Toh 3348Untitled

Exposition of the Treatise Canon - Toh 3348

Thought of the Northern Tibetan Mahayana Tradition

Context

Toh 3348 belongs to the Treatise Canon (śāstra) of the Northern Tibetan Mahayana tradition, an important part of the treasury of Tibetan Buddhist literature. The Treatise Canon consists of critical essays and expositions of the Buddha’s principal scriptures, composed by Mahayana masters such as Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Asanga, and other bodhisattvas more than a century after the Buddha entered nirvana.

The purpose of compiling the Treatise Canon was to clarify the profound meanings in the scriptures, helping monastics and Buddhists understand the path of practice leading to Buddhahood. In the Northern Tibetan tradition, these treatises are regarded as “eyes for seeing the scriptures” (lung don), that is, the key for entering the lofty edifice of Mahayana scriptures.

Main Content

Although the title of this scripture has not been fully translated, based on its place in the Northern Tibetan Treatise Canon (Tengyur), we may understand that this is a work critiquing important aspects of Mahayana thought, possibly related to:

The Trikāya, the three bodies of the Buddha, or aspects of the qualities of the Buddha Dharma. Or it may concern the Bodhisattva path (Bodhisattva-yāna) and the altruistic actions of bodhisattvas to liberate sentient beings. Or it may concern Tathatā, the truth of all dharmas: the nature empty of self-essence (śūnyatā), which bodhisattvas must realize in order to practice unified calm-abiding and insight meditation (śamathā-vipaśyanā).

The treatises in the Tengyur often rely on the principle of Abhidharma: analyzing the basic constituents of phenomena, combined with Madhyamaka thought (śūnyavāda), in order to guide practitioners to recognize without clinging to an independent essence (svabhāva).

Practical Meaning

Treatises such as Toh 3348 are not dry theoretical works.