Three higher trainings
The three higher trainings (Skt. triśikṣa; Tib. ལྷག་པའི་བསླབ་པ་གསུམ་, Wyl. lhag pa'i bslab pa gsum) are the trainings in:
- discipline (Skt. adhiśīlaśikṣa; Tib. ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་ཀྱི་བསླབ་པ་, Wyl. tshul khrims kyi bslab pa),
- meditation (Skt. samādhiśikṣa; Tib. ཏིང་ངེ་འཛིན་གྱི་བསླབ་པ་, Wyl. ting nge 'dzin gyi bslab pa) and
- wisdom (Skt. prajñāśikṣa; Tib. ཤེས་རབ་ཀྱི་བསླབ་པ་, Wyl. shes rab kyi bslab pa).
These trainings are called “higher” because, unlike certain other non-Buddhist rituals and meditation practices, they actually lead to liberation and omniscience.
Alternative Translations
- three higher educations (Robert Thurman)
Further Reading
- Dzogchen Ponlop, Rebel Buddha (Boston: Shambhala, 2010), Ch. 7, 'The Three Trainings'.
- Khenpo Ngawang Pelzang, A Guide to the Words of My Perfect Teacher, translated by Padmakara Translation Group (Boston & London: Shambhala, 2004), pages 6-7.
- Thinley Norbu, The Small Golden Key (Shambhala Publications, 1999), ‘9. The Tripitaka and the Three Trainings'.