Toh 3715Untitled

Exposition of Toh 3715 — Tibetan Treatise Collection

Context

This scripture is included in the Tengyur (Bstan 'gyur), the Treatise Collection of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, which is part of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon (Kangyur-Tengyur) compiled and disseminated from the 13th century onward. Toh 3715 represents an exegetical work or commentary on the Dharmakāya or on profound aspects of Mahayana philosophy, possibly related to the practices of the Northern Mahayana school.

Although the title has not been fully identified, this work belongs to the rich context of Tibetan Buddhist learning, in which great exegetes such as Maitreya, Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, and Tibetan masters commented upon and developed the profound teachings of the Mahayana. This scripture reflects a coordination of Yogācāra philosophy, Buddha-nature, and practices of faith and cultivation.

Main Content

This scripture belongs to the group of commentarial treatises (śāstra), focusing on interpreting and clarifying the foundational dharmas of the Mahayana path. According to the Tibetan tradition, such treatises often discuss the nature of the Dharmakāya — the formless Dharma-body of the Buddha, existing beyond the limitations of form and ordinary consciousness.

The scripture focuses on three principal aspects: first, the nature of Buddha-nature present in all sentient beings, allowing all to have the potential to become Buddhas. Second, the relationship between mind (citta) — the luminous essence of consciousness — and the Dharmakāya, indicating that liberation is not a falling into nothingness, but the realization of the nature of mind. Third, the adaptive means (upāya-kauśalya) that the Buddhas use to teach sentient beings according to their level of receptivity.

This scripture also refers to the Dharmakāya, Sambhogakāya, and Nirmāṇakāya — the three bodies of the Buddha — emphasizing that these three bodies are not three separate entities, but different manifestations of a single nature.