Toh 3763Untitled

Explanation of Scripture Toh 3763 from the Tengyur

Context

Toh 3763 is a treatise from the Tengyur, the Northern Tibetan canon, an essential part of the Tibetan Buddhist canon. The Tengyur, fully called Bstan 'gyur, is a collection of treatises, explanations, and commentaries by Indian masters on the scriptures of Śākyamuni Buddha, translated from Sanskrit into Tibetan during the ninth to twelfth centuries.

This scripture was recorded in the Mahayana Northern Tibetan tradition, also called the Vajrayāna Buddhist tradition of Tibet, where the combination of Mahayana, Unsurpassed Yoga Tantra, and practices according to the bodhisattva path is foundational. Although the title of this scripture has not yet been clearly identified in the descriptive information, according to its position in the Tengyur, this is a treatise intended to explain or develop an aspect of the Buddha Dharma from the Mahayana perspective.

Main Content

In the Northern Tibetan context, the treatises in the Tengyur usually focus on three principal fields: Abhidharma, the Pramāṇa canon, logic and epistemology, and the Bodhisattva-yāna, the bodhisattva path. Toh 3763, as part of this collection, is likely to be a treatise related to one of the central issues of the Mahayana: either the nature of Buddha-nature (Buddha-dhātu), the nature of mind (citta), or the theory of knowledge (Pramāṇa) according to the Yogācāra or Madhyamaka traditions.

The treatises in the Tengyur were composed by great bodhisattva-masters such as Asaṅga, Vasubandhu, Candrakīrti, Dignāga, and many others. They used rigorous logic, deep analysis, and arguments supported by scriptural citations in order to interpret the profound meaning of the Buddha Dharma. Through these treatises, the Buddha Dharma is conveyed not merely as a system of faith, but as a comprehensive system of thought and practice that can be verified through wisdom and direct experience.