Toh 2393Untitled

Exposition of Toh 2393 — Tibetan Treatise Collection (Tengyur)

Background

Toh 2393 is one of the important treatises recorded in the Tengyur, the Tibetan Treatise Collection, a collection of Buddhist literary and scholastic works compiled from the eighth century onward. It is a collection of commentaries, expositions, and works by bodhisattvas and sages in the Northern Mahayana tradition, intended to clarify the teachings of the Mahayana Buddha.

In the context of Northern Mahayana practice, the treatises are not scriptures directly taught by the Buddha, but works by advanced bodhisattvas and sages arising from profound understanding of the Dharma methods. These treatises are regarded as a continuation, illumination, and explanation of the deep meanings of Mahayana scriptures, especially the scriptures on dependent arising (Pratītyasamutpāda), emptiness (Śūnyatā), and the Storehouse Consciousness (Ālayavijñāna).

Main Content

Although the original title has not been fully provided, the treatises in the Tengyur often focus on fundamental issues of the Mahayana: the nature of mind, the functioning of karma, the process of practice leading to buddhahood, and especially Suchness (Tathatā), the ultimate reality within which all dharmas abide.

In the Tibetan tradition, treatises such as Toh 2393 often examine the relationship between the manifestation of worldly phenomena (saṃvṛti-satya, conventional truth) and their ultimate nature of emptiness (paramārtha-satya, ultimate truth). They affirm that understanding these two truths clearly does not mean seeing them as opposing facts, but as two mutually supporting aspects of the same truth.

The treatises also sometimes address the role of the Storehouse Consciousness (ālayavijñāna) as the foundation of all experiences, and the way in which the seeds (bīja) of mind are stored, patterned, and matured through contacts (sparśa) and feelings (vedanā). This is the profound psychological theory of Mahayana Yogācāra.