Toh 2855Untitled

Exposition of Scripture Toh 2855: The Northern Tibetan Mahāyāna Tradition

Context

Scripture Toh 2855 belongs to the Treatise Collection (Abhidharma Piṭaka) in the Tengyur, the Northern Transmission canon, containing profound explanatory treatises on the Dharma by advanced bodhisattvas and Buddhist scholars in the Mahāyāna tradition. The works in the Tengyur were composed by noble sages, those who had accumulated boundless wisdom and understood the hidden intention of the principal scriptures.

The Northern Transmission, preserved chiefly in Tibet and the countries of North Asia, such as Tibet, Mongolia, and Bhutan, is a traditional system that upholds the bodhisattva path, the path of practice of those who generate the aspiration to attain buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. The treatises in the Tengyur guide students beyond the world, toward a comprehensive understanding of the nature of mind and the attainment of awakening.

Although its title has not yet been fully translated, this scripture represents one of the precious traditional treatises of Tibetan Buddhism, intended to explain lofty truths concerning the Dharma.

Main Content

According to the context of the Mahāyāna Treatise Collection, this scripture certainly expounds one of the core themes: the true nature of mind (citta), relative dependence (pratītyasamutpāda), or aspects of bodhisattva practice leading to unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening.

In the Northern Tibetan tradition, these treatises often focus on the method of clearly recognizing emptiness of self-nature (śūnyatā), the understanding that all phenomena lack an independent, eternal essence. Through deep immersion in this nature, the mind becomes continuously more subtle, gradually frees itself from fundamental illusions, and develops immeasurable compassion (karuṇā).

This scripture may also expound the stages of practice (bhūmi) of the bodhisattva, beginning with the mind of prajnaparamita and leading to the attainment of the Buddha realm.