GSUNG-'BUM

(Tibetan: collected works), the collected writings of each of several great Tibetan and Mongolian lamas. These series of works represent an indigenous contribution to Buddhist thought, as distinguished from the numerous texts originating in India and collected in the canonical Bka'-'gyur and the supplementary Bstan-'gyur. The writings of the lamas include expositions of the Vinaya (Monastic Discipline), the Prajaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) literature, the Tantras, and other canonical works, together with essays on such topics as epistemology, ritual, and meditation. A particular class of such writings, known as Lam-rim (Stages on the Path), presents the spiritual life as a journey through the varied doctrines and practices of the different forms of Buddhism, arranged on a scale from lowest to highest. Historically, the most influential of these is the lengthy Lam-rim chen-mo (Great Account of the Stages on the Path), written around 1400 by the founder of the Dge-lugs-pa, the dominant order of Tibetan monks.