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SCRIPTURAL EXPOSITION — MAHAYANA NORTHERN TIBETAN TRADITION
Background
This work belongs to the Tengyur, the Treatise Piṭaka of Tibetan Buddhism, a collection of commentaries and treatises explaining the Buddhadharma by eminent Indian figures. The Northern Tibetan Mahayana tradition, especially through schools such as Gelug, Kagyu, Nyingma, and Sakya, regards the Tengyur as a precious source for understanding the profound intent of the Buddha.
The scriptures and treatises in the Tengyur are not the Buddha’s direct teachings, but the elaborations and explanations of bodhisattvas and Buddhist scholars, those who had attained the path and its fruit or possessed profound insight into Buddhist philosophy. They were composed during the period when Buddhism flourished strongly in India, around the fourth to eighth centuries CE, and were later translated into Tibetan by the great translators of Tibet, such as ThTrichen Kunga Nyingpo and their contemporaries.
Main Contents
Although the title has not been identified, the scriptures and treatises in the Tengyur often focus on core Mahayana themes: the theory of Buddha-nature, consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna), name-and-form (nāmarūpa), dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda) from the perspectives of Yogācāra or Madhyamaka, as well as the theory of skillful means (upāya) and the two suchnesses.
These works often use Buddhist logic (hetuvidyā) to argue, refute ordinary views or non-Buddhist philosophical positions, and thereby guide practitioners toward recognizing the truth. They also develop the doctrine of the Four Noble Truths in a more subtle way, linking it with the bodhisattva path and the aim of liberation not only for oneself but for the benefit of beings.
These treatise collections emphasize the importance of concentration and insight (śamatha-vipaśyanā), the cultivation of lucid consciousness, and wisdom of one reality (jñāna), essential factors for directly realizing the absence of self-nature, emptiness (śūnyatā), and the selflessness of phenomena (dharmaśūnyatā).
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