The Lamp for Integrating the Practices (Caryamelapakapradipa)

Book excerpt: "The Lamp for Integrating the Practices (Caryåamelåapakapradåipa) is a systematic and comprehensive exposition of the most advanced yogas of the Esoteric Community Tantra (Guhyasamåaja-tantra) as espoused by the Nåagåarjuna Tradition, an influential school of interpretation within the Mahåayoga traditions of Indian Buddhist mysticism. Equal in authority to Nåagåarjuna's famous Five Stages (Paäncakrama), åAryadeva's work is perhaps the earliest prose example of the "stages of the mantra path" genre in Sanskrit. Its systematic path exerted immense influence on later Indian and Tibetan traditions, and it is widely cited by masters from all four major lineages of Tibetan Buddhism. This volume presents the Lamp in a thoroughly-annotated English translation. Includes an introductory study discussing the history of the Guhyasamåaja and its exegetical traditions, surveying the scriptural and commentarial sources of the Nåagåarjuna Tradition, and analyzing in detail the contents of the Lamp. Features a detailed, trilingual glossary. Simultaneously presented online for scholars are a version of its Sanskrit original, critically edited from recently-identified manuscripts, and a critical edition of the eleventh-century Tibetan translation by Rin-chen Bzang-po (including notes on readings found in "lost," alternative translations)"--