Lamrim Chenmo

Lamrim (Tibetan: "stages of the path") is a Tibetan Buddhist textual form for presenting the stages in the complete path to enlightenment as taught by Buddha. In Tibetan Buddhist history there have been many different versions of ''lamrim'', presented by different teachers of the Nyingma, Kagyu and Gelug schools. However, all versions of the ''lamrim'' are elaborations of Atiśa's 11th-century root text '' A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment'' (''Bodhipathapradīpa'').Lamrim: the Gradual Path to Enlightenment
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History

When Atiśa, the originator of the ''lamrim'' came from India to Tibet,Lam Rim Meditation — What is it?
/ref> he was asked by king Jang Chub Ö to give a complete and easily accessible summary of the doctrine in order to clarify wrong views, especially those resulting from apparent contradictions across the sutras and their commentaries. Based upon this request he wrote the '' Bodhipathapradīpa'' ("A Lamp for the Path to Awakening"), teaching what came to be known as the ''lamrim'' for the Tibetans. Atiśa's presentation of the doctrine later became known as the Kadampa tradition in Tibet.

According to Tsong Khapa, in his ''Lam Rim Chen Mo'' ("The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment"), Atiśa took the number and order of the subjects in Maitreya-natha and Asaṅgas '' Abhisamayalankara'' ("Ornament of clear realizations"), which was based on the wisdom sutras, as the basis to write the ''Bodhipathapradīpa''. In the ''Abhisamayalankara'' they emphasised the hidden meanings of the sutras. Tibetan Buddhists thus believe that the teachings of the ''lamrim'' are based on the sutras that the Buddha taughtLamrim - The Stages of the Path
/ref> and therefore contains the essential points of all sutra teachings in their logical order for practice.

Gampopa, a Kadampa monk and student of the famed ''yogi'' Milarepa, introduced the ''lamrim'' to his disciples as a way of developing the mind gradually. His exposition of ''lamrim'' is known in English translation as "The Jewel Ornament of Liberation" and is studied to this day in the various Kagyu schools of Tibetan Buddhism.

The main Lam Rim text in the Nyingma tradition is Longchen Rabjampa's ''Finding Rest in the Nature of Mind,'' along with its voluminous auto-commentary, ''The Great Chariot.'' Both lay out the entire scope of the buddhist teachings according to the view of the Nyingma school, from the foundational practices through to Dzogchen.

Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelug school which is primarily based on Atiśa's Kadampa school, wrote one of his masterpieces on ''lamrim'': ''The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path of Enlightenment'' (Tib. ''Lam-rim Chen-mo'') which has about 1000 pages, and is primarily based on literary sources. There is also a medium-length ''lamrim'' text by Tsongkhapa (200 pages) and a short one, called ''Lam-rim Dü-dön'' (Tib.), which is recited daily by many Gelugpas and is about 10 pages long.

The Lamrim was the first Tibetan text translated into a European language by Ippolito Desideri, a Jesuit missionary, who visited Tibet and made an extensive study of Tibetan Buddhism from 1716 to 1721. Desideri studied the Lam Rim Chen Mo of Tsongkhapa, and his manuscript describing Tibet was one of the most extensive and accurate accounts of Buddhist philosophy until the twentieth century.

Philosophy

Three kinds of motivation

The starting point of the ''lamrim'' is a division of Buddhist practitioners into beings of three scopes, based upon the motivation of their religious activity. Disregarded in this division are individuals whose motives revolve around benefits in their current life. Striving for a favorable rebirth is implicitly the minimum requirement for an activity or practice to be classified as spiritual.

Atiśa wrote in "Lamp of the Path" (verse 2) that one should understand that there are three kind of persons:
# Persons of modest motive search for happiness within samsara; their motive is to achieve high rebirth. Buddhists traditionally consider that this domain includes followers of most non-Buddhist religions who strive for a rebirth in a heaven.
# Persons of medium motive are searching for their own ultimate peace and abandoned worldly pleasure. This includes the paths of '' pratyekabuddhas'' and '' śravakabuddhas'', which seek personal liberation alone, the traditional goal of Hīnayāna practice.
# Persons of high motive, who, based on their insight of their own suffering, seek by all means to stop the suffering of all beings. This is the Mahāyāna Bodhisattva path of the '' samyaksaṃbuddhas'', who practice the six Perfections.

One of the formulaic presentations of the Buddhist path in the Nikayas is ''anupubbikathā'', "graduated talk" or "progressive instruction," in which the Buddha talks on generosity ('' dāna''), virtue (''sīla''), heaven ('' sagga''), danger of sensual pleasure ('' ādīnava'') and renunciation ('' nekkhamma''). When the listener is prepared by these topics, the Buddha then delivers "the teaching special to the Buddhas,"Majjhima Nikaya 56, ''To Upali'', verse 18.Bhikkhu Nanamoli & Bhikku Bodhi.
the Four Noble Truths

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