lamps
atishas lamp for the path to enlightenment an oral teaching by geshe sonam rinchen ; translated and edited by ruth sonam
atisha the eleventh century indian buddhist scholar and saint came to tibet at the invitation of the king of western tibet lha lama yeshe wo and his nephew jangchub wo . his coming initiated the period of the second transmission of buddhism to tibet formative for the sakya kagyu and gelug traditions of tibetan buddhism . atishas most celebrated text lamp for the path to enlightenment sets forth the entire buddhist path within the framework of three levels of motivation on the part of the practitioner . atishas text thus became the source of the lamrim tradition or graduated stages of the path to enlightenment an approach to spiritual practice incorporated within all schools of tibetan buddhism .