Ornament of Precious Liberation

Holmes (Stages of the Buddha’s Teachings) lucidly translates the critical text of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Within Tibetan Buddhism, there are six major schools, most of which are overlooked in the West due to the prominence of the Gelugpa tradition through the 14th Dalai Lama. The Kagyu School traces its lineage back to Milarepa, whose foremost student was the Gampopa. This seminal work of Kagyu Buddhism may best be described as a textbook for meditators, providing a series of truths, reflections, and bodhisattva practices for ascending towards buddhahood. Students of the Kagyu tradition are systematically taught the prime cause (buddha nature), the basis for buddha nature (human existence), the condition for learning (a teacher), the means of learning (the actual teaching, the bulk of the text), and the result (the attainment of buddhahood and enlightened activity). Holmes’s translation flows smoothly and is readable—at least within the bounds that a Kagyu Mahayana textbook allows. Readers new to Buddhism will likely find this text intimidating and too narrowly focused, but the experienced will appreciate the idiosyncratic method for approaching the basic teachings of Buddhism as well as the thoughtful breakdowns of those teachings into their basic constituents. (Feb.)