Traditional presentations of the lam rim begin with an extensive description of the lineage, in order to instill respect for the teachings and a desire to learn them. Here is a very brief and incomplete sketch of the lineage we will be using.

1. All lineages of the Buddhadharma ("Precepts of the Awakened One") trace their origin to the teachings of Gautama Buddha (ca. 563-483 BC),often referred to as Shakyamuni Buddha, "The Awakened One from the Shakya clan," in a similar manner as Jesus of Nazareth is referred to as "The Christ", i.e., "The Anointed (or Chosen) One" (Hebrew mashiach, anglicized as "Messiah").
2. Buddha's teachings were passed down orally by his disciples and their successors, typically in a repetitive style to be chanted as an aid to memorization.
3. The teachings were first set down in written form in 29 BC in the Pali Canon, known as the tipitaka ("Three Baskets"). When we refer directly to these teachings, we will be dealing mostly with the contents of the sutta pitaka, the "basket of sayings."
4. Mahayana ("Great Vehicle") Buddhism evolved in India out of the traditional Theravada ("Teaching of the Elders") over the course of several centuries. Many of the lam rim precepts can be found nearly verbatim in the Letter to a Friend of the early Mahayana philosopher Nagarjuna. The Mahayana concept of the bodhisattva, especially its description in Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life, is central to the lam rim teachings.
5. The lam rim was devised by the Indian missionary sage Atisha (980-1054) as a means of systematically teaching the Buddhadharma to the Tibetan people, and is recorded in his 68-verse poetic work A Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment (a translation and useful commentary on this work can be found in the Dalai Lama's Illuminating the Path to Enlightenment).
6. The great Tibetan scholar Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) reconciled the divergent but complementary lineages that had evolved in Tibet after Atisha in his Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path (lam-rim chen-mo). A three-volume English translation finally became available in 2004. For our study, we will be using two of Tsongkhapa's 14-verse lam rim poems: Three Principal Aspects of the Path and Foundation of All Perfections.
7. Since Tsongkhapa's time, the Gelug ("Yellow Hat") lineage that he established has been transmitted through, among others, the successive incarnations of the Dalai Lama; Ling Rinpoche; and Trijang Rinpoche. The previous incarnations of these latter two are considered the "root gurus" of the present Dalai Lama, as well as of Gelek Rimpoche.

The figure below gives a timeline for this Lam Rim lineage, along with a few relevant events and personages from world history. You can click on the links in the figure for additional details.