Toh 3428Untitled

Exposition of the Tengyur Abhidharma (Toh 3428)

Context

This scripture belongs to the Tengyur — the Abhidharma collection of the Northern Transmission, a precious treasury comprising commentaries, treatises, and Dharma teachings of bodhisattvas, arhats, and great Buddhist critics. By comparison, if the Kangyur is the direct teaching of the Buddha and bodhisattvas, then the Abhidharma is the profound explanation and analysis of those masters of deepest understanding in the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition.

The Tengyur contains more than 3,600 works, translated from Sanskrit and other Indian languages into Tibetan. This work of translation began in the eighth century and was completed in the eleventh century, during the period when Buddhism flourished most in Tibet. Each treatise in the Tengyur has the purpose of helping scholars and monastics better understand the true nature of the scriptures, as well as how to apply them on the path of practice leading toward Buddhahood.

Main Contents

Although the specific title has not been fully provided, works in the Abhidharma often focus on key themes: exploring absolute emptiness (śūnyatā), Buddha-nature, the bodhisattva path and skillful means (upāya-kauśalya), or the characteristics of mind and cognition from the Mahāyāna perspective.

These treatises are based on the principle that reasoned understanding and practice cannot be separated. The author usually argues rigorously, using logic and analytical methods to remove mistaken understandings, thereby opening the way to direct realization. In particular, treatises in the Northern Transmission place great importance on the unity of emptiness (śūnyatā) and phenomena (prapañca) — a view characteristic of the Madhyamaka and Yogācāra schools as deeply developed in Tibetan Buddhism.

Practical Significance

For modern practitioners of the Mahāyāna, the Abhidharma has profound meaning: it is a bridge between faith and wisdom.