The Perfection of Wisdom Tradition

“The sixteenth volume from the Library of Tibetan Classics, The Perfection of Wisdom: Three Essential Works, is translated by Gareth Sparham, a great scholar in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and English with deep knowledge of this topic, having previously translated several other Prajñaparamita scriptures and commentaries. The perfection of wisdom is an in-depth penetration into the reality of all things and events, which together with training of bodhisattvas in altruism and skillful means is the explicit topic of the Perfection of Wisdom sutras attributed to the historical Buddha, on which the great Indian Buddhist masters Arya-Asa?ga, Arya-Vimuktisena, and Haribhadra wrote vast commentaries. The three texts of this volume are Ngok Loden Sherab’s Topical Summary, Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen’s Way to Practice, and Kunkhyen Pema Karpo’s Sacred Words of Lord Maitreya, and the authors are all revered scholars and profound Buddhist practitioners. I am delighted that this important collection has been translated into English.”–Khensur Geshe Tashi Tsering

Gareth Sparham received a BA in English (Hons) from McGill University and PhD in Asian studies from the University of British Columbia. He studied formally at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics in Dharamsala from 1974 until 1986 and remained closely associated with the institute until 1998. He then taught Tibetan and Sanskrit at the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley, for twelve years, leaving to focus on translating Indian and Tibetan Perfection of Wisdom literature from Tibetan and Sanskrit into English. He has published numerous multi-volume translations of Perfection of Wisdom literature and translations of several key works of Tsongkhapa.

Ngok Loden Sherab (1057-1109). Also known as the Great Translator, Lotsawa Chenpo, for his translations in the Tibetan canon, Ngok Loden Sherab was a founding figure of the Kadampa school’s scholastic tradition based at Sangphu Monastery south of Lhasa.

Gyaltsab Darma Rinchen (1364-1432) trained in the Sakya school before becoming one of the most prominent disciples and interpreters of Tsongkhapa. He inherited the throne of Ganden Monastery after Tsongkhapa’s death in 1419.

Kunkhyen Pema Karpo (1527-92) is perhaps the most famous scholar of the Drukpa Kagyü tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. His works fill twenty-five volumes, and his learning and meditative realization earned him the name Kunkhyen (“omniscient one”).

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