Tibetan Noun
lam rim
stages of the path
मार्गक्रम
ལམ་རིམ།, ལམ་གྱི་རིམ་པ།
Basic Meaning
Lam rim refers to the stages on the path and, by extension, more commonly to the genre of teachings which contain practical instructions for training on the stages of the path to enlightenment. Related to the blo sbyong practice, it is particularly known among the Kadampa and Geluk schools. Tsongkhapa's Byang chub lam rim chen mo is the most well known in this genre and the term lam rim is often used specifically to refer to this text.
| Term Variations | |
|---|---|
| Key Term | lam rim |
| Topic Variation | lam rim |
| Tibetan | ལམ་རིམ།, ལམ་གྱི་རིམ་པ། ( lamrim) |
| Wylie Tibetan Transliteration | lam rim, lam gyi rim pa ( lamrim) |
| Devanagari Sanskrit | मार्गक्रम ( mārgakrama) |
| Romanized Sanskrit | mārgakrama ( mārgakrama) |
| Buddha-nature Site Standard English | stages of the path |
| Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term | stages of the path |
| Ives Waldo's English Term | gradual path |
| Term Information | |
| Source Language | Tibetan |
| Basic Meaning | Lam rim refers to the stages on the path and, by extension, more commonly to the genre of teachings which contain practical instructions for training on the stages of the path to enlightenment. Related to the blo sbyong practice, it is particularly known among the Kadampa and Geluk schools. Tsongkhapa's Byang chub lam rim chen mo is the most well known in this genre and the term lam rim is often used specifically to refer to this text. |
| Term Type | Noun |
| Definitions | |
| Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism | In Tibetan, “stages o f the path” ; a common abbreviation for byang chub lam gyi rim pa (jangchup lamkyi rimpa), or “stages of the path to enlightenment,” a broad methodological framework for the study and practice of the complete Buddhist path to awakening, as well as the name for a major genre of Tibetan literature describing that path. It is closely allied to the genre known as bstan rim, or “stages of the doctrine.” The initial inspiration for the instructions of this System is usually attributed to the Bengali master Atiśa Dīpamkaraśrījñāna, whose Bodhipathapradīpa (“Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment”) became a model for numerous later stages of the path texts. The system presents a graduated and comprehensive approach to studying the central tenets of Mahāyāna Buddhist thought and is often organized around a presentation o f the three levels o f spiritual predilection, personified as “three individuals” (skyes bu gsum): lesser, intermediate, and superior. The stages gradually leadtheStudentfromthelowestlevelofseekingmerelytoobtain a better rebirth, through the intermediate level ofwishing for one’s own individual liberation, and finally to adopting the Mahāyāna outlook of the “superior individual,” viz., aspiring to attain buddhahood in order to benefit all living beings. The approach is most often grounded in the teachings of the sütra and usually concludes with a brief overview of tantra. |
| Dung dkar Tshig mdzod Chen mo | སངས་རྒྱས་ཆོས་ལུགས་ཀྱི་གཞུང་ནས་བཤད་པའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་ནང་དོན་རྣམས་གོ་རིམ་ཡོད་པའི་སྒོ་ནས་རང་ཉིད་ཀྱི་བསམ་བློའི་གོ་རྟོགས་དང་བསྟུན་ཏེ་བློ་སྦྱོང་བ། |
