Lam rim chen mo (roughly, ''the great book on stages of the path (to enlightenment'') is the abbreviated title of a massive encyclopedic manual written by Tson-kha-pa, the founder of the Gelugpa sect of Tibetan Buddhism. Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real marks the first appearance in English of the two most important segments of this work. As translator Alex Wayman notes, ''From the beginning of Buddhist literature we find the terms `calming` and `discerning` paired, as natures to be cultivated.'' However, over centuries of religious teaching, the precise connotations of these terms became diffuse, and ''calming'' and ''discerning'' came to stand, at different times, for natures to be cultivated in their own right and for categories covering various steps towards spiritual goals.

Calming the Mind and Discerning the Real: Buddhist Meditation and the Middle View, Tsongkhapa, Motilal Banarsidass, Hardcover, 512 pp., $27.50

Wayman has utilized the original Sanskrit texts for Tson-pa's citations as well as the Tibetan text. He has included a biography of the author several clarifying essays for the the necessary backgroung, and a helpful glossary of terms.