Toh 3166Untitled

Exposition of the Tengyur Scripture Toh 3166 — Northern Mahayana Tradition

Context

The Tengyur (Bstan 'gyur) collection of Tibetan Buddha Dharma is an extremely precious treasury of Buddhist knowledge, containing more than 3,600 treatises and teachings by holy beings and great masters. Toh 3166 belongs to the Treatise Collection (śāstra), the section specifically devoted to works of exposition and instruction after Śākyamuni Buddha entered parinirvana. In the Northern Mahayana tradition, these treatises are regarded as a profound continuation and development of the Buddha Dharma, helping practitioners understand the nature of the Teaching.

Although the official title of the scripture has not yet been fully translated into Vietnamese, based on its position in the Tengyur, this is an important exegetical work of the Mahayana tradition, possibly related to core issues such as the bodhisattva path, the nature of Buddha-nature, or profound Dharma discourses on the nature of mind and liberation.

Main Content

The treatises in the Tengyur of the Northern Canon usually follow a rigorous logical structure: establishing basic definitions, setting forth the principles of the Buddha Dharma, and then applying them to the practice of cultivation. Toh 3166 perhaps focuses on a particular aspect of Mahayana doctrine.

In the Northern tradition, the treatises often explain three basic points: first, the nature of suffering (dukkha) and its causes — not merely the present suffering of an individual, but the universal suffering of all sentient beings. Second, the possibility of absolute liberation (nirvana), not only for oneself alone, but the Great Nirvana — where all sentient beings can arrive. Third, the bodhisattva path (Bodhisattva-mārga), the path of commitment to liberate countless sentient beings before oneself enters nirvana.

The theoretical foundation of the Tengyur emphasizes the Tathagata Mind (Buddha-dhātu), the quality of Buddha-nature already present in all living beings.