Stages of Meditation

Kamalashila

Stages of Meditation (Skt. Bhāvanākrama; Tib. སྒོམ་རིམ་, Gomrim, Wyl. sgom rim) — an important text (comprising three books) on meditation written by Kamalashila in Tibet, after his famous victory in debate at Samyé over Hashang Mahayana, which would ensure that the Tibetans follow the Indian tradition of gradual meditation. They are the fundamental texts for the study and practise of shamatha and vipashyana in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Tibetan Texts

• སྒོམ་རིམ་, The five bhavanakrama of Kamalasila and Vimalamitra: a collection of texts on the nature and practice of Buddhist contemplative realisation

Translations

English

• Parmananda Sharma, Bhāvanākrama of Kamalaśila (Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 1997), ISBN 9788186471159
• The Dalai Lama, Stages of Meditation, which includes the translation of the intermediate book of The Stages of Meditation and a commentary by H.H. the Dalai Lama (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2001)

Teachings Given to the Rigpa Sangha

• Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Lerab Ling, 21-23 July 2012, The Intermediate Stages of Meditation

Further Reading

• Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche, Essential Practice, translated by Jules B. Levinson (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2002)
• The Dalai Lama, Stages of Meditation, translated by Venerable Geshe Lobsang Jordhen, Losang Choephel Ganchenpa and Jeremy Russell (Ithaca: Snow Lion, 2003)