Geshe Lhundub Sopa’s Steps on the Path toEnlightenment is a landmark commentary onwhat is perhaps the most elaborate and elegantTibetan presentation of the Buddhist path,Tsongkhapa’s monumental Lamrim Chenmo. Inthis third volume of five, readers are acquaintedwith the bodhisattva’s path and the altruisticdesire to make service to others the driving forceof spiritual development.
It begins with an explanation of what distinguishesthe Mahayana practitioner fromother Buddhists. The nature ofbodhichitta is described in depth,and Geshe Sopa then provides adetailed, contemporary commentaryon the two methods to developthis attitude: the “sevenfold causeand-effect personal instructions”based on the teachings of Atishaand the later Kadampa lineage, andthe “training to exchange self and other” basedon Shantideva’s Engaging in the Bodhisattva’sDeeds. While bodhichitta’s significance inMahayana Buddhism is universally known, thisattitude alone is not sufficient in the quest forcomplete enlightenment. A practitioner mustdevote oneself to the performance of actionsmotivated by bodhichitta, called the bodhisattvaperfections. |
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