Book excerpt: A collection of liturgical and instructional practice texts on the Eight Ancillary Path Cycles of the Sakya lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, compiled by one of Tibet's greatest Buddhist masters. The Treasury of Precious Instructions by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, one of Tibet's greatest Buddhist masters, is a shining jewel of Tibetan literature, presenting essential teachings from the entire spectrum of practice lineages that existed in Tibet. In its eighteen volumes, Kongtrul brings together some of the most important texts on key topics of Buddhist thought and practice as well as authoring significant new sections of his own. Volumes in this series may be engaged as practice manuals while also preserving ancient teachings significant to the literature and history of world religions. Volume 6 of the series, Sakya: The Path with Its Result, Part Two, presents a selection of teachings and practices from the Eight Ancillary Path Cycles of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The Sakya lineage derives from Virūpa, Dombi Heruka, and other Indian masters, or mahāsiddhas, and passes through Gayadhara and his Tibetan disciple Drokmi Lotsāwa Śākya Yeshe (992–1072). The practice tradition centers around the teaching and transmission of the Hevajra Tantra and its subsidiary texts. This second volume of Sakya texts contains oral instructions transmitted to Drokmi Lotsāwa by the early eleventh-century Indian masters, Ācārya Vīravajra, Mahāsiddha Amoghavajra, Paṇḍita Prajñāgupta of Oḍḍiyāna, and Paṇḍita Gayadhara. These texts broaden our understanding of how mahāmudrā, the teaching on the nature of mind, is understood and practiced in the Sakya school.