Practicing the Path ─ A Commentary on the Lamrim Chenmo

Practicing the Path is a complete commentary on Tibetan Buddhism's Lamrim Chenmo in a single volume. Yangsi Rinpoche, a thirty-something tulku who has spent the last several years in Madison, Wisconsin, gave these teachings to a group of Western students over a month-long period a few years ago in Dharamsala, India. While having the full training of a Tibetan scholar, Rinpoche uses Western metaphors and demonstrates an appreciation for the Western mind. The text is particularly well edited and is a pleasure to read, and will be an excellent resource for those studying and meditating on the lamrim, the steps on the path to enlightenment. The Lamrim Chenmo is a comprehensive overview of the entire path to enlightenment, superimposing the essential principles of renunciation, bodhicitta, and the pure view of emptiness. It is unique in combining scriptural authority and perfect logic in order to clarify all doubts on the path. The author's deep knowledge of the traditional teachings and his ability to elucidate them in contemporary language and form provide a unique opportunity for readers to refine their understanding and develop their practice.

Yangsi Rinpoche was born in Kathmandu, Nepal in 1968 and recognized as a reincarnate tulku at age six. At the age of ten, he entered Sera Je Monastery in South India, and in 1995 graduated with the highest degree of Geshe Lharampa. In 1998, Rinpoche came to America, where he lived and taught for several years at Deer Park Buddhist Center near Madison, Wisconsin. He now lives in Portland, Oregon, where he is president and professor of Buddhist Studies at Maitripa College, a Buddhist institute of higher education.

Venerable Tsen-la is a nun in the Gelug tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in Lhasa, she grew up in Kathmandu, Nepal, and was ordained there in 1979 by Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche. She has acted as translator for many Buddhist lamas, led meditation courses around the world, and was instrumental in the founding of Khachoe Ghakyil Nunnery in Kathmandu.

Namdrol Miranda Adams holds an MA in Education with a focus on Educational Leadership and Policy from Portland State University, and a BA in English Literature from New York University. Since 1998 she has dedicated her life to the study and practice of the Tibetan language and the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, seven of those as a Buddhist nun. She studied the traditional texts and their commentaries at Deer Park Monastery in Wisconsin from 1998-2003 and her editing and translation work includes Practicing the Path, the Rubin Foundation's Treasury of Lives, Karmapa 900, and the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive's Kopan Lam Rim Courses. She has been the assistant of Yangsi Rinpoche since 1999 and is one of the founders of Maitripa College, where she is Dean of Education.

Born in the Tsang region of Tibet in 1923, Geshe Lhundub Sopa is both a spiritual master and a respected academic. He rose from a humble background to complete his geshe studies at Sera Je Monastic University in Lhasa with highest honors and was privileged to serve as a debate opponent for the Dalai Lama's own geshe examination in 1959. He moved to New Jersey in the United States in 1963 and in 1967 began teaching in the Buddhist Studies Program at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is now professor emeritus. In 1975, he founded the Deer Park Buddhist Center in Oregon, Wisconsin, site of the Dalai Lama's first Kalachakra initiation granted in the West. He is the author of several books in English, including the five-volume comprehensive teaching, Steps on the Path to Englightenment.