Toh 2880Untitled

Exposition of the Treatise Piṭaka Toh 2880 — The Mahāyāna Tradition of the Northern Transmission

Context

Toh 2880 is a work belonging to the Treatise Piṭaka (Tengyur), the collection of commentaries and treatises that explain Buddhist scriptures and teachings. In the Mahāyāna tradition of the Northern Transmission, the Tengyur is regarded as a treasury of wisdom of master-scholars, monastic scholars who devoted many years to clarifying the deeply hidden meaning contained in Buddhist scriptural texts.

This work arises from the Tibetan Buddhist environment, where great masters preserved and developed Mahāyāna teachings in a systematic way. Prajna (prajna), transcendent wisdom, and skillful means (upaya), flexible teaching according to the capacities of listeners, are the two main pillars of this approach. The treatises in the Tengyur all aim to lead all sentient beings to enlightenment, regardless of their limitations or capacities.

Main Content

Although the specific title of Toh 2880 has not been fully translated into Vietnamese, according to the context of the Treatise Piṭaka of the Northern Transmission, this work aims to clarify an important aspect of Buddhism, possibly the nature of mind (chitta), Buddha-nature (Buddhadhatu), or meditative ritual.

In the Mahāyāna, every treatise is built upon three foundations: first, the scriptures directly proclaimed by the Buddha; second, the commentaries of master-scholars from the fourth to the eighth centuries CE; and third, the living practice of hermit practitioners. The author of Toh 2880, possibly a master of schools such as Madhyamaka or Yogacara, argues rigorously from scriptural texts, using methods of logical analysis (yukti) to break down misunderstandings and guide students to enter the narrow gate of the Dharma.