Toh 3120Untitled

Exposition of Scripture Toh 3120 - Northern Canon Mahayana Tradition

Background

Toh 3120 is a treatise contained in the Tengyur, the collection of essential expositions and commentaries of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. This work belongs to the Northern Canon Mahayana tradition, in which the Buddha Dharma is transmitted through the principal sutras and the explanatory treatises. The Tengyur system consists of 213 volumes, containing thousands of treatises by eminent masters and Buddhist scholars from the second to the tenth century CE.

The Northern Canon tradition (Tibetan Buddhism) developed on the foundation of Sanskrit scriptures that Tibetan translators carefully rendered and preserved. The Tengyur, together with the Kangyur (the sutras), forms the most complete scriptural treasury remaining from the ancient Indian Buddhist tradition. The treatise Toh 3120 reflects a particular aspect of Mahayana practice, possibly related to matters concerning the nature of Buddha-nature, the bodhisattva path, or aspects of the theory of cognition (Pramana).

Main Content

Although the official title of this work has not been clearly identified in the descriptive information, Northern Canon scriptures often focus on key Mahayana themes. The treatises in the Tengyur usually explain profound principles concerning the nature of mind, the manner in which awakening is attained, and the correct methods of practice.

According to the Northern Canon tradition, the bodhisattva path is not merely personal cultivation, but an immeasurable commitment to liberate all beings from suffering. This treatise may shed light on the practice of the Six Perfections (Paramita), the six great virtues comprising generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom. Or it may discuss the emptiness of phenomena (Shunyata), a central doctrine in the Mahayana.

Northern Canon treatises give particular emphasis to harmonizing emptiness and causality, absolute mind and phenomenal reality.