Lam rim

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Key Term	lam rim
Hover Popup Choices	lam rim; stages of the path
Featured People	Tsongkhapa, Atiśa
In Tibetan Script	ལམ་རིམ།; ལམ་གྱི་རིམ་པ།
Wylie Tibetan Transliteration	lam rim; lam gyi rim pa
Devanagari Sanskrit Script	मार्गक्रम
Romanized Sanskrit	mārgakrama
Tibetan Phonetic Rendering	lamrim
Sanskrit Phonetic Rendering	mārgakrama
English Standard	stages of the path
Jeffrey Hopkin's English Term	stages of the path
Ives Waldo's English Term	gradual path
Term Type	Noun
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 being the most well known. The term lam rim is often used specifically to refer to this text.
Has the Sense of	Lam rim has the sense of gradual or graded practice starting from basic techniques to cultivate the thoughts of renunciation, compassion and loving kindness, etc. to insight into ultimate emptiness.
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།

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.

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.

The state of being empty of an innate nature due to a lack of independently existing characteristics.

Mahāyāna, or the Great Vehicle, refers to the system of Buddhist thought and practice which developed around the beginning of Common Era, focusing on the pursuit of the state of full enlightenment of the Buddha through the realization of the wisdom of emptiness and the cultivation of compassion.

Tantra, when juxtaposed with Sūtra, generally refers to the scriptures and texts which discuss esoteric topics. While the term is used to refer to texts on other topics, it is mostly used to refer to the genre of scriptures and texts on themes and topics associated with Vajrayāna Buddhism.