Toh 1636Untitled

Explanation of Toh 1636 - Abhidharma Treatise of the Buddha Dharma

Background

Toh 1636 belongs to the Abhidharma treatises (Abhidharmakosa) in the Tengyur, the collection of commentaries, treatises, and teachings by masters of the Buddha Dharma translated by Tibetans from Sanskrit from the eighth century onward. It is the fruit of a tradition of study over several hundred years in the Buddhist scholastic centers of Nalanda, Vinasila, and the refined regions of India.

The Mahayana tradition of the Northern Tibetan transmission, also called the Tibetan tradition, received teachings from great masters such as those of Madhyamaka and Yogacara, combining them with the distinctive positions of the Tibetan schools (Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, Gelug). The Abhidharma is a treasury of teachings on Dharma analysis, the study of mind, cyclic existence, cause and effect, and the path of practice leading to awakening.

This work reflects the efforts of learned scholars of the Buddha Dharma to clarify the Buddha's teachings through rigorous and profound logical explanations. This scripture, although its title has not yet been fully translated into Vietnamese, belongs among the important works that help one understand Buddhist theory and methods of practice more clearly.

Main Content

Texts in the Abhidharma often focus on fundamental issues: the intrinsic nature of dharmas (dharma-svabhava), the manifestation of mind and mental factors (chitta-caitanya), the mechanism of causality (pratityasamutpada), and the various levels of wisdom on the path to awakening.

From the traditional Tibetan perspective, especially the methodological approach of the Gelug and Kagyu schools, this work explores how ignorance (avidya) gives rise to mistaken conceptions of self (atman) and of the independence of dharmas, thereby producing suffering. There is no distinct intrinsic nature; this is the core of the thought of the Buddha Dharma.

In addition, the scripture discusses the levels of consciousness, the manner of cultivating concentration (dhyana) and wisdom (prajna), and the path toward Buddhahood.