Toh 1343Untitled

Exposition of Toh 1343 Scripture — Northern Canon Mahayana Tradition

Context

This scripture belongs to the Tengyur, the collection of exegetical treatises and commentaries on the scriptures in the Tibetan Buddhist canon, composed by the surviving Indian masters and further developed in Tibet. The Northern Canon Mahayana tradition, also called Tibetan Buddhism or Vajrayana Buddhism, systematizes doctrine from the classical Mahayana sutras, especially the supreme sutras and tantras.

Toh 1343 is classified within the Treatise Basket, the expanded Abhidharma Piṭaka, where learned sages comment upon and clarify the profound points of the Dharma. Although the official title has not been fully transmitted, this scripture reflects the characteristic method of study in this school: combining Buddhist logic (pramāṇa), the psychology of action (abhidharma), and the doctrine of liberation.

Main Content

Within the context of the Tengyur, a scripture at the position Toh 1343 is often profound in its analysis of intrinsic nature (svabhāva) and the relation between phenomena and their nature. The Northern Canon tradition expands the concept of emptiness (śūnyatā), not into an absolute nothingness, but into a quality of emptiness, wherein all phenomena exist relatively and in mutual dependence.

The Treatise Basket emphasizes three fundamental characteristics: first, the impermanence of phenomena (anicca); second, that all dharmas are without self (anattā); and third, the still peace of nirvana (nirvāṇa). From the Mahayana perspective, however, wisdom (prajñāpāramitā) is elevated as the foundation: only when the bodhisattva clearly realizes the emptiness-quality of all dharmas can immeasurable loving-kindness and compassion (maitrī-karunā) arise.

The scripture may refer to the relationship between these teachings and the practical disciplines of meditation (dhyāna), the cultivation of the path of the Thirty-Seven Factors of Awakening, or their connection with advanced tantric forms of practice in the Tibetan tradition.