Toh 1993Untitled

Exposition of Tengyur Scripture Toh 1993 — Northern Tibetan Mahayana Tradition

Context

This scripture belongs to the Tengyur, the Treatise Collection of the Northern Tibetan Mahayana tradition, a vast gathering of treatises and practical instructions composed by holy Buddhist beings after the Buddha entered nirvana. The Tengyur is a precious treasury of Mahayana Buddhism, first preserved in Tibet in the eighth to ninth centuries and later translated and gathered into a collection of more than 200 dense volumes.

The scripture code Toh 1993 denotes one treatise among the thousands contained in the Tengyur. Works in this Treatise Collection emphasize the doctrine of the bodhisattva path, the path of practice of those who wish to become buddhas in order to liberate beings. This is the heart of the Mahayana: to relinquish individual aspiration and direct the mind toward awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Main Content

Although the title has not yet been fully translated in the descriptive information, according to the context of the Tengyur and the Northern Tibetan tradition, treatises in this collection often focus on three main areas: Mind Only (Cittamātra), logic and epistemology, and the ethics of bodhisattva practice.

Master-sages such as Vasubandhu, Dignāga, and Dharmakīrti wrote these treatises to help practitioners clearly understand the nature of mind, the way knowledge is formed, and how to apply that understanding to bodhisattva practice. In particular, the Northern Tibetan tradition emphasizes that accurate cognition (Pramāṇa) is the foundation of ethics and discriminating wisdom (Prajna).

Treatises in the Tengyur also often explain in detail passages from the Lotus Sutra, the Prajnaparamita Sutras, and other Mahayana scriptures, thereby clarifying that the path to becoming a buddha is not impossible, but requires resolve, method, and correct understanding.