Toh 2167Untitled

EXPOSITION OF THE SCRIPTURAL DOCUMENT TOH 2167

From the Treatise Collection (Tengyur) — The Northern Tibetan Mahayana Tradition

Context

This scripture is recorded in the Tengyur, the collection of Buddhist treatises compiled under the reign of the Tibetan kings. Toh 2167 is a specialized work belonging to the Mahayana tradition, where masters and scholarly circles of Northern Tibet devoted themselves to preserving and developing the most exalted Dharma methods of Buddhism. In the historical context of Northern Tibetan Buddhism, treatise masters such as Nāgārjuna, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, and their successors left works that guide practice on the bodhisattva path, the endless path of awakening for the benefit of all sentient beings.

The preservation and transmission of the Tengyur down to the present day has protected the integrity of the Buddha’s teachings from the time of Śākyamuni Buddha to the mature schools within Mahayana.

Main Content

This document belongs to the section of the Treatise Collection (Abhidharmakosha), which focuses on explaining questions of the nature of mind, cause and effect, meditation (dhyāna), and the path of liberation. The Northern Tibetan tradition emphasizes that all dharmas are empty of self-nature (śūnyatā), and that the existence of mind-consciousness is the basis of understanding.

Within the Mahayana framework, this scripture guides practitioners in the Empty Mind (Śūnyatā Citta), the recognition that our present mind is empty of illusions about "self" or "possession." This is not indeterminacy or mindlessness, but a lucid, clear state completely free from defiling obscurations (kleśa). The Northern Tibetan treatise tradition also highlights the role of bodhicitta, the aspiration for awakening for all sentient beings, as the motivation for each step of the bodhisattva’s practice.

This scripture also teaches the stages of meditation and the way consciousness is gradually refined out of ignorance, so that it finally attains Buddhahood, the absolute state of purity, understanding, and boundless compassion.