Toh 2198Untitled

Interpretation of Toh 2198 — Tengyur Treatise Collection

Context

This scripture belongs to the Tengyur (bstan 'gyur), the collection of treatises and commentaries on Buddhist scriptures in the Northern Tibetan tradition, compiled from the eighth century onward by Indian and Tibetan masters. The number Toh 2198 designates this scripture as part of the Treatise Collection (Tengyur), where commentaries and treatises on the Buddha Dharma are preserved.

Although the title of the scripture has not yet been specifically translated into Vietnamese, according to the context of the Northern Tibetan tradition, works in the Tengyur are often explanations of aspects of the Dharmakāya, the bodhisattva path, or specific refinements in Vajrayāna practice. The scripture is regarded as a translated work from Sanskrit or from original works of bodhisattvas.

Main Content

The scriptures in the Tengyur, especially works without specific titles, often revolve around profound teachings of the Mahāyāna Buddha Dharma. They may teach the continuity between Buddha-nature and the capacity for awakening in all sentient beings, or methods for practicing the bodhisattva path in order to attain buddhahood.

In the Northern Tibetan tradition, the central point is the understanding that all sentient beings possess latent Buddha-nature, and that the path of practice is not to become a Buddha, but to reveal the Buddha nature that is already present. Scriptures of this kind often emphasize the Four Noble Truths, dependent arising (Pratītyasamutpāda), and the ten bodhisattva stages (daśa-bhūmika), together with appropriate skillful means (upāya) for teaching beings of different capacities.

In addition, the commentaries in the Tengyur, including Toh 2198, may point out errors in contemplation, obstacles in practice, and ways to overcome them through clarity and wisdom (prajñāpāramitā). They may also instruct that emptiness (Śūnyatā) is not a state of “nothing at all,” but the emptiness of absolute self-nature.