Golden Garland of Eloquence/Legs bshad gser Phreng: Fourth Abhisamaya

Golden Garland of Eloquence (Legs bshad gser phreng) is the famous Perfection of Wisdom (prajnaparamita) commentary written by the influential Tibetan writer Tsong kha pa (1356-1419). It is Tsong kha pa's first major work, written before his better known works on Madhyamaka. It is greatly respected and much studied by all schools of Buddhism in Tibet.The Golden Garland supplements the two main Indian Perfection of Wisdom commentaries, Arya Vimuktisena's Vrtti and Haribhadra's Aloka, on which it is based. It explains the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras and earlier commentaries in detail, glossing difficult words and going into detailed explanations of difficult points. It introduces the reader to some twenty works by the most important Indian Perfection of Wisdom writers, and to the earlier Tibetan traditions of Ngok and Dolpopa, and the traditions of Buton and Nyaon. This translation makes available, for the first time in English, an example of the rich Tibetan Perfection of Wisdom commentarial tradition and will be of interest to both scholars and informed general readers alike. This is the third of four volumes.

Gareth Sparham, who lived a traditional life as a Buddhist monk in Dharmshala, India for more than twenty years, holds a Ph D. in Asian Studies from the University of British Columbia and now teaches Tibetan and Sanskrit in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan. Amongst his most recent publications are Tantric Ethics and a number of works on Prajnaparamita. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan and Toronto, Canada