Luminous Lives

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“A seminal manuscript history of its earliest practitioners and masters, and a detailed description of the Lam ’bras teachings.”—Tricycle

LUMINOUS LIVES

The Story of the Early Masters of the Lam ’bras Tradition in Tibet

Cyrus Stearns

The tantric Buddhist tradition of the Lam ’bras, the “Path with the Result,” has been practiced in Tibet for almost a thousand years, most prominently within the Sakya lineage. Luminous Lives is the first in-depth study of the literature and history of the Lam ’bras in Tibet. The central focus of the work is a rare Tibetan history that brings alive the story of the earliest men and women practitioners of the Lam ’bras. This text, recording the words of the great Sakya Pandita (1182–1251), was a major source for all later histories of the tradition. Recently rediscovered, it has been reproduced here along with Cyrus Stearns’ excellent translation, introduction, and annotations. Luminous Lives opens a window into the world of one of the great traditions of tantric Buddhism in Tibet.

Click here to return to the Studies in Indian and Tibetan Buddhism series.

Read the biographies of Sakya Pandita and Sachen Kunga Nyingpo at the Treasury of Lives.

book information
  • Paperback
  • 352 pages, 6.00 x 9.00 inches
  • $34.95
  • ISBN 9780861713073
about the author
Luminous Lives

Cyrus Stearns has been a student of Tibetan Buddhism since 1973. His main teachers have been Dezhung Tulku Rinpoché, Chogyé Trichen Rinpoché, and Dilgo Khyentsé Rinpoché. He received a PhD in Buddhist Studies from the University of Washington and is the author and translator of various books, including The Buddha from Dölpo, King of the Empty Plain, and Hermit of Go Cliffs. He is an independent scholar and translator living in the woods on Whidbey Island, north of Seattle, Washington.

Other books by Cyrus Stearns:
Mountain Dharma
Ornament to Beautify the Three Appearances
The Preliminary and Main Practices of the Sakya Lamdré Tradition
Hermit of Go Cliffs
Taking the Result as the Path
Song of the Road

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