Toh 2536Untitled

Exposition of Toh 2536 — Tengyur Śāstra Collection

Context

This scripture is one of the precious treatises preserved in the Tengyur, the collection of explanations and comments from the great masters of the Buddha Dharma of ancient India, later translated and recorded in the Northern Tibetan tradition. The Tengyur, or “Treatise Collection,” is a treasury of Buddhist knowledge containing commentaries, treatises on the Dharma, accounts of dependent circumstances, and practical instructions from noble sages who made great contributions to the transmission of the teachings.

Toh 2536, in this position within the Tengyur, is a treatise that sets forth profound principles of the Mahāyāna way, the tradition that emphasizes the liberation of all beings through the bodhisattva path. Since the Mahāyāna maintains the universality of Buddha-nature, each mind has the capacity to become a Buddha; therefore, all practices are directed toward this noble goal.

Main Content

Although the title is not clearly recorded, based on the context of the Tengyur Śāstra collection, Toh 2536 is very likely an explanation of the fundamental principles of Mind-Only (Cittamātra) or Madhyamaka, the two most important systems of reasoning in the Mahāyāna. Such treatises often focus on the nature of mind, the absence of intrinsic nature (śūnyatā) of phenomena, and the way in which the cultivation of discerning wisdom (prajñapti) leads to a purified ground of mind.

The focus of such explanations is to clarify the relationship between reasoning on the absence of intrinsic nature and meditative practice. It shows that this is not abstract reasoning, but direct entry into the nature of the Dharma wheel. By realizing that there is no separate self, whether with regard to persons or phenomena, practitioners transcend the bonds of desire, anger, and delusion.

The commentary may also refer to the Bodhisattva Vow, especially the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, who in the Northern Tibetan tradition is a symbol of complete transformation and the boundless aspiration to liberate beings.