Toh 3748Untitled

Exposition of Scripture Toh 3748 — Tengyur Treatise Collection

Context

Scripture Toh 3748 from the Tengyur (Northern Transmission Canon) is an exegetical work belonging to the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. The Tengyur, or “Translation of the Teachings,” is a collection of treatises and commentaries by Indian and Tibetan scholars, composed from the eighth century onward. The position of this scripture within the Northern Transmission Canon shows that this is a work intended to be profound, helping students investigate more deeply the theory and practice of the Mahayana.

In the Mahayana context, the treatises in the Tengyur serve the purpose of helping monastics and Buddhist devotees understand the Mahayana scriptures more clearly. They are regarded as keys that open the door to the depths of the Dharma. The authors — learned and deeply understanding bodhisattvas — chose suitable means (upāya) to convey the Dharma to differing capacities.

Main Content

Although the title of the scripture has not been fully disclosed, from its position in the Treatise Collection (Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya or sections of the Pramāṇavārttika, Madhyamakāvatāra), it is possible that this scripture is a commentary on one of the three central themes of the Mahayana: (1) mind-only (cittamātra) — the theory that all phenomena are manifestations of mind; (2) emptiness (śūnyatā) — absolute voidness; or (3) the principle of Buddha-nature — the capacity of all beings to attain Buddhahood.

If this scripture belongs to the Yogācāra school (consciousness-only), it may explain how cognition (vijñapti) functions and how to overcome the distinction between the perceiving subject and the object. If it belongs to the Madhyamaka school (middle way), it will analyze how all concepts do not presently possess self-nature (svabhāva), yet at the same time are not utterly nonexistent — this is the middle path between the two extremes of existence (eternalism) and nonexistence (nihilism).