Toh 3687Untitled

Explanation of Toh 3687 from the Tengyur

Context

Toh 3687 is a treatise belonging to the Tengyur, the Northern Transmission canon, where works explaining the Dharma corpus by great masters of treatises are preserved. The Northern Mahayana tradition, especially through the Tibetan channel, places great value on commentarial treatises (śāstra) as instruments for deeply entering the Dharma corpus. This work appears in the historical context in which the Buddha Dharma was widely translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan (around the eighth to tenth centuries), in order to protect and develop Mahayana faith on the Tibetan plateau.

Although the title has not been fully identified, the fact that this work was compiled in the Treatise Collection (Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya or similar works of Buddhist philosophy) shows that it addresses a central issue of the Buddha Dharma: perhaps the Four Noble Truths, the causality of karma, or the practices leading to liberation.

Main Content

In the Northern Mahayana tradition, the Tengyur contains commentaries that help practitioners understand clearly the nature of suffering (duḥkha), the cause of suffering (samudaya), the cessation of suffering (nirodha), and the path leading to that cessation (mārga). Mahayana masters of treatises emphasize that Buddha-nature is innate in all beings, and that the goal of practice is not only to awaken oneself but also to liberate all beings.

This work Toh 3687, like other commentarial treatises in the Tengyur, may address aspects of the bodhisattva path (Bodhisattva-yāna). It may explain the Four Immeasurables (maitrī, karuṇā, muditā, upekṣā), or the practice of the Six Paramitas: generosity, discipline, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom. The Tibetan tradition especially values the synthesis of mind (citta) and the impermanent nature (anicca) of all phenomena.