Toh 3375Untitled

Commentary on Toh 3375 — The Tengyur Treatise Collection

(Mahayana Tradition — Northern Transmission)

Background

This work belongs to the Tengyur (བསྒྱུར་རྒྱ་ཆེ), the Tibetan Treatise Collection, the largest collection of Buddhist Dharma commentaries in the Northern Transmission Mahayana tradition. Toh 3375 is one of the important treatises explaining the fundamental principles of Mahayana Buddhadharma, composed by learned Indian masters and later translated into Tibetan during the period of Tibetan Buddhism’s development, around the ninth to tenth centuries.

In the Mahayana context, these commentaries are not merely theoretical explanations but also practical instructions for cultivation, intended to help practitioners gain deep understanding of conduct on the path and the nature of mind. The Northern Tibetan tradition, Tibetan Buddhism, especially values the unity of theory and practice; therefore every treatise is regarded as a means for guiding beings to awakening.

Main Content

Although the specific title of Toh 3375 has not been fully provided, based on its position in the Tengyur, this is a commentary on the core principles of Mahayana Buddhism. Commentaries in this section often focus on themes such as the nature of mind (chitta-prakṛiti), the doctrine of emptiness of inherent nature (śūnyatā), the nature of Buddha-nature, or the stages of bodhisattva conduct.

In the Northern Tibetan tradition, especially the Gelug, Sakya, Kagyu, and Nyingma schools, these commentaries are used as a lucid intellect for understanding the Mahayana sutras, particularly the sutras concerning the Buddha-nature inherent in all beings. The commentary emphasizes that all beings possess the Buddha-dhātu, and that Mahayana cultivation is the process of uncovering and purifying this innate nature.

The approach of Northern Tibetan commentaries is distinctive in comparison with other schools: they not only explain theory but also directly guide the application of that doctrine in meditation (bhāvanā) and cultivation of the path.