When the Dalai Lama was forced to go into exile in 1959, he could take only a few items with him. Among these cherished belongings was his copy of Tsong-kha-pa's classic text The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment. This text distills all of the essential points of Tibetan Buddhism, clearly unfolding the entire Buddhist path to enlightenment.

In 2008, celebrating the long-awaited completion of the English-language translation of The Great Treatise, the Dalai Lama gave a historic six-day teaching at Lehigh University to explain the meaning of this classic text and to underscore its importance. It is the longest teaching that he has ever given to Westerners on just one text, and Westerners have never before had the opportunity to receive such a complete teaching that encompasses the totality of the Buddhist path from the Dalai Lama. From Here to Enlightenment makes the teachings from this momentous event available for a wider audience.

Get's technical in the later chapters, but the introduction is just great. One of DL's best ( )

Get's technical in the later chapters, but the introduction is just great. One of DL's best ( )

This book will be published by Shambhala on 1/8/2013.

This book is based on the six-day teachings given by H.H. the Dalai Lama at Lehigh University in July 2008 on the Lam Rim Chen Mo (The Great Exposition on the Stages of the Path) by Je Tsongkhapa. The Lam Rim Chen Mo was composed in Tibet (c. 1400) as an extensive exploration of Atisha's A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment.

Audio and video files from the 2008 teachings by HHDL are available here:
http://www.lamrimchenmo.net/studycentre/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p04iEK_iAM

The book contains Thubten Jinpa's edited transcripts of His Holiness' teachings. The combination of listening/watching the live teachings, and then reading Geshe Jinpa's transcript provided a truly in depth experience. ( )