During the 11th and 12th centuries, Tibetan culture underwent fundamental changes. It was during this period that Buddhism became firmly rooted on the Tibetan plateau and its major traditions originated. At the same time, Tibetan Buddhist teachers and scholars created new and influential genres of Buddhist literature. One of these teachers is Po-to-ba Rin-chen-gsal, whose instructions on the “graded path” (to awakening) are one of the earliest specimens of the important lam rim genre. Po-to-ba combines elements of Indian Buddhism with indigenous Tibetan elements, such as local anecdotes, proverbs and stories about contemporary teachers, which makes his dPe chos (“Dharma exemplified”) a highly interesting source for the cultural history of this period. This monograph contains the first translation of this work into a Western language and provides a detailed study of the Indian and Tibetan context of Po-to-ba’s instructions on the graded path.