Toh 2238Untitled

EXPLANATION OF THE SUTRA ON THE BODHISATTVA IN THE TENGYUR

Context

This sutra is preserved in the Tengyur, the collection of commentaries and supporting works of the Northern Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Toh 2238 belongs to the category of the Śāstrapiṭaka, which contains philosophical and practical works composed by the noble sages of the Mahayana in order to develop and clarify the intended meaning of the Buddha Dharma.

Within the context of the Northern Tibetan tradition, which continues the Indian Mahayana, these commentaries play an important role in guiding practitioners on the bodhisattva path. Their contents often focus on the profundity of the nature of mind (Tathāgatagarbha, Buddha-nature), skillful means of instruction (upaya), and practical cultivation for the realization of bodhi.

Main Content

Although the title of the sutra has not been fully translated, based on this work’s position in the Tengyur, it is very likely a commentary on a revered bodhisattva (Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva Who Freely Observes) or a work concerning eminent bodhisattvas within the Mahayana system of practice.

Treatises of this period often present: (1) the nature of bodhisattva wisdom, the nondual cognition of bodhisattvas who have completed their training; (2) the principle of wisdom, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity (Prajñā-Karuṇā-Muditā-Upekṣā), the four immeasurables; and (3) the means of practice, from the arising of bodhicitta, the mind of bodhi, to the attainment of the Buddha ground.

In particular, in the Northern Tibetan tradition, commentaries on bodhisattvas especially emphasize the relationship between reality itself (Dharmadhātu) and the teaching (Dharma). They make clear that every bodhisattva is a manifestation of universal bodhi-nature, and that their compassionate activity does not arise from desire or personal will, but proceeds from a nature that is utterly luminous and wise.