Lamrim

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).

History

When Atiśa, the originator of the lamrim came from India to Tibet, 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 taught what came to be known as the lamrim for the Tibetans. He was subsequently honored for this by the pandits of his alma mater in India, the monastic university of Vikramashila. Atiśa's presentation of the doctrine later became known as the Kadampa tradition in Tibet.