Description
A Stairway taken by the Lucid presents for the first time an annotated English translation accompanied with a Tibetan critical edition of Tsong kha pa?s commentary on the different types of Noble Beings (Skt. arya, Tib. ?phags pa) that progress toward awakening. In this edition and translation of his blo-gsal bgrod-pa?i them-skas, Tsong kha pa (1357-1419), revered as one of the foremost masters in the history of Tibetan Buddhism, provides a detailed exegesis of the characteristics and attainments that Noble Beings acquire in advancing toward nirvana through multiple lifetimes in varying cosmological realms. Noble Beings are individuals within the Buddhist spiritual community (samgha) who become constituted by moral virtue, mental quiescence, and cognitive insight through embodying the Buddha?s teaching on the way to nirvana Tsong kha pa details the location and number of lives remaining until nirvana for Noble Beings based on his meticulous analysis of classical Indian Buddhist works like Vasubandhu?s Abhidharmakosa and Asanga?s Abhidharmasamuccaya. His analysis outlines the qualities and features of Noble Beings such as the Stream-enterer (srota-apanna, rgyun du zhugs pa), Once Returner (sakrdagamin; Ian gcig phyir ?ong), Non-Returner (anagamin, phyir mi ?ong), and Arhat (dgra bcom pa). Tsong kha pa?s exegesis of the Arhat in this work is especially important as he presents a refined understanding of this type of Noble Being previously unexamined in the history of Tibetan scholasticism. This work provides an edition and translation of one of Tsong kha pa?s important works, written in his youth, that furnishes a comprehensive typology of Noble Beings that constitute the spiritual community (dge ?dun, samgha) that Tibetan Buddhists venerate, as well as emulate, in practicing Buddhist pathways to awakening.
