BuddhismSutra-obooko-mind0029

modern buddhism
Since it was customary in those days, as it is today, to greet
an honoured guest in style, Jangchub Ö sent an entourage of
three hundred horsemen with many eminent Tibetans to the
border to welcome Atisha and offer him a horse to ease the
difficult journey to Ngari. Atisha rode at the centre of the three
hundred horsemen, and by means of his miracle powers he sat
one cubit above his horse’s back. When they saw him, those
who previously had no respect for him developed very strong
faith, and everyone said that the second Buddha had arrived
in Tibet.
When Atisha reached Ngari, Jangchub Ö requested him:
‘O Compassionate Atisha, please give instructions to help the
Tibetan people. Please give advice that everyone can follow.
Please give us special instructions so that we can practise
all the paths of Sutra and Tantra together.’ To fulfil this wish
Atisha composed and taught Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment,
the first text written on the stages of the path, Lamrim. He gave
these instructions first in Ngari and then in central Tibet. Many
disciples who heard these teachings developed great wisdom.
THE PRECIOUSNESS OF KADAM LAMRIM
Atisha wrote the original Kadam Lamrim based on Ornament of
Clear Realization by Buddha Maitreya, which is a commentary
to the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras that Buddha Shakyamuni
taught on Massed Vultures Mountain in Rajagriha, India.
Later, Je Tsongkhapa wrote his extensive, middling and condensed
Kadam Lamrim texts as commentaries to Atisha’s
Kadam Lamrim instructions, and through this the precious
Buddhadharma of Kadam Lamrim flourished in many countries
in the East and now in the West. The Kadam Lamrim
instructions, the union of Buddha’s teachings and Atisha’s
20