Toh 1620Untitled

Explanation of Toh 1620 - Northern Transmission Mahayana Treatise Collection

Context

The Tengyur (གསུང་འབུམ། Gsung 'bum) is the largest collection of treatises (śāstra) and commentaries developed from the original Buddhist Dharma, translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan from the eighth to the thirteenth centuries. Toh 1620 belongs to the Treatise Collection (བསྟན་བཅོས་སྡེ། Bstan bcos sde), profound works by great Mahāyāna masters intended to clarify Mahayana theory and methods of practice.

In the Northern Transmission Tibetan tradition, especially in the Gelug, Nyingma, Kagyu, and Sakya schools, these treatises are regarded as bridges between the Dharma King’s word (the Buddha’s teaching) and practical cultivation. The absence of this scripture’s name in the available materials suggests that it is a specialized work, possibly related to difficult aspects of Madhyamaka, Yogācāra, or Tathāgatagarbha thought in the Mahayana context.

Main Contents

The treatises in the Tengyur often explain the fundamental principles of the Mahayana Buddhist Dharma: the three bodies (trikāya), universal Buddha-nature, and the bodhisattva path leading to unsurpassed bodhi. It cannot be ruled out that Toh 1620 focuses on one of the following key themes:

On the Nature of Wisdom and Ultimate Reality: This treatise may explore the concept of sunyatā (emptiness) or tathatā (suchness) — the nature of reality through which all phenomena are understood ultimately. In the Tibetan method, this is not absolute negation, but the clear recognition of interwoven nature (nirvana and saṃsāra being of one essence).

On the Bodhisattva Path: It may be a detailed explanation of the ten grounds (daśabhūmi) that a bodhisattva must cultivate, from the First Ground up to Buddhahood. Each ground requires the completion of the six perfections (pāramitā) in increasingly subtle ways.