Tsongkapa
: Preparing for Tantra : The Mountain of Blessings/translated by Khen Rinpoche,
Geshe Lobsang Tharchin with Michael Roach. With a commentary by Pabongka
Rinpoche. Reprint. Delhi, Classics India, 1998, 172 p., $11. ISBN 81-85132-17-8.Tsongkapa
: Preparing for Tantra : The Mountain of Blessings/translated by Khen Rinpoche,
Geshe Lobsang Tharchin with Michael Roach. With a commentary by Pabongka
Rinpoche. Reprint. Delhi, Classics India, 1998, 172 p., $11. ISBN 81-85132-17-8.
Contents: Foreword. I. The preliminaries: 1. Why the steps?. 2. How to take a Lama. 3. Advice to take the essence of life. II. Steps shared with those of lesser capacity: 4. Steps shared with those of lesser capacity. III. Steps shared with those of medium capacity: 5. Learning how to want freedom. 6. Finding the right path to freedom. IV. Open steps for those of greater capacity: 7. Developing the wish for enlightenment. 8. General training in Bodhisattva activities. 9. Training in the final two perfections. V. Secret steps for those of greater capacity: 10. Entering the way of the diamond. 11. Keeping vows and pledges pure. 12. Meditating on the two secret stages. VI. In conclusion: 13. A request for good circumstances. 14. A prayer for future care. VII. Equivalents for translated proper names. Notes. Bibliography.
"The Tibetan Buddhist master Tsongkapa was born over six centuries ago. He was perhaps the greatest commentator of Buddhism in history, and wrote more than 10, 000 pages in explanation of the ancient books of Buddhist wisdom.
"His most famous masterpiece is the Great Book on the Steps of the Path, the Lamrim Chenmo, a clear and detailed roadmap to enlightenment. He wrote the work after coming in and out of prophetic vision over the length of an entire month, at the great monastery of Radreng, in south Tibet. The vision was triggered by the Mountain of Blessings, a prayer and guide to perfection used by Lamas ever since, as a preparation for the secret teachings of Buddhism.
"This important work appears here in full with a commentary by the illustrious Pabongka Rinpoche (1878-1941), generally regarded as the foremost Tibetan Buddhist teacher of the last century. Both texts have been translated by Khen Rinpoche, Geshe Lobsang Tharchinone—one of the last great masters of old Tibet, and a former abbot of Sera Mey Tibetan Monastery, one of the largest Buddhist monasteries in the world."