Lama Tsongkhapa’s short composition Lines of Experience (also translated as Song of Spiritual Realization, Tibetan: ལམ་རིམ་ཉམས་མགུར་བཞུགས་སོ, lam rim nyam kur shuk so) is a powerful exhortation to make the most of our lives. Renouncing the mistaken, temporary pleasures of this life is the first step to paving the way to spiritual realizations that arise from transforming our minds and that lead to ultimate happiness. Lines of Experience is, therefore, part of the lam rim (graduated path to Enlightenment) tradition which presents a guided roadmap to Enlightenment that we can all follow at our own pace.

Guhyasamaja Center has the honor of hosting Geshe Thupten Sherab. Geshe la has graced our Center on several occasions. He returns to give a teaching on Lines of Experience from Friday, March 9 to Sunday, March 11. For details, please visit the Guhyasamaja Center website.

There are, of course, many commentaries on this well-known text. Here are just a few resources that will help you prepare for Geshe la’s teaching and for studying lam rim in general.

Short Commentaries on the Lam Rim

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso. Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment. TDL Publications. 2002. Link to pdf download.

Geshe Rabten. The Essential Nectar: meditations on the Buddhist Path. Wisdom Publications. 2014. This is Geshe Rabten’s commentary on one of the 18 great lam rim texts in the Geluk tradition titled The Essential Nectar of the Holy Doctrine by the 18th-century master Yeshe Tsondru. Lama Zopa recommends that we use it for our daily lam rim meditation practice. Even if we meditate on only one or two verses a day, we can accumulate tremendous virtue.

Khensur Rinpoche Losang Jampa. Easy Path. Wisdom Publications.

Root texts

Here is a translation of Lines of Experience translated by Sherpa Tulku, Khamlung Tulku, Alexander Berzin and Jonathan Landaw, 1973. This translation clearly spells out the meaning of each verse.

Geshe Thupten Jinpa’s translation (Songs of Spiritual Experience) is little more poetic and condensed without sacrificing accuracy.

For those of you who read classical Tibetan, this is the original Tibetan text.