Toh 2560Untitled

Explanation of Toh 2560, the Tibetan Treatise Collection

Context

The Tengyur is a collection of treatises and scriptural commentaries of Tibetan Buddhism, compiled under the supervision of learned great masters from the eighth century onward. Toh 2560 belongs to the Treatise Collection (Śāstra Piṭaka), where profound commentaries of bodhisattvas and arhats from the period of ancient Indian Buddhism are preserved.

In the Northern Tibetan Mahāyāna tradition, these treatises are not merely explanations of scripture, but a continuation of the transmission of Dharma from the Buddha’s profound path (Sūtrānusārin-naya) through the noble bodhisattvas. They are regarded as a precious basis for Mahāyāna practice, emphasizing the bodhisattva mind and the impermanent path of liberation for all sentient beings.

Main Content

Although the original title has not yet been fully translated, the Tibetan Treatise Collection Toh 2560 addresses fundamental issues of the Mahāyāna: the nature of Buddha-dhātu, the bodhisattva’s path through the six pāramitās, generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditative concentration, and wisdom, and the skillful means (upāya) used to guide sentient beings into the Dharma.

These treatises often explore the empty nature (śūnyatā) of material and mental phenomena, while also affirming that this nature is not nothingness but selflessness (nairātmya), which allows complete transformation. In the Northern Tibetan tradition, especially in the Gelug and Kagyu traditions, treatises on Mind-Only (Citta-mātra) or Madhyamaka are the sacred foundation of contemplation.

Practical Meaning

To apply the Dharma of Toh 2560 to practice today, we need to begin by deeply recognizing that our mind, where the stream of consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) contains all the seeds of mental formations, is the realm of latent awakening.