).

          Kanakura, Prof. Yensho, et al.  Catalogue of the Tohoku
          University Collection of Tibetan Works on Buddhism. 
          Sendai, Japan: The Seminary of Indology, Tohoku
          University, 1953 (for ref. nos. 5001-7083), ACIP ref.
          R0016.
 
   TSEN = Bod-kyi bstan-bcos khag-gi mtsan-byang.  mTso-sngon:
          mTso-sngon mi-rigs dpe-skrun khang, c. 1980.



A. Works in Tibetan and Sanskrit

B1 Kirti Blo-bzang 'phrin-las.  Byin-rlabs spungs-zhus kyi tsig-
'grel nyung-bsdus bzhugs so, 4 ff. in vol. 6 (cha) of collected
works, according to SHE, vol. I, p. 24.

B2 Kirti Blo-bzang 'phrin-las.  Yon-tan gzhir-gyur-ma'i 'grel-pa
nyung-bsdus bzhugs so, 7 ff. in vol. 6 (cha) of collected works,
according to SHE, vol. I, p. 24.

B3 (dPal-mgon 'phags-pa) Klu-sgrub (Na{-}ga{-}rjuna).  dBu-ma rtza-
ba'i 'grel-pa ga-las 'jigs med (Mu{-
}lamadhyamakavr{.}ttyakutobhaya), ff. 29b-99a in vol. 1 (tza) of
the dBu-ma section of TGD, TOH ref. 3829, ACIP ref. TD3829, SFCP.

B4 ______. dBu-ma rtza-ba'i tsig-le'ur byas-pa shes-rab ces-bya-ba
(Prajn{^}a{-}na{-}mamu{-}lamadhyamakaka{-}rika{-}), ff. 1a-19a in
vol. 1 (tza) of the dBu-ma section of TGD, TOH ref. 3824, ACIP ref.
TD3824, SFCP.

B5 ______. Rigs-pa drug-cu-pa'i tsig-le'ur byas-pa zhes-bya-ba
(Yuktis{.}as{.}t{.}hika{-}ka{-}rika{-}na{-}ma), ff. 20b-22b, vol.
1 (tza) in the dBu-ma section of the TGD.  TOH ref. 3825, ACIP ref.
TD3825, SFCP.

B6 ______. bShes-pa'i spring-yig (Suhr{.}llekha), ff. 40b-46a, vol.
94 (nge) in the sPring-yig section of the TGC.  TOH ref. 4182,
SFCP.

B7 Klu'i rgyal-po rnga-sgra'i tsigs-su bcad-pa (Na{-}ga{-}ra{-
}jabheri{-}ga{-}tha{-}), ff. 314a-320b in the mDo-mang section of
the KGL, TOH ref. 325, SFCP. 

B8 ('Jam-dbyangs bzhad-pa sku-phreng gnyis-pa) dKon-mchog 'jigs-med
dbang-po.  Lam-rim dmar-khrid 'Jam-dpal zhal-lung gi sngon-'gro
sbyor-ba'i chos-drug nyams-su len-tsul, pp. 227-251 in Vol. 8 of
collected works.  New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1971, SFCP.

B9 (Gung-thang) dKon-mchog bstan-pa'i sgron-me.  Mi-rtag-pa sgom-
tsul gyi bslab-bya tsigs-su bcad-pa bzhugs so, pp. 117-122 in vol.
4 (nga) of collected works.  New Delhi: Gedan Sungram Minyam
Gyunphel Series, Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1972.

B10 (rGyal mkhan-sprul) sKal-bzang grags-pa rgya-mtso, ed.  rJe
Blo-gros rgya-mtso'i zhal snga nas, Yon-tan gzhir-gyur-ma'i khrid,
Sems-bskyed mchod-pa, Blo-sbyong tsig-brgyad-ma'i khrid dang, dBu-
ma'i bshad-lung, Grub-chen brgyad-cu'i rjes-gnang sogs stzal skabs
kyi so-so'i zin-bris thor-bu phyogs bkod bzhugs so, 12 ff. in vol.
1 (ka) of collected works, according to SHE, vol. I, p. 325.

B11 (rGyal-dbang Blo-bzang) sKal-bzang rgya-mtso.  Rab-'byams-pa
dGe-'dun grags-pa la springs-pa'i zhal-gdams, pp. 457-461 in the
section entitled Blo-sbyong dang 'brel-ba'i gdams-pa dang snyan-
mgur gyi rim-pa phyogs-gcig tu bkod-pa don-ldan tsangs-pa'i sgra-
dbyangs, pp. 397-502 in vol. 1 of collected works.  Gangtok: Dodrup
Sangye, 1975-1983, TOH ref. 5847, SFCP. 

B12 ______.  Sems yid-gting nas skyo-ba'i snang-glu, pp. 483-490 in
the section entitled Blo-sbyong dang 'brel-ba'i gdams-pa dang
snyan-mgur gyi rim-pa phyogs-gcig tu bkod-pa don-ldan tsangs-pa'i
sgra-dbyangs, pp. 397-502 in vol. 1 of collected works.  Gangtok:
Dodrup Sangye, 1975-1983, TOH ref. 5847, SFCP.

B12A ______. [Untitled praise of the tradition of Je Tsongkapa],
pp. 475-476 in the section entitled Blo-sbyong dang 'brel-ba'i
gdams-pa dang snyan-mgur gyi rim-pa phyogs-gcig tu bkod-pa don-ldan
tsangs-pa'i sgra-dbyangs, ibid.

B13 ('Phags-pa) Khyim-bdag dPas-byin gyis zhus-pa zhes-bya-ba
theg-pa chen-po'i mdo (variant spellings dPa' and dPal)
(A{-}ryavi{-}radattagr{.}hapatiparipr{.}ccha{-}na{-}mamaha{-}ya{-
}nasu{-}tra), ff. 339a-355a, vol 5 (ca) in the dKon-brtzegs section
of the KG, etc.  TOH ref. 72.

B14 mKhas-grub rje (dGe-legs dpal bzang-po).  rJe-btzun bla-ma
Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i ngo-mtsar rmad-du byung-ba'i rnam-par thar-
pa dad-pa'i 'jug-ngogs zhes-bya-ba bzhugs so, pp. 5-146 in vol. 1
(ka) of the collected works of (rGyal-ba rje) Tzong-kha-pa (chen-po
Blo-bzang grags-pa).  New Delhi: Mongolian Lama Gurudeva, on behalf
of Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, 1978, SFCP, TOH ref. 5259.

B15 ______. rJe rin-po-che'i gsang-ba'i rnam-thar rgya-mtso lta-bu
las cha-shas nyng-ngu zhig yongs-su brjod-pa'i gtam rin-po-che'i
snye-ma bzhugs, pp. 169-200 in vol. 1 (ka) of the collected works
of (rGyal-ba rje) Tzong-kha-pa (chen-po Blo-bzang grags-pa).  Ibid,
SFCP, TOH ref. 5261. 

B16 ______. Sa-lam gyi rnam-gzhag mkhas-pa'i yid-'phrog ces-bya-ba,
pp. 309-337 in vol. 9 (ta) of collected works.  Delhi: Mongolian
Lama Guru Deva on behalf of Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, 1980, TOH ref.
5495, SFCP.

B17 (rGyal mkhan-po) Grags-pa rgyal-mtsan, ed.  Yon-tan gzhir-gyur-
ma'i khrid kyi zin-bris bzhugs so, 6 ff. in volume 4 (nga) of
collected works, according to SHE, vol. I, p. 314.  The person who
gave the teachings is identified in the work's colophon at STP ref.
02058, and 05645, only as sKyabs-mgon rin-po-che.

B18 (Co-ne bla-ma) Grags-pa bshad-sgrub.  Chos-mngon mdzod kyi
t{.}'ikka rgyal-ba sras bcas 'phags-tsogs thams-cad kyi dgongs-don
gsal-bar byed-pa'i nyi-ma zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so.  Lhasa: Ser-smad
grva-tsang edition sponsored by Thub-bstan nor-bzang, 1770, 211
ff., ACIP ref. S0027.

B19 (dGe-ba'i bshes-gnyen) Gro-lung pa (chen-po, Blo-gros 'byung-
gnas).  bDe-bar gshegs-pa'i bstan-pa rin-po-che la 'jug-pa'i lam
gyi rim-pa rnam-par bshad-pa bzhugs so (bsTan-rim chen-mo).  N.p.,
n.d., carving sponsored by 'Phrin-las bstan-'dzin and Blo-bzang
chos-'byor, 548 ff., ACIP.

B20 (rGyal-ba) dGe-'dun grub-pa.  Dam-pa'i chos mngon-pa mdzod kyi
rnam-par bshad-pa thar-lam gsal-byed ces-bya-ba.  Varanasi, India:
W'a-n{.}a mtho-slob dge-ldan spyi las-khang, 1973, 391 pp.  TOH
ref. 5525, SFCP, ACIP ref. S5525.

B21 ('Phags-pa) rGya-cher rol-pa (zhes-bya-ba theg-pa chen-po'i
mdo) (A{-}ryalalitavistarana{-}mamaha{-}ya{-}nasu{-}tra), ff. 1b-
216b in vol. 2 (kha) of mDo-sde section of KGD, TOH ref. 0095, ACIP
ref. KD0095, SFCP.

B22 ('Brom-ston rJe) rGyal-ba'i 'byung-gnas.  'Brom chos kyi rgyal-
pos mdzad-pa'i rang-rgyud la skul-ma 'debs-pa'i dad-pa'i ljon-shing
dang sbyor-ba'i chos, reported on pp. 91 and 632 of TSEN.

B23 ______. 'Brom-ston-pa'i gsung-btus, pp. 90-95 in Legs-par
bshad-pa bKa'-gdams rin-po-che'i gsung gi gces-btus nor-bu'i bang-
mdzod ces-bya-ba bzhugs so.  Bir, India: D. Tzondu Senghe, 1985,
reproduced from Lhasa bZhi-sde blocks, 593 pp, TOH ref. 6971.

B24 ______. 'Brom-ston-pas Zhang-phrang kha-ber chung la springs-
yig phyi-ma, pp. 105-109 in Legs-par bshad-pa bKa'-gdams rin-po-
che'i gsung gi gces-btus nor-bu'i bang-mdzod ces-bya-ba bzhugs so,
ibid.

B25 rGyal-tsab rje (Dar-ma rin-chen).  Tsad-ma rnam-'grel gyi tsig-
le'ur byas-pa'i rnam-bshad thar-lam phyin-ci-ma-log-par gsal-bar
byed-pa (rNam-'grel thar-lam gsal-byed), pp. 3-874 in vol. 6 (cha)
of collected works.  New Delhi: published by Mongolian Lama
Gurudeva on behalf of Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, 1982, TOH ref. 5450,
SFCP, ACIP ref. S5450.

B26 (lNga-pa chen-po rGyal-dbang) Ngag-dbang blo-bzang rgya-mtso. 
Byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i 'khrid-yig 'Jam-pa'i dbyangs kyi zhal-
lung zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so.  Dharamsala, India: Namgyal Tibetan
Monastery, 1989, based on blocks from rMe-ru phun-tsogs gling, 95
ff.  TOH ref 5637, SFCP.

B27 Ngag-dbang ye-shes thub-bstan rab-'byams-pa.  mDo-sngags lam
gyi lus yongs-rdzogs tsang la ma-nor-ba smon-lam gyi tsul du gdams-
pa Byin-rlabs spungs-zhu-mar grags-pa'i rnam-bshad skal-bzang rna-
ba'i bcud-len zhes-bya-ba bzhugs so, 24 ff. in volume 2 (kha) of
collected works, according to SHE, vol. I, p. 361.

B28 (Slob-dpon) Chos-kyi grags-pa (Dharmaki{-}rti).  Tsad-ma rnam-
'grel gyi tsig-le'ur byas-pa (Prama{-}n{.}ava{-}rttikaka{-}rika{-
}), ff. 94b-151a in vol. 1 (ce) of the Tsad-ma section of the TGD,
TOH ref. 4210, ACIP ref. TD4210, SFCP.

B29 Chos-spyod rab-gsal skal-bzang skye-bo'i mgul-rgyan.  Mundgod,
South India: 'Bras-spungs Blo-gsal gling dpe-mdzod khang, 1992, 676
pp.

B30 (mChims) 'Jam-pa'i dbyangs.  Chos-mngon mdzod kyi tsig-le'ur
byas-pa'i 'grel-pa mngon-pa'i rgyan zhes-bya-ba bzhugs so (mChims-
mdzod).  From blocks at Ngo-mtsar lhun-grub zil-gnon rje 'bum lha-
khang, n.d., 430 ff.  TOH ref. 6954; STP refs. 05398, 05399, 05400;
SFCP; TSEN.

B31 (Dvags-po bla-ma rin-po-che) 'Jam-dpal lhun-grub.  Byang-chub
lam gyi rim-pa'i dmar-khrid myur-lam gyi sngon-'gro'i 'don gyi
rim-pa khyer-bde bklags-chog bskal-bzang mgrin-rgyan zhes-bya-ba
bzhugs so.  Kalimpong, India: Mani Printing Works, c.
1965, 25 ff.

B32 (Kun-mkhyen) 'Jam-dbyangs bzhad-pa'i rdo-rje.  rJe-btzun
Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i rnam-thar ras-bris kyi tsul brgya
nga-gsum-pa tzinta-ma-n{.}i'i phreng-ba thub-bstan rgyas-byed
phan-bde'i rol-mtso chen-po, pp.  285-336 of vol. 4 (nga) of
collected works.  New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1972, SFCP, ACIP.

B33 'Jigs-med bsam-gtan.  Yon-tan gzhir-gyur-ma'i 'grel-pa tsig-don
ku-mud bzhad-pa'i zla-'od, reported on p. 634 of TSEN.  A work by
the same name is said in this source to have been authored by
Zhang-ston bsTan-pa rgya-mtso dpal bzang-po (see entry B35).  STP
ref. 02804 also gives the author of a text by this name as Pan-
rgyan bsTan-pa rgya-mtso.

B34 (Slob-dpon) rTa-dbyangs (As{'}vaghos{.}a).  Bla-ma lnga-bcu-pa
(Gurupan{^}ca{-}s{'}ika{-}), ff. 9b-11b, vol. 206 (tsu) in the
rGyud section of the TGC.  TOH ref. 3721, SFCP.

B35 (Zhang-ston) bsTan-pa rgya-mtso dpal bzang-po.  Yon-tan gzhir-
gyur-ma'i 'grel-pa tsig-don ku-mud bzhad-pa'i zla-'od, reported on
p. 344 of TSEN.  A work by the same name is said in this source to
have been authored by 'Jigs-med bsam-gtan (see entry B33).  STP
ref. 02804 also gives the author as Pan{.}-rgyan bsTan-pa rgya-
mtso, and the work as 7 ff. in vol. 2 (kha) of his collected works.

B36 (mKhas-grub) bsTan-pa dar-rgyas (dpal bzang-po).  bsTan-bcos
mngon-par rtogs-pa'i rgyan 'grel-pa dang bcas-pa'i mtha'-dpyod
legs-par bshad-pa pad-ma dkar-po'i 'phreng-ba zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so
(Phar-phyin mtha'-dpyod).  New Delhi: printing sponsored by Geshe
Lobsang Tharchin, 1981, 767 pp, ACIP ref. S0001.

B37 ______. bsTan-bcos mngon-par rtog-pa'i rgyan rtza-'grel gyi
spyi-don rnam-bshad snying-po rgyan gyi snang-ba zhes-bya-ba
bzhugs-so (Phar-phyin spyi-don).  New Delhi: printing sponsored by
Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, 1980, 604 pp, ACIP ref. S0009.

B38 ('Phags-pa) Thogs-med (Asan{*}ga).  rNal-'byor spyod-pa'i sa
las nyan-thos kyi sa (Nyan-sa) (Yogacarya{-}bhu{-}mau
s{'}ravakabhu{-}mi), ff. 1a-201a, vol. dzi (49) in the Sems-tzam
section of the TGC.  TOH ref. 4036, SFCP.

B39 (Khal-kha) Dam-tsig rdo-rje. Lam-rim bla-ma brgyud-pa'i gsol-
'debs lam-mchog sgo-'byed, Byin-rlabs nye-brgyud kyi gsol-'debs
dngos-grub snye-ma, Blo-sbyong don-bdun-ma'i gsol-'debs tsogs-gnyis
rab-rdzogs-ma, Phyag-chen gsol-'debs lhun-grub sku-gsum-ma rnams la
so-sor kha-skong sbyar-ba dang, bDud tsar-gcod-pa'i sngags dang de-
bzhin-gshegs-pa'i yig-brgya gsung-chos kyi man{.}d{.}al, Lam-rim
smon-lam bcas phyogs-gcig-tu bsgrigs-pa byin-rlabs chu-rgyun zhes-
bya-ba bzhugs so, 16 ff. in vol 1 (ka) of collected works, written
as a zhal-'don text for the dGa'-ldan bkra-shis tse-'phel gling gi
lam-rim chos-grva, reported at STP ref. 04291.

B40 (Pha) Dam-pa sangs-rgyas. rJe-btzun dam-pa sangs-rgyas kyi
zhal-gdams ding-ri brgya-rtza-ma bzhugs-so.  N.p., printed from
Ding-ri Glang-dkor blocks now preserved at Dra-mo Monastery in
Khumbu, 1970, 12ff.  Cf. TOH ref. 7006, SFCP.

B41 Don-grub rgyal-mtsan, aka Ye-shes don-grub bstan-pa'i rgyal-
mtsan, ed.  Legs-par bshad-pa bKa'-gdams rin-po-che'i gsung gi
gces-btus nor-bu'i bang-mdzod ces-bya-ba bzhugs-so.  Bir, India: D.
Tzondu Senghe, 1985, reproduced from Lhasa bZhi-sde blocks, 593 pp,
TOH ref. 6971.

B42 'Dul-ba rnam-'byed (Vinayavibhan{*}ga), vol. 5 (ca, from f.
21a) and vols. 6-8 in the 'Dul-ba section of the KGD.  TOH ref.
0003, ACIP ref KD0003A-D.

B43 'Dul-ba gzhi (Vinayavastu), vols. 1-4 (ka-nga) in the 'Dul-wa
section of the KGD.  TOH ref. 0001, SFCP, ACIP ref KD0001A-D.  

B44 sDong-po brgyan-pa'i mdo (sDong-po bkod-pa)
(Gan{.}d{.}avyuhasu{-}tra), vols. 5 (ca, from f. 24a) and 6 (cha)
in the Phal-po-che section of KGL.  Included in TOH ref. 44.

B45 (Slob-dpon) rNam-grol zla-ba (Vibhu{-}ticandra).  sDom gsum
'od-kyi phreng-ba shes-bya-ba (Trisam{*}varaprabha{-}ma{-}la{-}na{-
}ma), ff. 54b-56b in vol. 206 (tsu) in the rGyud section of TGC,
TOH ref. 3727, SFCP.

B46 (Slob-dpon) Padma 'byung-gnas {@check Das (Padma{-}kara) & Blue
Annals (Padmasam{*}bhava}.  Dam-tsig lnga-pa (Samayapan{^}ca), ff.
28b-30b, vol. 137 (nya) in the rGyud section of the TGC.  TOH ref.
1224, SFCP.

B47 (Slob-dpon) sPyan-ras-gzigs brtul-shugs (Avalokitavrata). 
Shes-rab sgron-ma rgya-cher 'grel-pa (Prajn{^}a{-}pradi{-}pat{.}i{-
}ka{-}), ff. 1a-287a in vol. 4 (wa) of the dBu-ma section of the
TGD, TOH ref. 3859, ACIP ref. TD3859, SFCP.

Pha dam-pa sangs-rgyas; see (Pha) Dam-pa sangs-rgyas.

Pha-bong-kha-pa: see (sKyabs-rje Pha-bong-kha-pa rje-btzun) Byams-
pa bstan-'dzin 'phrin-las rgya-mtso (dpal bzang-po).

B48 (Bo-dong Pan{.}-chen) Phyogs-las rnam-rgyal.  Collected Works. 
New Delhi: Tibet House, 1969, 137 volumes, SFCP. 

B49 Bod-rgya tsig-mdzod chen-mo, 3 vols.  Beijing: Mi-rigs
dpe-skrun khang, 1985.

B50 (rJe-btzun) Byams-pa (Maitreya).  Theg-pa chen-po'i mdo-sde'i
rgyan zhes-bya-ba'i tsig-le'ur byas-pa
(Maha{-}ya{-}nasu{-}tra{-}lam{.}ka{-}rana{-}maka{-}rika{-}), ff.
1a-37a, vol. 44 (phi) in the Sems-tzam section of the TGC. TOH ref.
4020, SFCP.

B51 ______. dBus dang mtha' rnam-par 'byed-pa'i tsig-le'ur byas-pa
(Madhya{-}ntavibhan{*}gaka{-}rika{-}, ff. 37b-42a, vol. 44 (phi) in
the Sems-tzam section of the TGC.  TOH ref. 4021, SFCP.

B52 ______. Shes-rab kyi pha-rol tu phyin-pa'i man-ngag gi
bstan-bcos mngon-par rtogs-pa'i rgyan zhes-bya-ba'i tsig-le'ur
byas-pa (Mngon rtogs rgyan)
(Abhisamaya{-}lam{.}ka{-}rana{-}maprajn{^}a{-}pa{-}ramitopedes{'}
as{'}a{-}straka{-}rika{-}), ff. 1a-13a, vol 1. (ka) in the
Shes-phyin section of the TGC.  Toh ref. 3786, ACIP ref. no TD3786.

B53 (sKyabs-rje Pha-bong-kha-pa rje-btzun) Byams-pa bstan-'dzin
'phrin-las rgya-mtso (dpal bzang-po).  Khyab-bdag rDo-rje-'chang
Pha-bong-kha-pa dpal bzang-pos byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i snying-
po bsdus-pa Yon-tan gzhir gyur-ma'i zab-khrid gnang skabs kyi
brjed-byang mdor-bsdus-su bkod-pa blang-dor lta-ba'i mig rnam-par
'byed-pa zhes-bya-ba bzhugs so.  Lhasa: printing sponsored by
Yangdzom Tsering, c. 1956, 27 ff. ACIP.

B54 ______. rDo-rje 'chang Pha-bong-kha-pa dpal bzang-pos
Lam-gtzo'i zab-khrid stzal-skabs kyi gsung-bshad zin-bris lam-bzang
sgo-'byed ces-bya-ba bzhugs-so.  Lhasa printing sponsored by
Lha-klu family, c. 1930, 41 ff.  Comprises pp. 375-455 in vol. 8
(nya) of collected works, New Delhi: Chophel Legden under the
guidance of Kyabje Trijang Rinpoche, 1973.

B55 ______. rNam-grol lag-bcangs su stod-pa'i man-ngag zab-mo tsang
la ma-nor-ba mtsungs-med chos-kyi rgyal-po'i thugs-bcud byang-chub
lam gyi rim-pa'i nyams-khrid kyi zin-bris gsung-rab
kun gyi bcud-bsdus gdams-ngag bdud-rtzi'i snying-po zhes-bya-ba
bzhugs so (Lam-rim rnam-grol lag-bcangs).  Blocks at dGa'-ldan
Monastery, Mundgod, India: Indian recarving sponsored by sKyabs-rje
Khri-byang rin-po-che Blo-bzang ye-shes bstan-'dzin rgya-mtso, c.
1974, 392 ff., SFCP, ACIP ref. S0004.

B56 ______. Byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i sngon-'gro sbyor-ba'i chos-
drug nyams-su len-tsul theg-mchog 'phrul gyi shing-rta, pp. 191-280
in Vol. 5 (ca) of collected works, ibid.

B57 ______. Byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i dmar-khrid 'Jam-dpal zhal-
lung gi khrid-rgyun rgyas-pa dbus-brgyud lugs kyi sbyor-chos kyi
ngag-'don khrigs-chags su bkod-pa rgyal-ba'i lam-bzang, pp. 281-302
in Vol. 5 (cha) of collected works, ibid.

B58 ______. sByor-chos skal-bzang mgrin-rgyan gyi zab-khrid man-
ngag bla-ma'i zhal-lung dge-legs char-'bebs zhes-bya-ba, edited by
Ke'u-tsang shar dge-slong dGe-legs rgya-mtso, 84ff in Three Records
of the Oral Instruction of Pha-bon{*}-kha-pa bDe-chen-sn{^}in{*}-po
on the Essentials of the dGe lugs pa Approach to Buddhist Practice. 
New Delhi: Chophel Legden, 1977.

B59 Bye-brag tu rtogs-par byed-pa chen-po (Maha{-}vyutpatti), 2
vols. Tokyo: ed. Ryo{-}zaburo{-} Sakuki, 1962.  Also at ff.
1a-131a, vol. 125 (co) in the sNa-tsogs section of the TGC.  TOH
ref. 4346, SFCP (TGD).

B60 (rJe) Blo-gros rgya-mtso: see entry for (rGyal mkhan-sprul)
sKal-bzang grags-pa rgya-mtso.

B61 (Pan{.}-chen) Blo-bzang chos kyi rgyal-mtsan (dpal bzang-
po).  sNngon-chad kyi skyon mtsang 'byin-par byed cing, phyin-chad
gnyen-po'i lus-zungs bskyed-pa'i bdud-rtzi, pp. 550-557 in the
section Pan{.}-chen thams-cad mkhyen-pa chen-po'i gsung thor-bu-ba
phyogs-gcig tu bsdebs-pa rnams bzhugs so, pp. 15-833 in vol. 5 (ca)
of collected works.  New Delhi: Mongolian Lama Gurudeva, 1973.  TOH
ref. 5977 (section), SFCP.

B62 ______. Byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i dmar-khrid thams-cad
mkhyen-par bgrod-pa'i bde-lam zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so (bDe-lam). 
N.p., n.d., woodblock edition on Tibetan paper in possession of
Geshe Lobsang Tharchin, 31 ff.  TOH ref. 5944, SFCP, ACIP.

B63 ______. Tsul-khrims yang-dag-par srung-ba'i man-ngag ces-bya-ba
bzhugs so, pp. 457-497 in vol. 4 (nga) of collected works.  Ibid,
TOH ref. 5946, SFCP.

B64 (Thu'u-bkvan) Blo-bzang chos kyi nyi-ma, Thu'u-bkvan grub-
mtha'.  Kan-su'u: Kan-su'u mi-rigs dpe-skrun-khang, 1985, 485 pp.

B65 (Ke'u-tsang) Blo-bzang 'jam-dbyangs smon-lam.  Byang-chub lam
gyi rim-pa'i sngon-'gro sbyor-ba'i chos drug gi ngag-'don chu-'babs
su bkod-pa, pp. 255-423 in vol. 1 of collected works.  Dharmasala:
Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1984, SFCP.

B66 (Pan{.}-chen) Blo-bzang thub-bstan chos-kyi nyi-ma.  gSol-'debs
byin-rlabs spungs-zhus su grags-pa'i don-'grel mdzad-'phro, pp.
173-179 in vol. 2 (ga, due to vol ka not being printed) of
collected works.  New Delhi: Lha-mkhar yongs-'dzin bsTan-pa rgyal-
mtsan, 1973, SFCP.

B67 (rGyal-dbang) bLo-bzang 'phrin-las rnam-rgyal.  'Jam-mgon chos
kyi rgyal-po Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i rnam-thar thub-bstan mdzes-pa'i
rgyan-gcig ngo-mtsar nor-bu'i 'phreng-ba zhes-bya-ba bzhugs so,
with a forward by Yongs-'dzin Khri-byang rin-po-che mchog. 
Saranath: Legs-bshad gter-mdzod khang, 1967, 636 pp.

B68 (Gu-shri bKa'-bcu-pa Mer-gen mkhan-po) Blo-bzang tse-'phel. 
rGyal-ba'i gsung-rab rin-po-che dang lam-mchog sgo-'byed gnyis
sbyar te bshad-pa kun-mkhyen nye-lam zhes-bya-ba bzhugs so, 16 ff.
in vol. 2 (kha) of collected works, reported in SHE vol. I, p. 240,
TSEN p. 551.

B69 ______. rGyal-ba'i gsung-rab rin-po-che dang lam-mchog sgo-
'byed gnyis sbyar te bshad-pa rgyal-ba'i lam-bzang zhes-bya-ba
bzhugs-so.  79 ff., printing sponsored by Mong-gol-cin tsogs-chen
dGe-brkos Chos-rje ye-shes las-grub, colophon by dKon-mchog bstan-
pa'i sgron me, reported in STP ref. no. 08105; also reported in
vol. 2 (kha) of collected works at SHE vol. I, p. 240, and TSEN, p.
551.

B70 (A-kya Yongs-'dzin) dByangs-can dga'-ba'i blo-gros.  Byang-chub
lam-gyi rim-pa'i sngon-'gro sbyor-ba'i chos drug skal-ldan 'jug-
ngogs, pp. 47-77 in vol. 1 (ka) of collected works.  New Delhi:
Guru Deva Rinpoche, 1971.

B71 (Slob-dpon) dByig-gnyen (Vasubandhu).  Chos mngon-pa'i mdzod
kyi tsig-le'ur byas-pa bzhugs so (Abhidharmakos{.}aka{-}rika{-}),
ff. 1b-25a in the mNgon-pa section of the TGD.  Toh. ref. 4089,
ACIP ref. TD4089.

'Brom-ston rJe: see ('Brom-ston rJe) rGyal-ba'i 'byung-gnas.

B72 (dPal) Mar-me mdzad ye-shes (Di{-}pam{.}kara
S{'}ri{-}jn{^}a{-}na) (Aa-ti-sha).  Byang-chub lam gyi sgron-ma
(Bodhipathapradi{-}pa), ff. 238-241, vol. 16 (khi) in the dBu-ma
section of the TGD.  TOH ref. 3947 (also found at 4465), ACIP ref.
TD3947, SFCP.

B73 ______. Byang-chub lam gyi sgron-ma'i dka'-'grel
(Bodhipathapradi{-}pa pan{^}jika), ff. 241a-293a, vol. 16 (khi) in
the dBu-ma section of the TGD.  TOH ref. 3948, ACIP ref. TD3948,
SFCP.

B74 (rJe Karma-pa) Mi-bskyod rdo-rje.  rJe Karma-pa Mi-bskyod rdo-
rjes rGyal-ba Tzong-kha-pa chen-po la bstod-pa mdzad-pa, ff. 4b-5a
in the section entitled rJe Thams-cad mkhyen-pa Shar Tzong-kha-pa
Blo-bzang grags-pa'i dpal gyi ngang-tsul mdo-tzam brjod-pa dad-pa'i
pad-ma rgyas-par byed-pa'i bstod-tsig nyi-ma zhes-bya-ba Sa-skya'i
Pan{.}-chen gTzang sTag-tsang lo-tz'a-bas mdzad-pa sogs rJe'i
bstod-tsogs kyi skor 'ga'-zhig phyogs gcig tu bkod-pa bzhugs so,
ff. 1a-13a in rJe Pha bong kha pa and Intersectarian Relations in
Tibet.  New Delhi: Ngawang Topgay, 1977, 163 ff., SFCP.

B75 (Slob-dpon) Tzandra go mi (Candragomin).  Slob-ma la springs-
pa'i spring-yig (S{'}is{.}yalekha), ff. 46a-53a, vol. 94 (nge), in
the sPring-yig section of the TGC.  TOH refs. 4183, 4497, SFCP. 

B76 (rGyal-ba rje) Tzong-kha-pa (chen-po Blo-bzang grags-pa). 
mNyam-med Tzong-kha-pa chen-pos mdzad-pa'i byang-chub lam-rim
che-ba (Lam-rim chen-mo), pp. 33-1077 in vol. 13 (pa) of collected
works.  New Delhi: Mongolian Lama Gurudeva, on behalf of Geshe
Lobsang Tharchin, 1978, SFCP, TOH ref. 5392, ACIP ref. S5392.

B77 ______. sTod-lungs-pa Yon-tan rgya-mtso la gdams-pa, p. 613 in
the rJe thams-cad mkhyen-pa Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i bka'-'bum thor-
bu section (pp. 201-743) of vol. 2 (kha) of collected works.  Ibid,
TOH ref 5275(100).

B78 ______. sDom-brtzon sde-snod 'dzin-pa rGyal-ba'i ring-lugs-pa
chen-po dKa'-bzhi 'dzin-pa Shes-rab dpal bzang-po'i gsung lan, pp.
544-550 in the rJe thams-cad mkhyen-pa Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i bka'-
'bum thor-bu section (pp. 201-743) of vol. 2 (kha) of collected
works.  Ibid, TOH ref 5275(76B).  Note that the authors of the
Tohoku catalog have missed this work, and combined it with entry
5275(77).

B79 ______. Byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i brgyud-pa rnams la gsol-ba
'debs-pa'i rim-pa lam-mchog sgo-'byed zhes-bya-ba (Lam-mchog sgo-
'byed), pp. 202-206 in the rJe thams-cad mkhyen-pa Tzong-kha-pa
chen-po'i bka'-'bum thor-bu section (pp. 201-743) of vol. 2 (kha)
of collected works.  Ibid, TOH ref 5275(1), also 6995, and STP
00156.  The text of the Yon-tan gzhir-gyur-ma is inside this work
at pp. 203-205.

B80 ______. Byang-chub lam gyi rim-pa'i nyams-len gyi rnam-gzhag
mdor-bsdus (Lam-rim bsdus don, rJe Bla-ma'i nyams-mgur), pp. 308-13
in the rJe thams-cad mkhyen-pa Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i bka'-'bum
thor-bu section (pp. 201-743) of vol. 2 (kha) of collected works. 
Ibid, TOH ref. 5275(59).

B81 ______. Byang-chub sems-dpa'i tsul-khrims kyi rnam-bshad byang-
chub gzhung-lam zhes-bya-ba, pp. 513-728 in vol. 1 (ka) of
collected works.  Ibid, TOH ref. 5271.

B82 ______. dBu-ma la 'jug-pa'i rgya-cher bshad-pa dgongs-pa rab-
gsal zhes-bya-ba (dGongs-pa rab-gsal), pp. 3-535 in vol. 16 (ma) of
collected works.  Ibid, TOH ref. 5408, ACIP ref. S5408. 

B83 ______. Yang-dag-pa'i dge-ba'i bshes-gnyen Tsa-kho-ba mkhan-
chen Ngag-dbang grags pas, Shar rgyal-mo rong du sngon med-pa'i rab
tu byung-ba'i sde khyad-par-can btzugs nas phrin-yig springs byung-
ba'i lan, pp. 580-584 in the rJe thams-cad mkhyen-pa Tzong-kha-pa
chen-po'i bka'-'bum thor-bu section (pp. 201-743) of vol. 2 (kha)
of collected works.  Ibid, TOH ref. 5275(84).

B84 ______. Yon-tan gzhir-gyur-ma, see entry B79; also at TOH ref.
6995.

B85 ______. Rang-gi rtogs-pa brjod-pa mdo-tzam du bshad-pa (rTogs-
brjod 'dun legs-ma), pp. 302-308 in the rJe thams-cad mkhyen-pa
Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i bka'-'bum thor-bu section (pp. 201-743) of
vol. 2 (kha) of collected works.  Ibid, TOH ref 5275(58).

B86 ______. Rang la bskul-ba'i tsigs-su bcad-pa 'khor-ba las skyo-
ba'i gtam zhes-bya-ba, pp. 738-743 in the rJe thams-cad mkhyen-pa
Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i bka'-'bum thor-bu section (pp. 201-743) of
vol. 2 (kha) of collected works.  Ibid, TOH ref. 5275(134).

B87 ______. Lam gyi gtzo-bo rnam gsum, pp. 584-6 in the rJe thams-
cad mkhyen-pa Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i bka'-'bum thor-bu section (pp.
201-743) of vol. 2 (kha) of collected works.  Ibid, TOH ref.
5275(85), ACIP ref. S5275(85).

B88 ______. So-sor thar-pa'i sdom-pa gtan la dbab-pa, 'Dul-ba rgya-
mtso'i snying-po bsdus-pa zhes-bya-ba, pp. 319-321 in the rJe
thams-cad mkhyen-pa Tzong-kha-pa chen-po'i bka'-'bum thor-bu
section (pp. 201-743) of vol. 2 (kha) of collected works.  Ibid,
TOH ref. 5275(63).

B89 ______. gSang-sngags kyi tsul-khrims kyi rnam-bshad dngos-grub
kyi snye-ma zhes-bya-ba, pp. 373-512 in vol. 1 (ka) of collected
works.  Ibid, TOH ref. 5270.

Tse-mchog-gling Ye-shes rgyal-mtsan: see entry for Ye-shes rgyal-
mtsan.

B90 ('Bras Tre-bo dGe-bshes, 'Bras-spungs mtsan-zhabs) Tse-dbang
bsam-grub.  So-thar byang-sems gsang-sngags gsum gyi sdom-pa'i
bslab-bya nor-bu'i 'od-'phreng zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so.  N.p.
[India?]: printing sponsored by dGe-slong Blo-bzang nyi-ma and dGe-
bsnyen Blo-bzang phrin-las, n.d. [c. 1960?], 37 ff, SFCP, TSEN,
copy also reported at the library of 'Bras-spung blo-gsal gling
Tibetan Monastery, Mundgod, South India.

B91 (Slob-dpon) Zhi-ba lha (S{'}a{-}ntideva).  Byang-chub
sems-dpa'i spyod-pa la 'jug-pa (Bodhisattvacarya{-}vata{-}ra), ff. 
1a-39a in vol. 10 (la) in the dBu-ma section of TGD.  TOH ref.
3871, ACIP ref. TD3871, SFCP.

B92 (Slob-dpon) gZhan-la phan-pa (Parahita).  sTong-pa-nyid bdun-
cu-pa'i rnam-par bshad-pa (S{'}u{-}nyata{-}saptativivvr{.}ti), ff.
337a-374b in vol. 8 (ya) of the dBu-ma section of TGD.  TOH ref.
3868, ACIP ref. TD3868, SFCP.

B93 (dPal-ldan) Zla-ba grags-pa (Candraki{-}rti).  sTong-nyid bdun-
cu-pa'i 'grel-pa (S{'}u{-}nyata{-}saptativr{.}tti, ff. 267a-336b in
vol. 8 (ya) in the dBu-ma section of TGD.  TOH ref. 3867, ACIP ref.
TD3867, SFCP.

B94 ______. Byang-chub sems-dpa'i rnal-'byor spyod-pa bZhi-brgya-
pa'i rgya-cher 'grel-pa (Bodhisattvayoga{-}ca{-
}racatuh{.}s{'}atakat{.}i{-}ka{-}), ff. 30b-239a in vol. 8 (ya) in
the dBu-ma section of TGD.  TOH ref. 3865, ACIP ref. TD3865, SFCP.

B95 ______. dBu-ma rtza-ba'i 'grel-pa tsig gsal-ba zhes-bya-ba
(Mu{-}lamadhyamakavr{.}ttiprasannapada{-}na{-}ma), ff. 1a-200a in
vol. 7 ('a) in the dBu-ma section of TGD.  TOH ref. 3860, ACIP ref.
TD3860, SFCP.

B96 ______. dBu-ma la 'jug-pa zhes-bya-ba
(Madhyamaka{-}vata{-}rana{-}ma), ff. 198a-216a in vol. 23 ('a) in
the dBu-ma section of the TGC.  Toh ref. 3861, ACIP ref. TD3861.

B97 ______. Rigs-pa drug-cu-pa'i 'grel-pa (Yuktis{.}as{.}t{.}hika{-
}vr{.}tti), ff. 1a-30b in vol. 8 (ya) in the dBu-ma section of TGD. 
TOH ref. 3864, ACIP ref. TD3864, SFCP. 

B98 Yang-dag-par sbyor-ba'i rgyud (Samput{.}ana{-}matantra), ff.
354b-482a in vol. 3 (ga) of the rGyud-'bum section of the KGL.  TOH
ref. 381.

B99 (Tse-mchog-gling Yongs-'dzin) Ye-shes rgyal-mtsan.  Bla-brgyud
gsol-'debs kyi rim-pa lam-mchog sgo-'byed bzhugs so, pp. 369-447 in
vol. 23 (original volume tsa) of collected works.  TOH ref. 6129,
SFCP, STP ref. 09088.

B100 ______.  Lam gyi lus yongs-su-rdzogs-pa la smon-lam du bya-
ba'i tsul byin-brlab spungs-zhus kyi don gsal-bar ston-pa'i man-
ngag dngos-grub kun-'byung, pp. 161-175, vol. 13 (pa) of collected
works.  New Delhi: Tibet House, 1975, SFCP, STP ref. 02753, TOH
ref. 6047.

B101 ______. Lam-rim sngon-'gro sbyor-ba'i chos drug bya-tsul Blo-
bzang dgongs-rgyan, pp. 203-227 in Volume 7 (ja) of collected
works.  New Delhi: Tibet House, 1975, SFCP, TOH ref. 5999.

B102 (Slob-dpon) Yon-tan 'od (Gun{.}aprabha{-}).  'Dul-ba mdo rtza-
ba bzhugs so (Vinayasu{-}tra), pp. 1b-100a in the 'Dul-ba section
of TGD.  TOH ref. 4117, ACIP ref. TD4117, SFCP.

B103 (Zhva-lu ri-zur) Rin-chen blo-bzang mkhyen-rab.  rJe-btzun
N'a-ro mkha'-spyod-ma'i rim gnyis kyi rnal-'byor skyong-ba'i skal-
bzang mkha'-spyod bgrod-pa'i bde-lam zhes-bya-ba bzhugs-so.  N.p.
(Lhasa?): printed from blocks at Chu-bzang ri-khrod, sponsored by
Thub-bstan tsul-khrims sgrol-dkar and others, c. 1930, 96 ff.,
ACIP.

B104 (Slob-dpon) Legs-ldan 'byed (Bhavya).  dBu-ma'i snying-po'i
'grel-pa rtog-ge 'bar-ba (Madhyamakahr{.}dayavr{.}ttitarkajva{-
}la{-}), ff. 40b-329b in vol. 3 (dza) of the dBu-ma section of TGD,
TOH ref. 3856, ACIP ref. TD3856, SFCP.  

B105 ('Phags-pa) Shes-rab kyi pha-rol tu phyin-pa sdud-pa tsigs-su
bcad-pa (Sher-phyin mdo sdud-pa) aka Yon-tan rin-po-che sdud-pa
(A{-}ryaprajn{^}a{-}pa{-}ramita{-}san{^}cayagatha{-}), ff.
189a-215a, vol. 1 (ka) in the Sher-phyin sna-tsogs section of the
KG.  Toh ref. 13.

B106 (Klu-'bum) Shes-rab rgya-mtso aka (rDo-sbis dge-bshes) Shes-
rab rgya-mtso aka ('Bras klu-'bum rdo-sbi lHa-ram-pa) Shes-rab
rgya-mtso.  Yon-tan gzhir-gyur-ma'i bsdus-'grel 'Jam-mgon bla-ma
dgyes-pa'i mchod-sprin zhes-bya-ba bzhugs so, pp. 403-510 in vol.
1 of collected works.  New Delhi: Ngawang Gelek Demo, 1979, SFCP.

B107 (Aa-khu-ching Drung-chen) Shes-rab rgya-mtso.  Yon-tan gzhir-
gyur-ma'i zin-bris gdung-sel sman gyi myu-gu zhes-bya-ba bzhugs so,
pp. 650-674 in vol. 5 (ca) of collected works.  New Delhi: Ngawang
Sopa, 1974, SFCP.

B108 Sh'a sa na d'i pam{.}.  Lam gyi rtza-ba bshes-gnyen bsten-tsul
mdor-bsdus lam-mchog sgo-'byed ces-bya-ba bzhugs so, 14 ff. in vol.
2 (kha) of collected works, reported at STP ref. 02234.

B109 (Stag-tsang Lo-tz'a-ba) Shes-rab rin-chen.  Dad-pa'i padma
rgyas-par byed-pa'i bstod-tsig gi nyi-ma, ff. 1a-4b in the section
entitled rJe Thams-cad mkhyen-pa Shar Tzong-kha-pa Blo-bzang grags-
pa'i dpal gyi ngang-tsul mdo-tzam brjod-pa dad-pa'i pad-ma rgyas-
par byed-pa'i bstod-tsig nyi-ma zhes-bya-ba Sa-skya'i Pan{.}-chen
gTzang sTag-tsang lo-tz'a-bas mdzad-pa sogs rJe'i bstod-tsogs kyi
skor 'ga'-zhig phyogs gcig tu bkod-pa bzhugs so, ff. 1a-13a in rJe
Pha bong kha pa and Intersectarian Relations in Tibet.  New Delhi:
Ngawang Topgay, 1977, 163 ff., SFCP.

B110 (Slob-dpon) Sa-ra-ha (Saraha).  dPal sangs-rgyas thod-pa'i
rgyud kyi dka'-'grel ye-shes ldan-pa zhes-bya-ba (S{'}ri{-
}buddhakapa{-}latantrapan{^}jika{-}jn{^}a{-}navati{-}na{-}ma), ff.
104a-150a, vol. 154 (ra) in the rGyud section of the TGC.  TOH ref.
1652, SFCP.

B111 (rGyud-chen) Sangs-rgyas rgya-mtso, comp.  dGe-ldan
snyan-brgyud kyi man-ngag las byung-ba'i bla-ma'i rnal-'byor
dGa'-ldan lha-brgya-mar grags-pa bzhugs so (dGa'-ldan
lha-brgya-ma), pp. 11-14 in Chos-spyod zhal-'don nyer-mkho
phyogs-bsdebs bzhugs.  Varanasi, India: W'a-n{.}a mtho-slob
dge-ldan spyi-las-khang, 1979, 352 pp.

(Jo-bo rje dpal-ldan) Aa-ti-sha: see (dPal) Mar-me-mdzad ye-shes.
 

B. Works in English

B112 Chandra, Lokesh.  Tibetan-Sanskrit Dictionary.  Reprint Kyoto:
Rinsen Book Co, 1982, 2560 pp.

B113 Das, Sarat Chandra.  A Tibetan-English Dictionary.  Reprint
New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1970, 1353 pp.  Also available on
microfiche from IASWR.

B114 Edgerton, Franklin.  Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and
Dictionary, Volume II: Dictionary.  Reprint New Delhi: Motilal
Banarsidass, 1972, 627 pp.

B115 Monier-Williams, Sir Monier.  A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. 
Reprint Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1976, 1333 pp., also available
on microcfiche from IASWR.

B116 Pabongka Rinpoche.  Liberation in Our Hands, tr. Khen Rinpoche
Geshe Lobsang Tharchin with Artemus Engle.  Howell: Mahayana Sutra
and Tantra Press, Parts One (1988) and Two (1994).

B117 Roerich, George N., tr.  The Blue Annals [of 'Gos lo-tsva-ba
gZhon-nu dpal, 1392-1481].  Reprint New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,
1979, 1275 pp.

B118 Tharchin, Geshe Lobsang, and Artemus B. Engle, tr. 
Na{-}ga{-}rjuna's Letter: Na{-}ga{-}rjuna's "Letter to a Friend"
with a Commentary by the Venerable Rendawa, Zhon-nu Lo-dro. 
Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1979,
163 pp.

B119 (Je) Tsongkapa.  The Principal Teachings of Buddhism, tr. Khen
Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tharchin with Michael Roach.  Howell:
Classics of Middle Asia Series, Mahayana Sutra and Tantra Press,
1988, 209 pp. 

B120 Vostrikov, A.I.  Tibetan Historical Literature, tr.  H.C.
Gupta.  Calcutta: Indian Studies, Past & Present, 1970, 275 pp.,
ACIP.

B121 Whitney, William Dwight.  The Roots, Verb-Forms, and Primary
Derivatives of the Sanskrit Language.  Reprint New Haven: American
Oriental Society, 1945, 250 pp., ACIP.


NOTES TO THE TEXT

1  
"Opening Your Eyes:" The edition used for this translation is a woodblock
print of 27 folios on handmade Tibetan paper held in the private collection of
the venerable Geshe Lobsang Thardo, from the Gyalrong College of Sera Mey
Tibetan Monastic University, South India.  The copy was presented to him
personally by the Third Pabongka Rinpoche, the Ven. Geshe Lobsang Tupten
Trinley Kunkyab.  Another copy is listed in the catalog to the library of His
Holiness Trijang Rinpoche, the late tutor of the present Dalai Lama.  The text
is somewhat rare, and was not included in the standard edition of Pabongka
Rinpoche's collected works.  See bibliography entry B53.

"the Good and Glorious
Pabongka:" Refers to the first Pabongka Rinpoche (1878 1941), whose full
monk's name was Jampa Tenzin Trinley Gyatso.  He was the foremost Buddhist
teacher of his era, and renowned for his ability to convey the deepest
concepts of Buddhism to the common man in popular public teachings.  For a
full biography in English, refer to the introduction of "The Principal
Teachings of Buddhism," bibliography entry B119.

2  "the Good and Glorious Pabongka:" Refers to the first Pabongka Rinpoche
(1878 1941), whose full monk's name was Jampa Tenzin Trinley Gyatso.  He was
the foremost Buddhist teacher of his era, and renowned for his ability to
convey the deepest concepts of Buddhism to the common man in popular public
teachings.  For a full biography in English, refer to the introduction of "The
Principal Teachings of Buddhism," bibliography entry B119.

The presence of an asterisk after a translated proper name indicates that the
equivalent Asian-language form or forms may be found in a special appendix.


3   "Source of All My Good:" Written by Tsongkapa the Great (1357 1419),
perhaps the greatest commentator of Buddhism who ever lived, author of some
10,000 pages in explanation of the early classics of Buddhism, and teacher of
many eminent disciples, including the First Dalai Lama.  This brief work
covers all the necessary stages of the entire path to Buddhahood and is often
recited at the beginning of important teachings and high secret rituals. It
also forms the final section of "Necklace for the Fortunate," a popular text
used in readying oneself for a Buddhist meditation session.

As will be explained in more detail further on, the text of the
"Source of All My Good" is found within a longer work, entitled "Open Door to
the Highest Path."  This piece is a supplication to the Lamas of the great
lineages of Buddhism: the masters through whom concepts such as the Wish for
enlightenment, and the vision of emptiness, have been passed down to us.  The
importance of the "Door" is indicated by the fact that it appears first in a
compendium of 135 briefer titles within the Master's collected works.

The name and role of the work have evolved over the centuries.  Je Tsongkapa
composed the "Door" in 1402, and by the time of the famous "Path of Ease," a
presentation on the Steps of the path by His Holiness the First Panchen Lama
(1567? 1662), it is recommended under its original name for a petition and
visualization of the lineage Lamas (see folio 20a, bibliography entry B62).

By the middle part of the 18th century the "Door"'s central section, itself a
concise yet complete presentation of the Steps, has become the subject of a
number of philosophical commentaries, under the name of the "Source of All My
Good" (a phrase taken from the first line of the text).  By this time too, the
work is being referred to by the name of "Begging for a Mountain of Blessings"
(see bibliography entry B100).  It is also recommended throughout this period
as a component in the six standard practices used to prepare for a meditation
session.

Other commentaries or works based on the "Source" include those of the
following authors:

     Akuching Drungchen Sherab Gyatso (b. 1803), at bibliography entry B107
     Gelong Yeshe Gyeltsen, entry B99
     Gushri Kachupa Mergen Kenpo Lobsang Tsepel (b. about 1760), entries B69
          and B68
     Gyal Kenpo Drakpa Gyeltsen (1762 1837), entry B17
     His Holiness the Sixth Panchen Lama, Lobsang Tupten Chukyi Nyima
          (1883 1937), entry B66
     Je Lodro Gyatso (1851 1930), ed. by Gyal Kentrul Kelsang Drakpa Gyatso
          (b. 1880), entry B10
     Jikme Samten (19th century), entry B33
     Kalka Damtsik Dorje (18th century), entry B39
     Kirti Lobsang Trinley (1849 1905), entries B1 and B2
     Lumbum Sherab Gyatso (1884 1968), entry B106
     Ngawang Yeshe Tupten Rabjampa (19th century), entry B27
     Shangton Tenpa Gyatso Pel Sangpo (n.d.), entry B35 
     Shasana Dipam (n.d.), probably, entry B108
     Tsechokling Yeshe Gyeltsen (1713 1793), entry B100

Explanations of the six preliminary practices are also a rich source of
commentary upon the "Source."  Pabongka Rinpoche himself gives a profound
interpretation of the text in two such works (at
pp. 143 154, entry B58, and ff. 36a 39a, entry B56).  He includes all the
original verses in a recitation text based on the Fifth
Dalai Lama's text on the Steps (see pp. 298 300, entry B57, and entry B26). 
He also mentions using them as the basis of a review meditation in his
masterpiece on the Steps to Buddhahood entitled "A Gift of Liberation, Placed
into Our Hands" (on folio 21a, entry B55).  And it was his own precious
teacher, Dakpo Lama Jampel Hlundrup, who attached the work to the "Necklace"
mentioned above (entry B31).

Other commentaries on the six practices which include explanations of the
"Source" have been written by the following masters:  

     Akya Yangchen Gaway Lodru (c. 1760), at entry B70
     Keutsang Lobsang Jamyang Monlam (b. 1689), entry B65
     Tsechok Ling Yeshe Gyeltsen (1713 1793), entry B101
     The Second Jamyang Shepa, Konchok Jikme Wangpo (1728 1791), entry B8

One very interesting additional work is another "Open Door to the Highest
Path," written by Tsechok Ling Yeshe Gyeltsen (1713 1793).  The title is the
same as that of Je Tsongkapa's original piece because the author undertakes to
extend Tsongkapa's supplication to the lineage Lamas, in order to include the
great teachers beginning from Je Tsongkapa himself.  This addendum begins at
p. 374, entry B99.

Incidentally, the very expression "source of all my good" (in the Tibetan form
of "yon-tan gyi gzhi-rten") is used very early on in Buddhist literature.  The
phrase in Sanskrit appears in the "Letter to a Friend," written by the
realized being Nagarjuna some seventeen centuries ago.  Here it refers to the
practice of morality which, like proper reliance upon a Lama, acts to provide
us with all good things.  (See entry B6, f. 41a; entry B118, p. 38; and entry
B55, folio 284b.)

4  "three doors:" The three ways in which one can express himself in action,
speech, or thought.  A typical presentation of the three appears in the works
on Higher Knowledge ("Abhidharma"); see for example Chone Lama Drakpa Shedrup
(1675 1748), entry B18, folio 123a.

5  "The person who is the Essence of Great Bliss:" Another name for Pabongka
Rinpoche, describing his mastery of the secret teachings of Buddhism.  The
additional names that follow indicate that the Rinpoche embodies Je Tsongkapa,
Shakyamuni Buddha, and the form that Lord Buddha takes to deliver the secret
Word.

6  " Mountain of Blessings:" The concept of a blessing in Buddhism refers to a
specific process through which a disciple's ability to achieve spiritual goals
is altered, enhanced, through a true request to a Lama for his or her
blessing.  Pabongka Rinpoche himself describes this in his famed "Gift of
Liberation," entry B55, ff. 90a 90b.

7  ""Language of pleasure beings...""  These and the other lines belong to
selected verses which recited by tradition at the start of a major teaching,
in order for both teacher and listener to begin with the proper motivation; to
formally request the teaching; to prevent obstacles that might disrupt the
teaching; and so on.

The verses can be found in standard prayer books for Tibetan Buddhist
monasteries, such as the one listed in bibliography entry B29.  Their
locations here are as follows: "Essence of Wisdom" (the famous "Heart Sutra,
"for preventing obstacles), pp. 611 616; "Angel with the Face of a Lion" (also
for preventing obstacles), pp. 619 623; "Virtues perfected" (opening lines of
Je Tsongkapa's brief "Stages of the Path" and an obeisance to Lord Buddha), p.
439; "Loving One" (these and following common verses of obeisance and the
offering of bathing to the lineage Lamas), p. 21; "Gentle Voice," p. 21; "The
one of great compassion," p. 22; "Teaching what to learn, to reach," p. 22;
"Founder from the Land of Snows," f. 9A of entry B31; "All three places"
(these last two also common graces), p. 26; "The constellations," p. 26; "In
all my lives" (also attached to the "Mountain of Blessings)," p. 12; "The
great Earth" (the shorter offering of the mandala), p. 43; "Atop a lion
throne" (from a prayer of devotion to Je Tsongkapa), p. 6; "Sponges of the
sky" (a request for teaching from the famous "Offering to Lamas"), p. 191;
""Idam guru"" (final words of the mandala offering), p. 43; "To the Buddha"
(the well-known formula for taking refuge and developing the wish for
enlightenment), p. 2; "Pleasure beings" (an obeisance to Tara, the Angel of
Liberation*), p. 465; and "Language of pleasure beings" (a prayer to teach in
all the world's languages,) p. 510.

8  "This life of spiritual leisure:" Found in the Master's "Songs of My
Spiritual Life," f. 309, entry B80.

9  "Four forces:" Buddhism teaches that there are four antidote forces, which
together can remove the power or karma of any bad deed.  The "basis" force
consists of thinking who it is that was offended by your deed, and who it is
you will rely on to clear yourself of it.  The "destruction" force is an
intense feeling of shame and regret for the deed, which will certainly return
to hurt you.  The "reverse" force is to turn yourself away from doing that
kind of deed again.  The "counteragent" force is to undertake some spiritual
practice confession, meditation, or any good deed to offset the power of the
wrong.  See Pabongka Rinpoche, entry B55, ff. 109 113, 246 8.

10  "Three extraordinary trainings:" That is, extraordinary morality,
extraordinary concentration, and extraordinary wisdom.  Each one acts as a
support for the next.  A thorough discussion of the three is found in the
monastic textbooks on the perfection of wisdom; see for example the "Overview
of the Perfection of Wisdom" by Kedrup Tenpa Dargye (1493 1568), f. 24a "ff.,"
Chapter I, entry B37.

11 
"Even a cow knows how:" The quotation is from the "Letter to a Student,"
written in the tenth century.  It appears as well in Je Tsongkapa's greater
"Steps to the Path" and the first Panchen Lama's "Path of Ease."  See f. 52a,
bibliography entry B75; f. 183b, entry B76; and f. 17B, entry B62,
respectively.

"

12  The sea is not my problem:" The quotation is found in a teaching of the
Buddha, where he recounts the story of a serpentine king, as an admonition to
his monks for quarreling.  The popular lines are also found in the "Greater
Steps" of Je Tsongkapa; the "Path of Ease" by the First Panchen Lama
(1567? 1662); the "Word of Gentle Voice" by the Fifth Dalai Lama (1617 1682);
and the "Steps of the  Teaching," a massive prototype for the "Greater Steps"
composed by Geshe Drolungpa (c. 1100).  See respectively f. 316a, entry B7; f.
197a, entry B76; f.53b, entry B26; f. 124a, entry B62; and f. 170a, entry B19.

13  

"A kindness returned:" This appears to be a proverb rather than a
scriptural reference; the "Steps of the Teaching" expresses a very similar
sentiment at f. 295a, entry B19.

"

14  Both of the ultimate goals:" Refers to the final culmination of one's own
goals and the ability to help others achieve theirs two qualities possessed
only by a Buddha.  Several important discussions of the ultimate goals are
found in treatises on Master Dharmakirti's "Commentary on Valid Perception,
"composed in the 7th century.  The first is included in the explanation of the
opening lines of this work itself, where the Buddha's qualities are extolled. 
The second comes in the second chapter, as Master Dharmakirti explains the
praise of the Buddha in Master Dignaga's original treatise.  See ACIP digital
versions of the root text, f. 94b and f. 112b "ff.," entry B28, as well as the
famed commentary by Je Tsongkapa's student Gyaltsab Je (1364 1432), ff. 3b 4b
and sections starting at 127b, 141b, and 166b, entry B25.
 

15  
"one of those foe destroyers:" "Foe destroyer" is a term used to refer to
those who have achieved nirvana, since as Geshe Drolungpa notes in his "Steps
of the Teaching "they have permanently destroyed the foe of the mental
afflictions (see f. 374b, entry B19).  "Listeners" and "self-made Buddhas"
here refer to persons who have achieved nirvana but have not yet entered the
higher way, the way of the bodhisattvas, where they work to become fully
enlightened Buddhas in order to liberate all living beings.

"Listeners" are so called because they can listen to the teachings of the
higher way, and even relate them to others, but do not actually put them into
practice themselves.  "Self-made Buddhas" are not real Buddhas, but have only
achieved nirvana, and are "self-made" only insofar as they have reached this
state without relying on a spiritual teacher in the present life, although
they have had countless such teachers in their past lives.  See ACIP digital
versions of Kedrup Tenpa Dargye, ff. 79b 80a, Chapter I, entry B37; Je
Tsongkapa, f. 5a, entry B82; and the "Great Dictionary," p. 2659, entry B49.

16   
"The great monastery of Radreng:" The chain of events surrounding the
composition of the "Mountain of Blessings" are extraordinary; they show how
this brief supplication played a pivotal role in Je Tsongkapa's spiritual
life, and in the history of Buddhist literature.

Much of what Je Tsongkapa wrote is said to have been dictated to him by
Manjushri, Gentle Voice, who is the wisdom of all enlightened beings combined
in the form of a single angel.  Je Tsongkapa began to enjoy communication with
Gentle Voice in his early thirties.  At this point he was still incapable of
seeing the angel directly himself, but was able to pose questions to him
through a mediator, a lama named Umapa.

Je Tsongkapa's "Secret Biography," a work by his close disciple Kedrup Je
(1385 1438), describes important events of the Master's inner life.  Here we
read the details of an early exchange between Je Tsongkapa and Gentle Voice,
with Lama Umapa acting as go-between.  Je Rinpoche poses questions, and the
angel begins his answer by clarifying a whole range of thorny issues
concerning the subject of emptiness.  Next he moves on to illuminate a number
of difficult points in the secret teachings.  Then he pauses, and Je Rinpoche
says: "But wait, there are still more questions I must ask, more points I
cannot grasp."

And Gentle Voice replies,

     Do not forget the answers I have already given you today.  Go now
     and write a record of them.  There are three practices then you
     must undertake, all three together, and you must devote yourself
     to them with an unquenchable passion.

     First you must come to see that your Lama and your high secret
     Angel are one and the same.  You must make supplication to them,
     and try to reach them.

     Secondly you must make constant and perfect efforts in the two-fold
     practice of collecting the energy of good deeds, and purifying yourself
     of the force of evil deeds.

     Thirdly you must use the power of your intellect to investigate the true
     meaning of the great books of Buddhism, and then you must contemplate
     this meaning deeply.

     Follow these three practices, keep them up over a long period of time. 
     There will come a day, it is not far off, when the seed I have planted
     within you in this hour will flower.  And then you will understand all,
     perfectly.  (Entry B15, p. 173.)

Throughout his life Je Tsongkapa followed all three practices, but the
particular attention he paid to supplication, to prayers for the blessings of
perfected beings, Buddhas and Lamas, is strikingly evident in records of his
writings, and throughout his various biographies.

It is one such supplication which leads to our present work, the "Mountain of
Blessings."  The time is the summer of 1402, in the forty-sixth year of the
Master's life.  Having spent a fruitful summer at the Temple of Ar with his
close teacher and disciple, the Sakya sage Jetsun Rendawa, Je Tsongkapa then
travels to Radreng ("to the north" of Lhasa).  He has been there once before,
attracted to the great monastery so full of the history of two of Tibetan
Buddhism's founding fathers: Atisha, the Lord, and his spiritual son Dromton
Je (the "Victor" mentioned in the text).  This connection is described by
Kedrup Je in his longer biography (entry B14, p. 82).

At Radreng, Je Tsongkapa goes into solitude at the foot of the lion crag. 
Above his quarters is a statue of the Lord himself, Atisha.  One day the
Master kneels before the image, in keeping with the words of Gentle Voice
himself, and makes a supplication to the Lamas of the past.

The prayer that Je Tsongkapa made that day is still extant, and can be found
in his collected works under the name of "Door to the Highest Path."  The
petition is directed to the Lamas of the instructions on the Steps to
Buddhahood, and divides broadly into three parts.

The first part is a request to the teachers of the lineage of the Wish for
enlightenment, beginning with the Buddha himself, and continuing on through
Loving One, the Indian master Asanga, and then on down to the great Tibetan
lamas of Je Rinpoche's own time.  The third part is a similar prayer, to the
teachers of the lineage of the Realization of emptiness, again starting with
Lord Buddha, and passing down through Gentle Voice, the incomparable
Nagarjuna, and later generations.  The second part, between these two, is none
other than the "Mountain of Blessings," the "Source of All My Good."

Je Tsongkapa ends his prayer, and suddenly goes into a vision, one which,
according to the "Great Biography" of Gyalwang Lobsang Trinley Namgyal (about
1830), continues on and off for an entire month. 
(See entry B67, pp. 266 271.)  He sees all the lineage Lamas face-to-face, and
receives a momentous boon from one in particular.

The scene is recorded in a standard set of fifteen scroll paintings of the
Master's life known as "The Tsongkapa Eighty."  We find the following
description of the event on the scroll in the works of the great Jamyang
Shepay Dorje (1648 1721):

     And the Lord Atisha came to the Master, and placed his hand on his head,
     and said to him, "Do mighty deeds on behalf of the Teachings, and then I
     myself will assist you in reaching the goal of Enlightenment, and
     filling the needs of every sentient being."  (Entry B32, p. 13b.)

Immediately after the vision, Je Tsongkapa is approached by scores of learned
disciples, who entreat him to write a detailed account of how to reach
perfection.  Flush with Lord Atisha's promise, the Master goes into retreat,
and there at Radreng completes his masterwork the "Lam Rim Chenmo," or"
Greater Steps of the Path to Buddhahood" the most famous book in all of
Tibetan Buddhism.

His understanding is now complete, and the seed planted by Gentle Voice has
flowered as foretold, for Je Tsongkapa has heeded the angel's advice by
composing this perfect supplication: the "Mountain of Blessings."  This power
of the prayer has been recognized throughout generations of lamas since, and
explains why it is used as a preparation for the secret practices.  As the
final lines of 
the present explanation of the work reveal, it too has been imparted by
Pabongka Rinpoche as a preliminary to a tantric initiation.


17
"Both the highest paths:" Refers to the paths of the open and the secret
teachings of Buddhism.  The path which is "shared" by the two consists of the
realizations of the Steps to Buddhahood, since these are necessary for success
in both the open and the secret ways.  The quotation is from Je Rinpoche's
"Briefer Steps of the Path," entry B80, p. 312.

18  

"You will only lose yourself: "Original source of quotation not found. 
The Fifth Dalai Lama, His Holiness Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (1617 1682), was an
extraordinary scholar and organizer of Buddhism, so much so that he is
referred to in Tibet simply as the "Great Fifth."  He is known for bringing
the famous Potala Palace to its present form; for his writings on a broad
range of philosophical and secular subjects; and for his special visions and
mastery of the secret teachings
.

19  "Nothing is not a teaching:" The line is found in a work entitled
"Selections from Dromton Je," which at this point is quoting single lines by
Dromton Je that appear in the "Greater Steps" of Je Tsongkapa (see f. 92,
entry B23).  Here and in the "Gift" of Pabongka Rinpoche the quotation is used
to emphasize how practitioners at an advanced level see all the Buddhist
teachings as being totally consistent internally; refer to f. 11a, entry B76,
and ff. 43b 44a, entry B55.

None of these three occurrences of the line includes the part beginning with
"for the Father," nor is it found in the quotation as found in the text on the
Steps by the Great Fifth Dalai Lama at f. 4b, entry B26.  The sense though
matches the context of the "Selections" and the standard use of the reference.

The words translated here as "wrapping the totality of the teachings into one"
can be read in a number of different ways, as noted by Pabongka Rinpoche
himself in the "Gift," at the folios listed above.  Literally the text speaks
of "carrying all the teachings as a square," which the Rinpoche interprets
finally as referring to how a square Tibetan carpet automatically comes with
four corners.  That is, any teaching on the Steps of the path automatically
contains in it all the teachings of the Buddha, providing an abbreviated
presentation that any one of us can use to achieve total enlightenment.

The great Drom Tonpa (1005 1064), full name Dromton Gyalway Jungne, was the
most famed disciple of Lord Atisha (982 1052), himself the illustrious
progenitor of the teaching on the Steps in Tibet.  Drom Tonpa also founded the
great monastery of Radreng, which is where Je Tsongkapa wrote the "Mountain of
Blessings."

20  "A gold and jewel rosary: "Original source of quotation not found; it also
occurs in Pabongka Rinpoche's commentary to the "Three Principal Paths."  See
f. 8A, entry B54 (English at p. 48,
entry B119).

The "three scopes" refer to three levels of motivation for practicing the
Steps of the path: to escape the three lower rebirths, to escape all
suffering, and to achieve total enlightenment in order to help all living
beings.  The "three collections" are the three sections of the Buddha's word:
the
"collection of vowed morality," dedicated chiefly to the training of morality;
the "collection of sutra," concerned primarily with the training of
concentration; and the "collection of higher knowledge," devoted to the
training of wisdom.  See Pabongka Rinpoche's "Gift of Liberation," f. 17b,
entry B55, and Kedrup Tenpa Dargye's "Overview of the Perfection of Wisdom" at
f. 25a, Chapter I, entry B37.

The "Keepers" are explained below at note 29.

21  "These Steps are far superior:"  Pabongka Rinpoche himself, in "A Gift of
Liberation," describes the "three extraordinary qualities" as follows.  The
works on the Steps to the path are (1) totally complete, with nothing left
out, for they present in a concise way the entire contents of the teachings of
the Buddha, both open and secret.  They are (2) easily put into practice, for
their main point is to explain the various steps for taming the mind. 
Finally, they are (3) vastly superior to other teachings, since they consist
of the systems of the two great founders Arya Nagarjuna and Master
Asanga enhanced by the instructions of Lama Vidyakokila and Lama Serlingpa,
respectively.  See ff. 48b 50b, entry B55.

Arya Nagarjuna (200 AD) is known as the founder of the teachings on emptiness,
and Master Asanga (350 AD) as that of the teachings on bodhisattva activities. 
The lineages come down respectively to Lama Vidyakokila and Lama Serlingpa,
and then combine in their illustrious student, Lord Atisha (982 1054).  The
Lord's full name is Dipamkara Shri Jnyana; it was he who brought the teachings
of the Steps of the path to Tibet, and who authored the "Lamp for the Path," a
prototype text of this genre.  See entry B72.

The "four kinds of greatness" also appear in Pabongka Rinpoche's "Gift."  The
teachings on the Steps of the path are great in that (1) they allow a person
to realize that every single teaching of Buddhism is consistent with every
other one.  They bring a person to a level where (2) he or she sees everything
the Buddha taught as something that can be put into personal practice.  They
(3) help a person to discern with ease the true intention of the Buddha in
each of his teachings, and thereby (4) automatically protect you from making
the Great Mistake; that is, the error of thinking that some of the Buddha's
instructions are better, and some worse.  See ff. 42a 48b, entry B55.

22  
"Massive stores of the Dharma:" By tradition the Buddha taught 84,000 huge
collections of scripture, one collection for each of the different variants of
our mental afflictions and harmful habits.  There are a number of different
positions on the exact quantity of the teachings contained in each of these
collections; the view of the greater way is that each such collection consists
of the number of pages one could write with the amount of ink that the great
mythical elephant named Rabten could carry on his back.  See the First Dalai
Lama's commentary to the "Treasure House of Knowledge," f. 26B, entry B20.

23  

"It is this perfection:" The verse is found in the "Shorter Sutra on the
Perfection of Wisdom," entry B105, f. 206a.  It is generally considered the
ultimate origin of the expression "Steps of the path," and is quoted by Je
Tsongkapa in his "Greater Steps," as well as in Pabongka Rinpoche's own
masterpiece on the Steps, and commentary to the "Three Principal Paths."  See
respectively f. 10b, entry B76; f. 334b, entry B55; and f. 8b, entry B54 (p.
49 in the English version, entry B119).


24  "The five great classics:" These are the five great books of early Indian
Buddhism studied and debated in major Tibetan monasteries even in Je
Tsongkapa's time.  As mentioned throughout his "Great Biography," they are the
"Jewel of Realizations" brought from Loving One by Master Asanga (335 AD);
"Entering the Middle Way," by Master Chandrakirti (650 AD); "Treasure House of
Knowledge," by Master Vasubandhu (335 AD); "Abbreviation of Vowed Morality,"
by Master Gunaprabha (500 AD?); and "Commentary on Valid Perception," by
Master Dharmakirti (630 AD).  Refer to the" Biography" at p. 143, entry B67;
for the five themselves, see respectively entries B52, B96, B71, B102, and
B28.

25  
"Swept away on the wind:" Original source of quotation not found.  The
"Great Fifth," as mentioned above in note 18, refers to His Holiness the Fifth
Dalai Lama.

26  

"Especially the magic body:" The Master Translator of Taktsang, Sherab
Rinchen (b. 1405), was one of the foremost scholars of the Sakya tradition of
Tibetan Buddhism.  The quotation is found on f. 4a of his eulogy to Je
Tsongkapa, at entry B109.  The lines appear as well in Pabongka Rinpoche's
"Gift of Liberation," and in the famed "Survey of the Schools of Philosophy"
by Tuken Lobsang Chukyi Nyima
(1737 1802).  See f. 301a, entry B55, and pp. 300 301 of entry B64.

The lines beginning from "diamond way" refer to the secret teachings of
Buddhism
.

27  
"Ever faultlessly:" Mikyu Dorje (1507 1554) was the Eighth Karmapa,
spiritual head of the Karma Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and wrote on a
wide range of topics.  His verse in praise of Je Tsongkapa is found on ff.
4b 5a of entry B74.

28  

"It is a pure tradition:" Gyalwang Kelsang Gyatso (1708 1757) was the
Seventh of the Dalai Lamas.  The lines quoted here appear among a group of
mental trainings found in his collected works at p. 475, entry B12A.

29  
"The older Keepers of the Word:" Refers to the Kadampas, an inspired group
of scholars and meditators from the early days of Buddhism in Tibet, dating
from the eleventh century.  Their name
literally means "those for whom every single letter of the teachings ("ka")
turns to instructions ("dampa") immediately relevant to personal practice." 
The followers of the tradition of Tsongkapa, the "Gelukpa" or Way of Virtue,
lineage of the Heaven of Bliss, are sometimes called the "later Keepers of the
Word."  See Pabongka Rinpoche's "Gift of Liberation," entry B55, ff. 45b 46a.

"

30  The great completion:" This and some of the other practices mentioned are
all details of the secret teachings of Buddhism.

31  

"Perfect yourself:" Original quotation not found; neither does it appear
to be in the secret teachings of "Samputa," despite the similarity of the
title.  For the latter see entry B98.

32  

"Depends on a spiritual guide:" These words of the Buddha himself are
found on f. 200a of entry B105.

33  

"Serve Him single-mindedly:" See again entry B105, this time at ff.
205b 206a.

34  
"Ask Him, for all your goals:" The lines are found in a letter of advice
from Je Tsongkapa to one Yonten Gyatso of the district of Tulung, Tibet.  See
p. 613, entry B77.

35  

"All three of the trainings:" These are the exceptional trainings of
morality, concentration, and wisdom.  The original quotation from the "Jewel"
of Maitreya is found on ff. 20a 20b of entry B50.  The importance of the
qualifications of the Lama is
indicated by the fact that the same words are quoted in works like the
"Greater Steps" of Je Tsongkapa; the First Panchen Lama's "Path of Ease;"
Pabongka Rinpoche's own "Gift of Liberation," and his commentary to the "Three
Principal Paths."  See respectively f. 23a of entry B76; f. 9a of entry B62;
f. 134b of entry B55; and f. 6a of entry B54 (p. 41 of the English
translation, entry B119).




36  "The good begins to flower:" The lines are found in an extraordinary letter
of advice written by Je Tsongkapa to himself, where he poses numbered
questions, and then answers them in the form of profound instruction.  It is
interesting to note that this is the final work in a large collection of
shorter pieces by the Master; the first title is the" Mountain of Blessings"
itself, which brings us full circle.  See p. 740, entry B86.

37  "The nine attitudes:" The nine are mentioned in Je Tsongkapa's "Greater
Steps" at f. 27b, entry B76, and are listed fully in the First Panchen Lama's
"Path of Ease" (f. 10b, entry B62).  The original sutra subsumes two volumes
of the canon and includes repeated, exquisite descriptions of these and
similar attitudes to develop towards one's Lama.  See especially the second
volume, ff. 229b 230a, and the entire section from ff. 225 to 250, entry B44.

The nine attitudes taught in the sutra are as follows:

     1) Like an obedient child, give up your own will and submit yourself to
          your Lama.
     2) Like a diamond, be solid in your devotion to Him or Her, and let no
          relative or friend come between you.
     3) Like the earth itself, accept any task your Lama may load upon you.
     4) Like the great mountains at the edge of the world, stay unshakable in
          your service, regardless of any troubles that come.
     5) Like a handservant, carry out any task He or She gives you, never
          seeking to avoid it, no matter how distasteful it may seem.
     6) Like the dust of the earth, seek the lowest position, giving up all
          pride, all pretension, all conceit.
     7) Like a sturdy vehicle, undertake any burden your Lama may give you,
          however heavy.
     8) Like a loyal dog, stay without anger, regardless of how your Lama
          might berate or scold you.
     9) No matter how much you have to go here and there in the service of
          your Lama, be willing to go, like a boat that never complains.

38  
"Fifty Verses on Lamas:" A classic description of Lama devotion written by
the Indian Buddhist master Ashvagosha, circa 100 AD.  See entry B34.

39  

"Three lower realms:" According to Buddhism there are six different types
of rebirth.  These are birth as a hell-being, a craving spirit, an animal, a
human, one who is nearly a full pleasure being, and a full pleasure being. 
The first three types of birth are known as the three lower realms.  Pleasure
beings enjoy extremely long lives in a temporary paradise, and then normally
fall to hell after exhausting their good karma.  The classic presentation of
the six rebirths is found in the third chapter of the "Treasure House of
Knowledge," by the 4th-century Buddhist philosopher Vasubandhu; a typical
commentary would be that of the First Dalai Lama, Gyalwa Gendun Drup
(1391 1474).  See entry B71, f. 7a 10b, and entry B20, ff. 73b 108a.

40  
"Born as a human:" The classic source for the description of spiritual
fortunes is the "Levels of Listeners," one of the major divisions of the
"Levels of Practitioners," written by the Indian Buddhist sage Asanga in the
fourth century.  The prose origin for the verse found here is located on ff.
3b 4a of the work, at entry B38.

41  

"Immediate bad deeds:" Buddhism teaches that there are five misdeeds which
are so evil that they are sure to lead one to a hellbirth in the very next
life.  The deeds are, from most serious to least, the following: causing a
schism in the community of monks; attempting to kill a Buddha; killing someone
who has reached nirvana; killing one's mother, and killing one's father.  A
full discussion of the five is found in the fourth chapter of Master
Vasubandhu's "Treasure House of Wisdom," and in commentaries such as the one
by Jampay Yang of Chim (c. 1280).  See entry B71, ff. 14b 15a, and entry B30,
ff. 240b 246a.

42  

"Discipline one's mind:" The collection on discipline, or vowed morality,
is actually only one of the three sections of the original Buddhist canon; the
point is that all the scriptures though teach the absolute importance of moral
behavior.  For a description of the three collections see note 20.

43  
"For the sake of others:" Again the original source in prose is Master
Asanga's "Levels of Listeners."  See ff. 4b 5a, entry B38.

44  

"The four results:" The four fruits of the "way of virtue," which in this
case refers to the direct perception of selflessness.  The four are to attain
the state of a foe destroyer; of one who need never again take rebirth in this
realm of desire; of one who must take one more rebirth in this realm; and of
one who has "entered the stream" one who, due to his realization of
selflessness, is clearly headed for freedom.  The four are presented for
example in the second and sixth chapters of Master Vasubandhu's "Treasure
House," with its commentary by the First Dalai Lama.  See entry B71, ff. 4b,
20b; and entry B20, ff. 48b 50a, 175b 176a.

45  "Even by the likes of the monk Udayi:" The monk was one of the members of
the Buddha's inner circle, but committed a series of misdeeds which actually
led to the creation of a number of the rules for monks.  See Professor
Edgerton's "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary," entry B114, pp. 128 129, as
well as the First Dalai Lama and Jampay Yang of Chim f. 10a, entry B20, and
f. 11b, entry B30, respectively.  This same concept of Udayi possessing
spiritual fortunes that we lack is found as well in Pabongka Rinpoche's
"Gift," f. 157b, entry B55.

46  "Fewer still:" The" Foundation Word on Vowed Morality" is one of the four
famed explanatory sutras on the subject of vowed morality.  An exquisite
passage found there begins as follows 

     And then Lord Buddha touched the very tip of his precious fingernail to
     the ground, and raised it up, and showed it to the assembled monks.  He
     said,

          Monks!  Which do you think are more: the atoms of dust here on the
          tip of my fingernail, or the atoms of dust contained in the entire
          planet of earth?

     And the monks replied,

          Oh Reverend One, Oh Conqueror, the atoms of dust there on the tip
          of Your precious fingernail are less, they are certainly less,
          they are most certainly less, they are infinitely less.  If one
          compared them to the number of atoms of dust in this great orb
          they would not amount to a hundredth, nor even a thousandth, nor a
          hundred thousandth, nor any fraction at all, nor any part no
          countable part, no comparison, no basis for a comparison.

     The Conqueror spoke again:

          Monks!  Think of the number of atoms of dust in the entire planet:
          this stands for the number of beings who are in hell now and who,
          after they die, will migrate back to hell.  Now think of the
          number of atoms of dust on my fingernail: this stands for the
          number of beings who are in hell now and who, after they die, will
          migrate to the world of humans.

The Buddha continues his description in a similar vein for all the other types
of rebirths including humans who are reborn as hell beings (as many as atoms
of dust in the planet), as opposed to humans who are reborn as humans (as many
as the atoms of dust on his fingernail).

This presentation appears throughout the various books on the Steps to
Buddhahood: see those of Je Tsongkapa, Pabongka Rinpoche, and the First
Panchen Lama (entry B76, f. 81a; entry B55, f. 163b; and entry B62, ff.
30a 30b, respectively).

47  
"A turtle in the sea:" These well known lines are found in a letter from
the realized being Nagarjuna (c. 200 AD) to his friend, King Udayibhadra.  See
f. 43b, entry B6, as well as p. 92 of the English translation, entry B118.

48  

"Keeper of the Diamond himself:" That is, tantric Buddhahood:
enlightenment in one lifetime.





49  "Like a pack of dogs circling:" The Tibetan original at this point actually
refers to "dogs who circle the talisman."  In certain cases of illness brought
on by harmful spirits, a Lama will by tradition come to the house of the
patient and prepare a small
likeness or talisman representing the person.  A ritual is held
centered around the talisman to help remove the evil influence.  The figurine
is fashioned from a soft dough and, at the end of the ceremony, is carried
outside and placed on the ground where hungry Tibetan mastiffs are usually
waiting to gulp it down.  The image here then is of a pack of dogs crowded
eagerly around the ritual attendant as he carries out the prize.

50  "The three principles of death:" This presentation of death appears in many
of the texts on the Steps to Buddhahood, and is summarized as follows in a
note from the English translation of Je Tsongkapa's "Principal Teachings of
Buddhism" (the text of his "Three Principal Paths)."

In his masterwork "A Gift of Liberation," Pabongka Rinpoche lists six benefits
of keeping your mind on death: your practice becomes really pure; it gains
power; the thoughts help you start practice; they help you strive hard during
your practice; they help bring your practice to a successful conclusion; and
in the hour of death you go with satisfaction, for you know you have spent
your life meaningfully.

The Rinpoche also lists six problems that come from not keeping your mind on
death: you neglect your religious life, and spend all your days in thoughts of
what to eat or wear this life's distractions; you consider death occasionally
but always think it will come later, and delay your practice; or you do
practice, but for the wrong reason with hopes of reputation; you practice but
with no enthusiasm, and drop it after a while; you get deeper into this life,
your attitude gets worse, and life begins to hurt you; and at death you
naturally feel intense regret, for you have wasted all your efforts on this
present life.

The three principles, for how actually to keep your mind on death, have three
reasons each, making a total of nine. First of all, death is certain: no power
in the universe can stop death when it arrives; there is no way to add time to
your life, you come closer to death every minute; and even while you are
alive, the free time available for your practice is extremely limited before
you have to die.

The second principle is that there is absolutely no certainty when
you will die.  We are in a time and realm where the length of life is
uncertain; we can be sure we will never have enough time to defeat all our
enemies, raise up all our friends, and still complete our religious practice
before we die.  The things that can kill us are many; the things that keep us
alive are few.  And in general the body we have is fragile, weak: a small
splinter in the hand can give us an infection that kills us we are like
bubbles, like candles in a windstorm.

The third principle is that, at the moment of death, nothing at all can help
us but our spiritual practice.  None of your money or things can help you. 
None of your friends or family can help you they can be holding you tightly
by the arms and legs, but still you will slip away alone.  And not even your
own body can help you you have to give up your most cherished possession,
your beloved body, along with everything else.

The three principles call for three resolves on our part.  Knowing that we
shall have to die, we must resolve to begin our practice.  Knowing that we
could die any time, we must quit our worldly work immediately and start our
practice today.  And finally, since nothing else can help us, we must devote
ourselves to our practice only.  A man who is hiking many miles doesn't fill
up his pack with a lot of junk that he won't be needing.

The above points are paraphrased from the works on the Steps of the path by
Lord Tsongkapa (entry B76, ff. 65 75) and Pabongka Rinpoche (entry B55, ff.
168 182).  For the last point mentioned in the text, the meditation on what
it's like to die, we quote the Rinpoche directly (ff. 182b 183a):

     They try all different kinds of treatments and holy rituals but your
     condition gets worse and worse.  The doctors start lying to you.  Your
     friends and relatives say all sorts of cheery things to your face, but
     behind your back they start wrapping up your affairs, because everyone
     can see you're going to die.

     Your body starts to lose its familiar warmth. It's hard to breathe.  The
     nostrils collapse.  The lips curl back.  The color starts to drain from
     your face.  All sorts of repulsive signs begin to show, inside and
     outside of you.

     You think of all the wrong things you did in your life, and wish so
     badly you had never done them.  You can't quite be sure if you ever
     really got rid of them all when you confessed; or that you really did
     any true good deed.

     Then comes the final pain, the unspeakable searing pain that comes with
     death.  The basic building blocks of your body
begin their domino collapse, you are blinded by catastrophic images,
hallucinations of pure terror crowd into your mind,
and carry you away, and the whole world you have been living blinks out.

     People take your corpse and wrap it up in a sheet and lay it in some
     corner.  They hang up a curtain to hide it.  Somebody lights up a smudgy
     little candle and leaves it there.  If you're one of those reincarnated
     lamas, they dress you up in you fancy ritual robes and try to make you
     look good.

     Right now we are all running around trying to arrange ourselves a nice
     house, soft clothes, cozy chairs.  But you know the custom here in
     Tibet when you die they'll tie your arms and legs up against your chest
     with a leather strap, carry the body far from town, and throw it naked
     out on the rocks.

     Right now we all go home and try to cook ourselves up some delectable
     dish but there will come a day when you stand there praying for a
     little taste of those cakes they offer the spirits of the dead.  Right
     now we have the big name they call us Doctor Professor, or Respected
     Sir, or Your Reverence.  But there will come a day when they look at
     your body and call you nothing but "that stinking corpse."  There will
     come a day when the title they put in front of your name is "the late,"
     or "that guy they used to call..."

     So now when you respected lamas out there in the audience look at your
     ritual robes, let it come into your thoughts that these are the robes
     they will dress your remains in after you have expired.  And all the
     rest of us, when we look at our bedsheets before we go to sleep, should
     try to remember that these are what they will wrap our stinking corpse
     in when we die.  As Milarepa said,

          That frightful corpse they talk about
          Is the very body you wear, meditator.

     He means look at your own body now, and always see the future corpse.

51  
"Nothing but the Dharma:" Original source of quotation not found.  The
advice is to himself, for Master Buton's full name was Rinchen Drup
(1290 1364).  He was a consummate scholar of both the secret and open
teachings, and Je Tsongkapa was much influenced by his writings and by his
direct disciples.  Buton Rinpoche also played a major role in the organization
of the Buddhist canon in its Tibetan translation.

52  

"Avoid then any bad deed:" Pa Dampa Sangye (d. 1117?) was an Indian
Buddhist master who helped bring the teachings to Tibet, and in particular
began the lineage of a practice called the "Termination of Suffering."  The
lines here are found in a collection of advices to the Tibetans of an area
called Dingri.  See f. 3a, entry B40.

53  

"Turn your thoughts to the Dharma:" This passage is from the same work as
the preceding; see f. 4a, entry B40.

"

54  Eighty of their different lives:" Original source of quotation not found. 
Bodong Rinpoche, full name Bodong Panchen Chokle Namgyal (1375 1450), was one
of the most prolific writers in the history of Buddhism his collected works
subsume no less than 137 volumes.  See entry B48.


55  "Never just fades away:" These lines are some of the most famous in all of
Buddhist literature.  They were spoken by Lord Buddha himself and occur
throughout the sutras on vowed morality as a sort of refrain for example in
the "Divisions of Vowed Morality," and the "Foundation Word."  See entry B42,
first volume, ff. 127a, 177a, and 276b; as well as entry B43, first volume,
ff. 41a, 44b 45a, 90a 90b, 114b, and so on.  Their contents are alluded to
also in the famed "Sutra of Cosmic Play;" see entry B21, f. 203a.

The importance of the concept that the power of an act cannot just fade away
after we commit it is indicated by the fact that many of the earlier Indian
masters include the lines in their philosophical commentaries.  Master
Nagarjuna (200 AD), for example, alludes to them in his "Root Text on Wisdom,"
and "Beyond All Fear."  Master Bhavya (490 570 AD) speaks of them in his
famous "Blaze of Reasoning," as does Master Avalokitavrata in his "Extensive
Commentary to the Lamp of Wisdom.  "The renowned Chandrakirti (650 AD) refers
to the quotation in his "Clarification of the Words, "his
"Commentary to the 400 Verses," and his "Commentary to the Seventy Verses on
Emptiness."  It appears as well in Master Parahita's explanation of the same
work.  See, respectively, entry B4, f. 10a; entry B3, f. 67a; entry B104, f.
184b; entry B47, f. 264a; entry B95, ff. 107a and 126b; entry B94, f. 150b;
entry B93, f. 314a;
entry B92, f. 355a.

In Tibet as well the verse and the idea behind it have been considered
indispensable, and it is referred to in a great number of works on the Steps
of the Path.  See for example the treatises of Geshe Drolungpa, Je Tsongkapa,
the First Panchen Lama, and Pabongka Rinpoche himself, at entry B19, ff.
55a 55b; entry B76, ff. 106b and 129a; entry B62, f. 59b; and entry B55, f.
230a.

56  
"If nothing else keep your trust:" Original source of quotation not found;
it is in a very old local dialect, but the meaning seems correct.  For
information about the author, see note 54.

57  

"Only the All-Knowing know it:" The lines are found in the fourth chapter
of "The Bodhisattva's Life," a famed manual for aspiring saints dating from
the 8th century.  See f. 8a, entry B91.

"

58  The ones who can protect you:" The three lower realms described here
are respectively the worlds of hellbeings, craving spirits, and animals.  The
Three Jewels that can protect us from them are the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. 
The Buddha Jewel is defined as "That ultimate source of protection: the One
who has reached the final end of his own goals, and the ability to achieve
others' as well."  The Dharma Jewel is "The pure side of existence, either in
the form of the end of all suffering, or the path to that end."  The Sangha
Jewel, finally, consists of "All those who are realized" that is, the
Community of all people who have realized emptiness directly.  For these and
an illuminating discussion on the act of taking refuge, see Kedrup Tenpa
Dargye, "Analysis of the Perfection of Wisdom," ff. 41b 52a, Part Two, Chapter
I, entry B36.


59  
"We have little time to live:" The lines by Lord Atisha's renowned disciple
are found in a short exquisite work entitled "Second Epistle to Shangtrang
Kaberchung," itself a part of the famed "Collected Treasure of Beloved Jewels"
from the teachings of the Kadampa Lamas.  The quotation here appears to
consist of two parts from different places in the text, but the intent is
certainly the same.  See pp. 105 106 of entry B24, inside entry B41.

60  

"You will feel only pain:" Quotation from the same source as the last; see
entry B24, p. 108.

61  

"The broadest simplification:" The list of ten bad deeds (their avoidance
being the ten good deeds) are a very gross abbreviation of the multitude of
harmful actions which we are capable of performing.  They include three which
we perform with our bodies: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct.  The
next four are verbal: lying, divisive talk, harsh words, and idle speech.  The
final three are mental: coveting, ill will towards others, and wrong views. 
The classic presentation of the ten is found in the "Chapter on Deeds" from
the "Treasure House of Knowledge," composed by the 4th-century Indian sage
Vasubandhu.  See f. 13a 13b, entry B71, and its commentary by the First Dalai
Lama, f. 127a 127b, entry B20.

62  
"Go forth now and defeat them:" These lines are found in the Great Fifth's
famous presentation on the Steps of the path, entitled "Word of the Gentle
One."  They occur as a poetic interlude between sections of the work's prose
philosophical presentation, a device favored as well by His Holiness the First
Dalai Lama.  See entry B26, ff. 46b 47a.

"Mental afflictions" are essentially bad thoughts, and constitute a basic
source of all our suffering.  Their primary characteristic is to disturb our
peace of mind, and linguistically as well their name in Sanskrit, "klesha,"
comes from a verbal root meaning "to distress."  Although the mental
afflictions are nearly countless, the six primary ones are desire, anger,
pride, ignorance, harmful doubt, and wrong views.  See Prof. Whitney's "Roots
of the Sanskrit Language," entry B121, p. 27, and Kedrup Tenpa Dargye's
"Overview of the Perfection of Wisdom," entry B37, Chapter One, f. 73.

63  

"Six forms of life:" That is, the six different possible types of rebirth:
as a hellbeing, a craving spirit, an animal, a human, someone nearly a
pleasure being, or a full pleasure being.  See also note 39.



64  
"Three different kinds of suffering:" The illustrious Kedrup Tenpa Dargye
explains them as follows in his "Overview of the Perfection of Wisdom:"

     What we call "pervasive" suffering is the subtle condition of change,
     the fact that the physical, mental, and other parts of ourselves which
     we have taken on cannot remain, but begin to change from the moment
     after they come into existence.  The suffering of change is typified by
     the pleasant sensation of the taste of a fine meal.  The suffering of
     suffering, outright suffering, would be something like the painful
     sensation of a backache.

     There is, by the way, a good reason for calling the first of these
     "pervasive" suffering: this is a kind of pain which pervades each and
     every thing produced by karma and mental afflictions, and pervades too
     all three realms of cyclic existence.  Moreover, this particular
     suffering pervades each of the other two kinds.

See f. 70a in the first chapter of entry B37.

"

65  Stop desire for the future:" The quotation is found on p. 585 of Je
Rinpoche's classic work on the essentials of Buddhism; see entry B87.  The
English version is on p. 77, entry B119.

"

66  Stop desire for this life:" Also found in the Master's "Three Principal
Paths," entry B87, p. 585.  See also p. 61, entry B119, for the English
version.


67  
"Lineage of the Word:" The new and older schools of the Keepers of the
Word, the Kadampas, are explained at note 29.  "Lineage of the Word" is a
translation of the word "Kagyu," the name of one of the four great traditions
of Tibetan Buddhism.

"

68  You can't be sure you will live:" The Victor Yang Gonpa (1213 1258) was a
famed early writer and practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism, and is known for a
group of works called the "Hermit Cycle."  He is one of the founding fathers
of the "Drukpa" or "Dragon" lineage of the tradition of the Kagyu: the
"Lineage of the Word."  For a full account of his life, see Prof. George N.
Roerich's translation of the "Blue Annals," a history of Buddhism by Shunnu
Pel, the Master Translator of Gu, at entry B117, pp. 

We have not located the original source of these and the following quotations,
but this first one also appears in a work by the First Panchen Lama on methods
for maintaining one's morality.  See p. 468, entry B63.


69  
"Urges himself to perfect his practice:" A catalog from the Kokonor region
of Tibet contains two references to a book entitled "The Tree of Faith
Aplenty: Urging Myself to Perfect My Practice," and states that it was
composed by Drom Gyalway Jungne, otherwise known as Dromton Je Lord Atisha's
foremost disciple.  We have not located a copy to check the reference.  See
entry B22, as well as pp. 91 and 632 in the TSEN catalog listed at the
beginning of the bibliography.

"

70  Such a house of horrors:" The lines are found in a beautiful short piece
entitled "A Song of Deep Despair," from a collection of mental trainings by
this seventh of the Dalai Lamas.  See p. 487,
entry B12.  The quotation is also found in Pabongka Rinpoche's "Gift of
Liberation," entry B55, folio 264b.

"

71  Nirvana beyond both extremes:" Refers to the nirvana attained by a fully
enlightened Buddha, who eliminates every form of spiritual obstacle, and is
thus free of both the extreme of living in the cycle of suffering life, and
the extreme of staying in a lower, personal nirvana.  See the great Kedrup
Tenpa Dargye's "Analysis of the Perfection of Wisdom," f. 39a, Part One,
Chapter I, entry B36.

72  

"They sing the praises of morality:" The circumstances of the composition
of these lines in praise of morality were especially joyful.  Je Tsongkapa had
sent one of his favorite disciples, Tsako Ngawang Drakpa, to eastern Tibet in
order to teach and establish new monasteries.  Upon the ordination of the
first monks in the area of Gyalmo Rong, the disciple wrote a letter to the
Master informing him of the event.  These words are from an exquisite epistle
which Je Tsongkapa sent in reply.  See pp. 580 581 of entry B83.


73  
"The various vows of freedom:" Refers to the eight sets of vows found in
the Buddhist scriptures; three are for laymen, and five for the ordained. 
Generally speaking they are called "vows of freedom" because, by observing
them carefully, one can reach the freedom of nirvana.  Perhaps the clearest
and most concise presentation of the eight is found in Je Tsongkapa's own
"Essence of the Ocean of Discipline," at entry B88.

74  

"Comes to rip out the life:" Lobsang Chukyi Gyaltsen (1567? 1662) was the
first of the great Panchen Lamas and a renowned philosopher, historian, and
statesman as well as teacher of the great Fifth Dalai Lama.  The lines are
found in a short piece entitled "Divine Nectar for Exposing the Harmful Things
I Have Done in the Past, and for Restoring Myself to Spiritual Health, by
Relying on the Antidotes to Bad Deeds, from the Present Moment On."  See entry
B61, vol. 5, p. 552.

75  

"Fill the reaches of space itself: "Quotation from f. 352b of this
teaching of the Buddha himself (entry B13).  It is also found in Pabongka
Rinpoche's commentary to the "Three Principal Paths," and in numerous other
works on the Steps to the path.  See pp. 95 96 of the commentary's English
translation, entry B119.

"

76  Flourishes even more:" The lines are found on f. 2b of Master Shantideva's
classic manual for bodhisattvas, entry B91.


77  
"Those great beings who meditate:" The verses are from the "Lamp on the
Path," Lord Atisha's famed prototype for Tibetan texts on the Steps to
Buddhahood.  They are also quoted in the early "Steps of the Teaching" by
Geshe Drolungpa.  See f. 240a, entry B72, and f. 346b, entry B19.

"

78  The Wish for enlightenment is the central beam:" The verse appears in Je
Tsongkapa's "Songs of My Spiritual Life."  See entry p. 310, entry B80.

79  "Train your mind in the proper progression:" The texts on the Steps to
Buddhahood state that the great Wish for enlightenment can equally be
developed by using either of the methods mentioned.  The "seven-part,
cause-and-effect instruction" comes down to us from Lord Buddha through
masters such as Chandrakirti, Chandragomi, and Shantarakshita.  It involves a
preliminary step, developing neutrality towards all other beings, and then
seven parts, the last being a result of the first six.  The seven are:

     (1) Recognize that all beings have, in past lives, been your own mother. 
          
     (2) Contemplate the kindness they showed you.
     (3) Develop a desire to repay them.
     (4) Find a kind of love where every other living being looks as lovely
          to you as a mother's only son.
     (5) Feel a strong compassion for them, a wish that they could escape
          every kind of pain.
     (6) Resolve to help them escape, through your own personal effort, by
          any means necessary.
     (7) This then brings you to the Wish to achieve enlightenment for the
          sake of every living being.

The practice of "exchanging self and others" comes down to us from
the Buddha through Master Shantideva, and means to replace one's concern for
his own welfare with a concern for the welfare of others.  Both methods
combine in the teachings of Lord Atisha, Je
Tsongkapa, and the Lamas of their lineage.  See Pabongka Rinpoche's "Gift of
Liberation," entry B55, f. 300a "ff."

80  
"All six perfections:" The six Buddhist perfections are giving, morality,
controlling anger, enjoying good deeds, meditative concentration, and wisdom. 
One important source for the six is Master Chandrakirti's "Entering the Middle
Way," with chapters devoted to each.  See entry B96.

81  

"Avoiding the ten bad deeds:" See note 61 for the ten.

"

82  Three sets of vows:" The freedom vows have been discussed above; see note
73.  The bodhisattva vows consist of 18 root vows and 46 secondary vows by
which one commits him or herself to the service of other beings.  The secret
vows are undertaken for the purpose of attaining enlightenment in this life,
in order to benefit all sentient kind.  See Pabongka Rinpoche's "Gift of
Liberation," entry B55, f. 383b.

83  

"Amassing merit and wisdom:" These two huge collections of good deeds and
knowledge within one's mind stream act as the causes for the physical form and
the omniscient state of a Buddha, respectively.  See Pabongka Rinpoche's
commentary to Je Tsongkapa's "Three Principal Paths," entry B54, f. 4a
(English translation at entry B119, p. 36.



84  "Five problems to meditation:" The texts on the Steps to Buddhahood
describe in detail the concept of five problems which occur as a person
attempts to develop the perfect concentration known as meditative quietude. 
These five are countered by eight corrective measures, and lead the meditator
through nine different states, with four modes.  "Separating the Middle and
the Extremes" is
one of the works granted to Master Asanga in the 4th century by Maitreya, the
future Buddha.  It outlines these components of meditation in a very brief way
and is used as the basis for later presentations.  See entry B51, f. 41a.

The first of the five problems is called "laziness," a lack of
motivation even to sit down and start trying to develop perfect concentration. 
It is countered by the first four of the corrective measures.  Here one begins
by developing (1) "faith," which means a clear understanding of the  benefits
of concentration.  Once he is aware of these benefits, the meditator begins to
(2) "aspire" to achieve them, which provides the impetus for (3) great
"effort."  The result of these three is (4) a kind of physical and mental
"pliancy" which allows one to meditate easily.  Practicing then becomes
enjoyable, which is a natural antidote for the initial hesitation to begin
meditating.

The second of the problems likely to arise in meditation is "forgetting the
instruction," which here refers to losing the object which one has chosen to
meditate upon.  The correction for this is "remembering," which means trying
to keep the mind on the object tightly, as you would hold a rope to keep it
from slipping.

Only now, once the object is within one's mental grasp, can the third problem
occur: dullness and agitation.  Dullness is a heaviness of body and mind; in
its gross form, one succeeds in fixing the mind but has no clarity none of
the bright, focussed feeling one gets for example while concentrating on a
good book.  With the subtle form of dullness one enjoys both fixation and
clarity, but the clarity lacks intensity.  This leads to perhaps the most
common error in meditation, marked by long periods of dimly focussed dullness,
a fuzzy good feeling easily mistaken for real concentration.

Agitation, the second part of the third problem, occurs when the mind is
distracted to an attractive object.  The correction for both sides of the
problem is known as "mindfulness," which simply means watching your own mind
to catch yourself turning dull or agitated.

Although mindfulness may detect a problem occurring during meditation, one may
fail to act upon the alarm, and this is the fourth problem.  It is overcome by
taking action, by tightening down on the meditation object in the case of
subtle dullness, and by lightening up when this goes too far and causes a
reaction of agitation.  The idea is to maintain the proper tension, like
tuning a guitar string: not too loose, and not too tight.  The correction
swings to either side of the problem, whichever necessary, as the driver of a
car constantly corrects to left and right in order to keep a straight line.

At some point a straight line is achieved, and the concentration is running
fine on its own.  Now the fifth problem can occur: the fault of correcting
when there is nothing to correct.  This problem's natural antidote the
eighth is to leave things alone.

The meditator passes through nine different states during the above process:

     1) Fixing the mind: Moments of fixation on the object, with no
          continuity.  Time off the object is more than time on the object.
     2) Fixing the mind continuously: Some ability to keep the mind on the
          object for a continuous period.

During these two states the mind is in the first of the four modes: engaging
only with a conscious effort to focus.
 
     3) Fixing the mind with patches: Mind kept on the object for longer
          periods, with brief gaps which are quickly patched.
     4) Fixing the mind closely: No longer possible to lose the object, but
          dullness and agitation still very strong.
     5) Controlling the mind: Gross dullness and agitation are overcome. 
          Special problems with subtle dullness due to excessive effort to
          focus the mind inward.
     6) Stilling the mind: Special problems with subtle agitation due to
          steps taken to stop subtle dullness.
     7) Stilling the mind completely: With few exceptions, all dullness and
          agitation stopped.  Infrequent occurrences of the two are
          countered by application of effort.

During these last five states the mind is in the second of the four modes:
engaging but with interruptions, caused by dullness and agitation.

     8) Focussing the mind single-pointedly: Slight initial effort is enough
          to prevent dullness and agitation for the entire remaining length
          of a meditation session.

During this eighth state the mind is in the third of the four modes: engaging
without interruptions.

     9) Balancing the mind: No effort at all required to start and remain in
          deep, single-pointed meditation.

During the ninth state the mind is in the last of the four modes: engaging
effortlessly.  This last state is also known as "approximate quietude"; it
becomes true meditative quietude when one achieves true physical and mental
pliancy.

The preceding discussion is based on Pabongka Rinpoche's "Gift of
Liberation," ff. 348a 358b, entry B55, with additional material from Je
Tsongkapa's "Greater Steps," f. 346b.

85  
"The fact that nothing has any nature of its own:" This refers to the
Buddhist concept of emptiness, or voidness, and is easily misunderstood.  For
a full discussion, see Pabongka Rinpoche's own explanation in Je Tsongkapa's
"Principal Teachings of Buddhism" (English translation), entry B119, pp.
109 133.

86  

"The three principal paths:" These three constitute an essential
background, without which the study of the "Mountain of Blessings" would be
incomplete.  They are presented fully in Pabongka Rinpoche's elucidation of Je
Tsongkapa's work entitled the "Three Principal Paths;" see B54 (Tibetan
original) and B119 (English translation).


87  
"Listeners, self made Buddhas, and bodhisattvas:" See note 15.

88  

"Three "countless" periods of years:" The word "countless" here actually
refers to a specific number 1,000,000,000,000,000,
000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.  The length of an "eon" is
variously described in Buddhist scripture, and is tied to cycles in the
lifespans of beings; suffice to say it entails millions of years.


89  
"Eight great attainments:" These are to gain "the sword," which allows one
to travel anywhere; "the pill," which enables you to become invisible or
assume any outer form; "the eye ointment," which helps you see minute or very
distant objects; "swift feet,"
the ability to travel at high speeds; "taking essence," an ability to live off
nothing but tiny bits of sustenance; "sky walk," the ability to fly;
"disappearing," or invisibility; and "underground,"
the power to pass through solid ground like a fish through water.  The "Great
Dictionary" describes each of the eight in a separate entry; see bibliography
item B49, pp. 2668, 2705, 2091, 88, 755, 298, 2073, and 2907, respectively. 
An expanded presentation of these attainments is found on ff. 286b 287a of
Lord Atisha's autocommentary to "Light on the Path," entry B73.

90  

"A number of works by the Lord:" Je Tsongkapa's classic presentations of
the higher vows are found at entries B81 and B89, respectively.

91  
"The secret and bodhisattva vows:" Summaries of these higher vows are
found in many of the texts for daily recitation, such as the "Practice for Six
Times a Day."  The book of advice mentioned
above, the "String of Shining Jewels," is a concise, exquisite piece by Geshe
Tsewang Samdrup of Drepung Monastery, probably from the 18th century (see
entry B90).

92  

"Within seven lives this person will reach:" Je Tsongkapa, in the "Golden
Harvest of Attainments" just mentioned, also uses this quotation (see p. 471,
entry B89).  He mentions his source as a reference to the "Treasure" within
Master Saraha's "Difficult Points on the Secret Teaching of the Skull."  The
citation is found there on ff. 144b 145a, entry B110.



93  "Within the length of sixteen lives:" The quotation is from the" String of
Light for the Three Kinds of Vows," a short piece by Master Vibhuti Chandra
found in the Tengyur collection of early Indian commentaries (see f. 54b,
entry B45).  The lines just preceding those here, by the way, state that

     If he also does his meditation
     A person will reach enlightenment
     Here in the very same life.

Je Tsongkapa cites the lines on the sixteen lives in both his "Golden Harvest"
and in an epistle sent to a disciple named Kashi Dzinpa, Sherab Pel Sangpo. 
The great scholar of the secret teachings, Shaluwa Rinchen Lobsang Kyenrab
(late 19th century), also speaks of the maximum of sixteen lifetimes.  See p.
471, entry B89; p. 548, entry B78; and f. 66b, entry B103, respectively.

94  "The goal is reached:" The quotation is found on f. 30b of this work from
the secret teachings of the Tengyur collection (entry B46).  Je Tsongkapa
again cites the lines as well on p. 471 of his "Golden Harvest" (entry
B89) and again the following words are included in the original:

     By force of meditation and the like,
     A person achieves the goal in this same life.

95  
"Birth or death or the state between:" The lines by His Holiness the
Seventh Dalai Lama are found in a letter of advice to one Rabjampa Gendun
Drakpa.  See p. 460, entry B11.

96  

"The "heaps," the "categories," and the "doors of sense":" These are three
ways of dividing the parts to ourselves and our world; the classic
presentation of them is found throughout the first chapter of Master
Vasubandhu's "Treasure House of Knowledge."  See entry B71, 2a 4a, and the
commentary of the First Dalai Lama, entry B20, ff. 1b 42a.

The five "heaps" consist of our physical form, our feelings, our ability to
discriminate, parts of us not covered in the other four heaps, and our
consciousness.  They are called "heaps" because each one consists of a large
group of different things.

The eighteen "categories" are our five physical senses and our mental sense,
along with the corresponding six objects and six consciousnesses.  (For
example, the physical sense of the eye, visual objects, and consciousness of
what we see.)  They are called "categories" in the sense of "types."

The twelve "doors of sense" are the six senses and their six objects.  They
are "doors of sense" in that they provide a cause or doorway through which the
six types of consciousness arise.  These three different presentations of the
divisions to us and our world are made to fit varying types of students.

97  
"Three bodies of a victorious Buddha:" The three bodies or parts of a
Buddha are known as the Dharma Body, the Body of Enjoyment, and the Body of
Emanation.  The Dharma Body consists of the Buddha's omniscience, his state of
having ended all impure qualities, and his or her emptiness.  The Body of
Enjoyment is the physical body of the Buddha in his paradise, and the Body of
Emanation is the form which he projects to this and other planets to help
living beings.  For the technical definitions of the three, see Kedrup Tenpa
Dargye, entry B37, Chapter I, f. 47a; Chapter VIII, f. 17a; and the same
chapter, f. 18b, respectively.

"

98  But remember many are robbed:" The lines are found in His famed work on
the Steps to Buddhahood entitled "Word of the Gentle One."  See entry B26, f.
93a.



99  "How the two levels of reality work:" The five great books have been
described above at note 24.  The "two levels of reality" refer to what are
usually called "deceptive truth" and "ultimate truth."  Both are valid, and
all objects have both.  The dependence of objects (especially in the sense of
depending upon the names and concepts we apply to them) is their conventional
or deceptive truth.  Their appearance is "deceptive" because to the minds of
normal people they appear to be something other than what they actually are. 
The "ultimate" truth of objects is their lack of non-dependence, and is first
seen directly in the all-important meditative state known as the "path of
seeing."  Seeing this truth directly acts immediately to stop the process
through which we suffer.

100  "Ten levels and five paths:" The ten levels here refer to ten stages at
which a bodhisattva attains an exceptional ability to perform the various
perfections; they begin with the first direct perception of emptiness.

The five paths represent progressive stages towards the goal of nirvana and
omniscience.  The first, called the "path of accumulation," begins when a
practitioner develops true renunciation for the suffering of life.  For a
person of the greater way this is accompanied by a full-fledged version of the
Wish to gain enlightenment for the sake of others.  The second path is called
the "path of preparation," and is marked by increasingly refined intellectual
understandings of emptiness.

The third path is the "path of seeing," named after the all-important initial
direct perception of emptiness.  During the
subsequent stages of this path one also perceives directly what are called the
Four Noble Truths of suffering, the cause of suffering, the end of suffering,
and the way to the end of suffering.

The fourth path is the "path of habituation," where one familiarizes himself
repeatedly with the realizations of the previous path, in order to permanently
remove all mental afflictions and their propensities.  This state itself is
known as the "path of no more learning," the fifth path.  For a practitioner
of the lower way this is nirvana, and for one of the greater way it represents
the full enlightenment of a Buddha.

The subject of the ten levels and five paths is treated in detail in a
standard type of textbook known as the "Presentation of the Levels and Paths." 
See, for example, the early version by Kedrup Je, entry B16.

101  "Added here in conclusion:" In general the verse is attached to many
prayers and rituals as a fitting conclusion.  As for dating its first
appearance, the verse is not found in the "Mountain "commentary of Tsechokling
Yeshe Gyeltsen (1713 1793), nor in that of Akya Yangchen Gaway Lodru (c.
1760), entries B100 and B70, respectively.  It does though appear in the
explanations of the Second Jamyang Shepa, Konchok Jikme Wangpo (1728 1791),
and Keutsang Lobsang Jamyang Monlam (b. 1689).  See entries B8 and B65.

102  
"By this virtue may all beings..." These are actually the final lines of
Master Nagarjuna's "Sixty Verses of Reasoning," and are often used nowadays as
a prayer of dedication after the good
deed of listening to a teaching.  The entire verse reads:

     By this virtue may all beings
     Gather the masses of merit and wisdom.
     May they achieve the ultimate two [bodies of a Buddha]
     That the merit and the wisdom produce.

See f. 22b, entry B5, and its commentary by Master Chandrakirti at f. 30a,
entry B97.

103  

"The prayers of bodhisattva princes:" The original lines are from the
third part of a verse description of his spiritual life by Je Tsongkapa
entitled "Noble Hopes."  This section is called the "Dedication of All that I
Had Done, that the Word should Flourish in the World," and the entire verse
reads as follows:

     The prayers of bodhisattva princes,
     As many as the drops of water in the Ganges,
     Are all it is spoken included within
     A prayer that the Dharma be preserved.

     Thus I take the core of virtue
     Created by the good I have done
     And dedicate it to the spread
     Of the Buddha's teaching in the world.

     I think of all I've done,
     My hopes in life were noble;
     Oh you have been kind to me,
     Holy Treasure House of knowledge.

See p. 307, entry B85.  The "Treasure House" here, by the way, refers to
Gentle Voice Je Tsongkapa's tutor.

104
  
"The teacher unsurpassed:" The lines are often appended to prayers and
recitation texts; see for example the version of Je Tsongkapa's "Songs of My
Spiritual Life" in entry B29, p. 449.  The
entire verse reads: 

     The fact that in my life I've been able
     To meet with the matchless Word of the Teacher
     Is my Lama's kindness, so this good I've done
     I dedicate to the cause that every
     Living being might find himself
     Under a holy Lama's care.

105  

"The hermitage of the Victor:" The "Victor" here is Dromton Je, founder
of Radreng Monastery which is located to the north of Lhasa city.  See note
16 for details.

"  

106  The Thousand Angels:" The "Thousand Angels of the Heaven of Bliss" is an
extremely important devotional work and meditation centered on Je Tsongkapa. 
The preliminary practices are a method to prepare oneself properly for a
meditation session; a typical version would be that of Pabongka Rinpoche's
root Lama, Jampel Hlundrup.  See entries B111 and B31, respectively.



107  
"Milarepa and Kyungpo:" The great Milarepa (1040 1123) is perhaps the most
famed meditator and writer of spiritual poetry in Tibet.  In his early years
he practiced black magic and used it to harm a great many people.  Later he
regretted this wrong path and became one of the greatest Buddhist masters of
his time, spending a full nine years in intense meditation to achieve the
ultimate goal.  The sage Kedrup Kyungpo Neljor (b. 978) was originally a
practitioner of the shamanistic Bon religion prevalent in Tibet prior to the
arrival of Buddhism.  Not reaching the goals he sought, Kedrup Kyungpo
travelled to Nepal and India, mastering the Buddhist teachings.  He founded
numerous monasteries in Tibet and started the Shangpa school of the tradition
known as the Kagyu: the Lineage of the Word.  For thumbnail biographies see
the "Great Dictionary," entry B49, pp. 2081 and 302, respectively.

108  

"Actually make them enlightened:" Original source of quotation not found. 
Tuken Chukyi Nyima (1737 1802) was the third incarnation of the Tuken lineage. 
His studies were influenced by such eminent Lamas as the Seventh Dalai Lama,
the Third Panchen Lama, the great historian and grammarian Sumpa Kenpo Yeshe
Peljor, the philosopher Changkya Rolpay Dorje, and most importantly Purbuchok
Ngawang Jampa, known for his writings on history and the secret teachings. 
Perhaps the most famous of Tuken's lucid treatises is his "Survey of the
Schools of Philosophy.
"

109  
"Those with the goodness to hear it:" Original source of quotation not
found.  Changkya Rolpay Dorje (1717 1786) was the second incarnation of the
Line of the Changkya Lamas, and is said in fact to have been a former life of
Pabongka Rinpoche himself.  He was Lama to the Emperor of China and
instrumental in the publication of the entire Buddhist canon in Mongolian.

110  

"Just what our Lord Lama has taught:" The lines are found in a short
piece which describes how to meditate on the impermanence of life (see p.121,
entry B9).  Gungtang Tenpay Dronme (1762 1823) spent his early years at the
monastery of Labrang Tashi Kyil in east Tibet, and then studied under leading
masters of his day at the great Drepung Monastery in Lhasa.  He displayed
extraordinary talent and received the highest scholastic degree at the age of
twenty-two.  His collected works span a wide range of subjects including the
open and secret teachings of Buddhism, the fine arts, medicine and astrology,
and classical grammar.

111  

"One of the Sugarcane:" An epithet of the historical Buddha, who was born
into a group of people called "Those of the Sugarcane."


112  
"The royal Regent, the Invincible Savior, and Gentle Voice:" The Regent
and Savior mentioned here refer to Loving One, Maitreya, the future Buddha who
has been put as regent of the Heaven of Bliss by the present Buddha,
Shakyamuni.  The lineage of far-reaching deeds motivated by the Wish for
enlightenment has come down from Lord Buddha through him, and the lineage of
the profound view of emptiness has been passed down to us through Gentle
Voice, Manjushri.

113  

"Descended in a perfect stream:" The lines here are describing exactly
the same lineages to which Je Tsongkapa made his original supplication when he
wrote the text of the "Mountain of Blessings."  The third-century Indian
masters Nagarjuna and Aryadeva are sometimes referred to as the "Father and
Son," teacher and disciple for the philosophy of emptiness.  Master Asanga is
also known as the "Brother" since he and the illustrious Vasubandhu had the
same mother.  Both Nagarjuna and Asanga are spoken of us as "innovators" in
the sense that they were able to elucidate the scriptures without relying on a
previous innovator, and were prophesied as such by the Buddha himself.  This
subject is treated at length in
monastic presentations on the perfection of wisdom such as the "Analysis" of
Kedrup Tenpa Dargye, Chapter I, Part One, f. 6a, entry B36.


114  
"The kindness of one great God:" The "God" here refers to Atisha, who with
his principal disciple Dromton Je was chiefly responsible for introducing the
teachings on the Steps into Tibet.  See also note 19.

115  

"Sixty most glorious tones:" Refers to sixty different remarkable traits
of the speech of the Buddha.  The most important of these, as Pabongka
Rinpoche himself notes in his "Gift of Liberation," is the spontaneous ability
to speak in a single language, Sanskrit, which is heard by each disciple as
his own native tongue.  See f. 209b, entry B55.

116  

"The mother of the moon:" The image has a multitude of meanings but, most
importantly here, refers to the great outer ocean of Buddhist cosmology.  The
floor of the ocean was believed in Tibet to be the source of precious jewels. 
See the "Great Dictionary," entry B49, p. 2481.


117  
"Way of the Heaven of Bliss:" Refers to the teaching tradition of Je
Tsongkapa.  The "serpents" mentioned here are the mythical "nagas;" their home
was in bodies of water, and it was believed that, so long as they remained in
them, the water would never dry up.  Here the mighty Lamas of the Lineage are
the serpents; because of them, the ocean of the teachings like the present
book remain.

"

118  The retreat house known as Tashi Chuling:" A hermitage favored by
Pabongka Rinpoche and located above an outcropping near Lhasa named "Pabongka
Rock."  This was the location of Pabongka Monastery, and as a child the
Rinpoche was recognized as the reincarnation of this monastery's abbot. 
"

119  Son of Sholkang:" Sholkang was a powerful government official who
assisted the regent of Tibet from the year 1907, and passed
away in 1926.  See the "Great Dictionary," entry B49, pp. 3287 3289.

120  
"Lobsang, the King of Buddhas:" Meaning Je Tsongkapa, Lobsang Drakpa.

"

121  The Meeting of the Angels:" A biweekly celebration of the Angel of
Diamond.  The monastery of Den is located in Kham, east Tibet.  The Hlalu were
a well-known aristocratic of old Tibet; their principal holdings were located
to the northwest of Lhasa, on the road to Drepung Monastery.

