Toh 2195Untitled

Exposition of Scripture Toh 2195 — Tengyur

Context

Scripture Toh 2195 from the Tengyur (the Northern Buddhist Canon) is a treatise belonging to the Mahayana tradition, commonly classified within the Abhidharmapiṭaka system or regarded as a commentary on the domains and characteristics of mind and phenomena. The Tengyur, or “Translations of Treatises,” is a collection of commentaries and treatises composed by bodhisattvas and eminent Buddhist masters, compiled and rendered into Tibetan between approximately the eighth and fourteenth centuries.

This scripture belongs to the context of the Tibetan tradition of the Swift Path of Practice (Tibetan Buddhism), in which detailed commentaries on the Dharma and consciousness are highly valued as supports for the practice of the Great Perfection (Dzogchen) and other paths of cultivation. Although the scripture’s title has not been fully identified, based on its place within the Tengyur, it is a systematic exegetical work concerning dharmatā—the nature of phenomena—or the examination of consciousness.

Principal Content

In the Northern Mahayana canonical tradition, Tengyur commentaries generally focus on two fundamental subjects: first, the detailed analysis of categories of dharmas according to the Abhidharma system; and second, the presentation of practices for attaining nondual awakening (advaya) and Buddha-nature.

Scripture Toh 2195 may discuss the practical matter of cognition, namely ālaya-vijñāna—the storehouse consciousness—or the characteristics of mind at each level of cognition. According to the Tibetan system, consciousness is divided into eight principal types: the five sensory consciousnesses, mental consciousness (mano-vijñāna), the innate mind (kliṣṭa-mano-vijñāna—the afflicted mind), and the storehouse consciousness. This commentary may examine in depth how these consciousnesses interact to produce experience, as well as how to transcend the ignorance (avidyā) associated with each level of consciousness.

In particular, Northern Mahayana Buddhism emphasizes that all these consciousnesses are primordially unborn (anutpannā), meaning that their intrinsic nature is śūnyatā (emptiness). Correctly realizing this is the key to liberation.

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