The Five Stages (Pancakrama) and Condensed Stage (Pindikrama) of Nagarjunapada: With the Gloss of Parahitaraksita

The "Five Stages" (Pancakrama) and "Condensed Stage" (Pindikrama) translated herein are renowned in Indo-Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism as two of most fundamental Tantric works of the illustrious philosopher-sage Arya Nagarjuna (2nd Cent.CE). Author of many treatises of a rigorous dialectical logic known as "consequentialism" (prasanga), Nagarjuna is esteemed as "second Buddha" for his exposition of Buddhist doctrines, exoteric and esoteric. The treatises herein translated from the original Sanskrit (with reference to Tibetan versions), are expository works on the fourth and highest division of Buddhist Tantra, the Peerless class, known as Anuttarayoga Tantra. Devoted to the exposition of the Peerless Yoga Tantra class generally, the "Five Stages" and "Condensed Stage" are more specifically expository treatises on the "Secret Assembly Tantra" (Guhyasamaja Tantra), widely regarded as the prototypical Tantra of the Anuttara-class. The "Five Stages" lays out the Path-conception derived from