Toh 1582Untitled

Exposition of Toh 1582 — Northern Tibetan Mahayana Tradition

Context

The scripture Toh 1582 belongs to the Tengyur (Northern Tibetan transmission), the collection of the Treatise Collection and scriptural commentaries of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. The Tengyur is the section that explains and develops the Dharma, composed by bodhisattvas, eminent Indian masters, and Tibetan masters, supplementing the Dharma Collection (Kangyur), the original scriptures taught by the Buddha.

Its force was compiled in the historical context when Northern Tibetan Buddhism reached its height in Tibet around the eighth to thirteenth centuries, when great masters such as Padmasambhava, Atisa, Tsongkhapa, and their disciples gathered, translated, and interpreted precious treatises. The scripture Toh 1582 is among these tens of thousands of works, serving the purpose of helping practitioners understand the Mahayana Dharma gates deeply and accurately.

Although the title has not been fully identified, this scripture is certainly a treatise or commentary related to the foundational Dharma gates of the Mahayana: the bodhisattva path, emptiness, the connection with buddha-nature, or doctrines concerning consciousness. The translation context of the Tengyur indicates that this is an instructional work, intended to help practitioners today overcome the obscuration of self and the obscuration of phenomena in order to attain the bodhisattva fruition.

Main Content

Scriptures in the Tengyur (specifically Toh 1582) usually present profound aspects of the Dharma: demonstrating that all dharmas lack independent nature (sunyata, emptiness), that all sentient beings possess buddha-nature (Tathagatagarbha), and that the bodhisattva path is the sole path that brings all sentient beings to Buddhahood.

The scripture not only explains theory but also teaches methods of practice. It may explain in detail the stages of the bodhisattva path (Bhumi, the ten bodhisattva grounds), or emphasize the role of loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity (brahmavihara), and of bodhisattva mind (Bodhicitta), the aspiration for awakening for all sentient beings.