Lighting the Way

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Lighting the Way
Book


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The Fourteenth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso
source author
author
Atiśa
source author
Geshe Langri Thangpa
source author
Thupten Jinpa
translator
Snow Lion Publications
publisher
Topics
Texts:
DRL Topics:
  • Canonical Studies
  • Collections of Teachings - Transcripts
  • Meditation - Buddhist Practice
Lighting the Way-front.png

Description

This book by the 14th Dalai Lama contains teachings on the four noble truths and teachings and translations of Langri Thangpa's The Eight Verses on Training the Mind and Atiśa's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. It has been edited by Thupten Jinpa.
Citation
Dalai Lama, 14th. Lighting the Way. Translated by Thupten Jinpa. Ithaca: Snow Lion Publications, 2004.
Texts Translated

This work contains oral teachings by the Dalai Lama, 14th on the Four Noble Truths, as well as the following two works:

  1. Atiśa. bodhipathapradīpa, (byang chub lam gyi sgron ma). In bstan 'gyur (sde dge), Vol. 111: 475-481. Delhi: delhi karmapae choedhey, gyalwae sungrab partun khang, 1982-1985. Buda by BDRC Logo.jpg Columbia AIBS
  2. dge bshes glang ri thang pa. blo sbyong tshigs rkang brgyad ma. In blo sbyong dang zhal gdams nyer mkho phyogs bsgrigs, 184-185. Xiang gang: xiang gang xin zhi chu ban shi, 2005. Buda by BDRC Logo.jpg


Translation of

 
Bodhipathapradīpa
Bodhipathapradīpa. (T. Byang chub lam gyi sgron ma). In Sanskrit, "Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment"; a work composed by the Indian scholar Atiśa Dīpamkaraśrījñāna at Tho ling gtsug lag khang shortly after he arrived in Tibet in 1042. Tibetan histories often note that Atiśa wrote this text in order to clarify problematic points of Buddhist practice, especially tantra, which were thought to have degenerated and become distorted, and to show that tantra did not render basic Buddhist practice irrelevant. The Bodhipathapradīpa emphasizes a gradual training in the practices of the Mahāyāna and vajrayāna and became a prototype and textual basis first for the bstan rim, or "stages of the teaching" genre, and then for the genre of Tibetan religious literature known as lam rim, or "stages of the path." It is also an early source for the instructions and practice of blo sbyong, or "mind training." Atiśa wrote his own commentary (pańjikā) (Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment) to the text. The text says bodhisattvas must first follow one of the sets of prātimokṣa disciplinary rules; based on those precepts, they practice the six perfections (pāramitā); with those perfections as a solid foundation, they finally practice Buddhist tantra. (Source: "Bodhipathapradīpa." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 133. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Text
 
Blo sbyong tshig brgyad ma
Composed by the Buddhist Master Langri Tangpa (1054-1123), Eight Verses for Training the Mind is a highly revered text from the Mahayana Lojong (mind training) tradition. These instructions offer essential practices for

cultivating the awakening mind of compassion, wisdom, and love. This eight-verse lojong enshrines the very heart of Dharma, revealing the true essence of the Mahayana path to liberation. Even a single line of this practice can be seen as encapsulating the entire teaching of the Buddha. For even a single statement of this mind training practice has the incredible power to help us subdue our self-oriented behavior and mental afflictions. The fundamental theme of mind training practice is the profound reorientation of our basic attitude, both toward our own self and toward our fellow human beings, as well as toward the events around us. The goal of mind training practice is the radical transformation of our thoughts, attitudes, and habits. Presently, we tend to cherish the welfare of our own self at the expense of all others. However, the mind training teaching challenges us to reverse this process. This involves a deep understanding of others as true friends, and the recognition that our

true enemy lies inside of ourselves, not outside. Source Accessed Jan 30, 2025)
Text

Teaching based on

 
Bodhipathapradīpa
Bodhipathapradīpa. (T. Byang chub lam gyi sgron ma). In Sanskrit, "Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment"; a work composed by the Indian scholar Atiśa Dīpamkaraśrījñāna at Tho ling gtsug lag khang shortly after he arrived in Tibet in 1042. Tibetan histories often note that Atiśa wrote this text in order to clarify problematic points of Buddhist practice, especially tantra, which were thought to have degenerated and become distorted, and to show that tantra did not render basic Buddhist practice irrelevant. The Bodhipathapradīpa emphasizes a gradual training in the practices of the Mahāyāna and vajrayāna and became a prototype and textual basis first for the bstan rim, or "stages of the teaching" genre, and then for the genre of Tibetan religious literature known as lam rim, or "stages of the path." It is also an early source for the instructions and practice of blo sbyong, or "mind training." Atiśa wrote his own commentary (pańjikā) (Commentary on the Difficult Points of the Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment) to the text. The text says bodhisattvas must first follow one of the sets of prātimokṣa disciplinary rules; based on those precepts, they practice the six perfections (pāramitā); with those perfections as a solid foundation, they finally practice Buddhist tantra. (Source: "Bodhipathapradīpa." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 133. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)
Text
 
Blo sbyong tshig brgyad ma
Composed by the Buddhist Master Langri Tangpa (1054-1123), Eight Verses for Training the Mind is a highly revered text from the Mahayana Lojong (mind training) tradition. These instructions offer essential practices for

cultivating the awakening mind of compassion, wisdom, and love. This eight-verse lojong enshrines the very heart of Dharma, revealing the true essence of the Mahayana path to liberation. Even a single line of this practice can be seen as encapsulating the entire teaching of the Buddha. For even a single statement of this mind training practice has the incredible power to help us subdue our self-oriented behavior and mental afflictions. The fundamental theme of mind training practice is the profound reorientation of our basic attitude, both toward our own self and toward our fellow human beings, as well as toward the events around us. The goal of mind training practice is the radical transformation of our thoughts, attitudes, and habits. Presently, we tend to cherish the welfare of our own self at the expense of all others. However, the mind training teaching challenges us to reverse this process. This involves a deep understanding of others as true friends, and the recognition that our

true enemy lies inside of ourselves, not outside. Source Accessed Jan 30, 2025)
Text

  • Forewordvii
  • 1 Principles of Buddhism
    • The Four Noble Truths1
  • 2 Teachings on
    • The Eight Verses on Training the Mind21
  • 3 Atisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment53
  • Glossary115
  • Endnotes131
  • Acknowledgements135
  • Recommended reading137
  • Index139


Atīśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna (slob dpon chen po dpal mar me mdzad ye shes). Bodhipathapradīpa [बोधिपथप्रदीप]. byang chub lam gyi sgron ma [བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་གྱི་སྒྲོན་མ།]. [A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment]. Tengyur, RKTST 3288 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3288&typ=2.

Go to the page with the definition of 'Bodhipathapradīpa'

Atīśa Dīpaṃkaraśrījñāna (slob dpon chen po dpal mar me mdzad ye shes). Bodhipathapradīpa [बोधिपथप्रदीप]. byang chub lam gyi sgron ma [བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་གྱི་སྒྲོན་མ།]. [A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment]. Tengyur, RKTST 3288 http://www.rkts.org/cat.php?id=3288&typ=2.

Go to the page with the definition of 'བྱང་ཆུབ་ལམ་གྱི་སྒྲོན་མ།'

Tantra - Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism. Skt तन्त्र  Tib རྒྱུད།  Ch 密宗  

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Mahāyāna - Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion. Skt महायान  Tib ཐེག་པ་ཆེན་པོ།  Ch 大乘  

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Vajrayāna - The esoteric Buddhist tradition which developed as a syncretic system involving deity worship, use of mantras, physical energy, and mystical practices. It is also known as the mantra tradition and the tantric school as a result of being based on texts known as tantras. Skt वज्रयान  Tib རྡོ་རྗེ་ཐེག་པ།  Ch 金剛乘  

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Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt बोधिसत्त्व  Tib བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ།  Ch 菩薩  

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Pāramitā - The six or ten types of practices which lead an individual to Buddhahood. The practice of perfections is particularly important in Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the entire path of the Bodhisattva to reach full enlightenment is included in the six or ten perfections. The six perfections are that of giving, of discipline, patience, zeal, meditation, and wisdom. The perfection of skill-in-means, aspirations, power, and pristine wisdom are added to them to make ten perfections. Skt पारमिता  Tib ཕར་ཕྱིན། and ཕ་རོལ་ཏུ་ཕྱིན་པ།  Ch 波羅蜜  

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Karuṇā - Skt करुणा  Tib ཐུགས་རྗེ་  Ch 悲  

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Kleśa - Often referred to as poisons, these are a class of disturbing or disruptive emotional states that when aroused negatively affect or taint the mind. Skt क्लेश  Tib ཉོན་མོངས་  Ch 煩惱  

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