A work crucial for understanding the development of Buddhist thought, its perennial importance within the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism is underlined by the fact that it is the required text for the first teaching of each new Sakya throneholder after his enthronement. Sakya Pandita (or Sapan for short) used his Clarifying the Sage's Intent, as its title indicates, to elucidate key points the Great Sage--that is, the Buddha--had in mind when teaching his Dharma. In particular, Sapan recounts the transmissions of the greatest masters of both the Madhyamaka and the Yogacara strands of the Indian Mahayana. On some points, he addresses what he took to be misinterpretations prevalent in Tibet, and his critical remarks were responded to in the works of later generations of masters in other schools.

Framing his exposition around two key verses from Maitreya's Ornament of Mahayana Sutras, Sapan divides his work up into seven parts, beginning with the spiritual potential that each being possesses and culminating in the development of complete enlightenment. The lion's share of the book is devoted to explaining the practice of a bodhisattva's six perfections. Throughout, Sapan displays the enormous erudition and the incisive clarity that made him renowned as one of the greatest Buddhist luminaries in the history of Tibet.

Clarifying the Sage's Intent, Sakya Pandita, Wisdom Publications, Paperback, 286 pages, $17.95

Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182�1251) was a renowned scholar and Tibetan statesman who staved off a Mongolian invasion by converting Emperor Godan Khan to Buddhism. A luminary of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, his peerless erudition stands out even among a tradition known for its scholastic adepts, and many of his works have been bedrock texts for study and practice since the thirteenth century.