Edwin R Larson

A Tsongkhapa Handbook Edwin R Larson

Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) wrote the Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment or Lam Rim Chen Mo in three volumes. The "Handbook' is the third volume which contains detailed meditation instructions and the philosophical basis for changing belief about how we experience ourselves and the world. The Lamrim Chenmo translation committee published this volume in 2014 which gave the world Je Tsongkhapa's exact words on the subject which many regard as the last word on enlightenment. It is both a great work of literature and philosophy but also a practical instructional manual and presented in a scholarly fashion. However, few people who want to learn from the master himself are not scholars which doesn't mean the writing style is impossible - only difficult for the average reader. The "Handbook" is merely is Tsongkapa's writing placed in an outline form so that his instructional points can be absorbed one at a time. Tsongkapa's sentences consists of strong clauses which lends itself to outlining. The result is a book that opens Tsongkapa's mind in the most direct way possible. I believe that presenting his thinking in an outline form does reflect his incredible depth of thought with precise application. He teaches that the only way to learn about enlightenment is one tiny step at the time. All the steps are here.