Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages

Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages (T. rim lnga rab to gsal ba'i sgron me རིམ་ལྔ་རབ་ཏོ་གསལ་བའི་སྒྲོན་མེ་) by Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa is a presentation of the five stages (pancakrama) of the Guhyasamaja tantric system.

According to Robert Thurman, this text is "the tantric equivalent" of Tsongkhapa's Essence of True Eloquence. It analyzes the five stages of the perfection stage of the Unexcelled Yoga Tantra, focusing on the Esoteric Community noble tradition descending from Nagarjuna.

Also, according to Thurman:

The Extremely Brilliant Lamp (Shin tu gsal ba’I sgorn me) is Tsong Khapa’s most important commentary on the perfection stage practices of the Esoteric Community, the Tantra he considered fundamental for the practice of the “Father Tantra” class of Unexcelled Yoga Tantras. It draws heavily on Nagarjuna’s Five Stages (Pañcakrama) and Aryadeva’s Lamp that Intergrates the Practices, as well as a vast range of perfection stage works included in the Tibetan Kangyur and Tengyur collections. It is an important work for both scholars and practitioners.

Translations

• Gavin Kilty (translator), A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages: Teachings on Guhyasamaja Tantra (Library of Tibetan Classics), Wisdom Publications, 2013. Publisher's page
• Robert Thurman (translator), Brilliant Illumination of the Lamp of the Five Stages: Practical Instruction in the King of Tantras, “The Glorious Esoteric Community”, Thomas F. Yarnall (ed.), (Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences), New York: American institute of Buddhist studies. 2010. Archive version

External links

• A Lamp to Illuminate the Five Stages, Rigpa Shedra Wiki