Toh 3857Untitled

An Exposition of Toh 3857 — Tengyur (Collection of Treatises)

Background

Toh 3857 belongs to the Tengyur, the Collection of Treatises of the Northern Mahayana tradition (Tibetan Buddhism). The Tengyur is a compilation of treatises, commentaries, and writings by enlightened masters who lived after the Buddha, intended to elucidate the profound meaning of the canonical scriptures of the Kangyur.

The Northern Tibetan tradition regards the Tengyur as an indispensable treasury of wisdom because it records how ancient masters—such as Nāgārjuna, Asaṅga, and Vasubandhu—interpreted the Dharma teachings. The position of Toh 3857 in the Tengyur indicates that it is a philosophically or practically significant treatise that Tibetan Buddhist scholars deemed worthy of recognition and preservation.

In approaching this text, it should be noted that the Northern Mahayana tradition emphasizes the universality of Buddha-nature and the capacity of all sentient beings to awaken through the path to buddhahood. Treatises in the Tengyur commonly address the theory of Buddha-nature, the Madhyamaka or Yogācāra systems of thought, and subtle methods of practice such as the Great Perfection or Mahāmudrā.

Main Content

Although its title has not been fully translated, the position of Toh 3857 in the Collection of Treatises makes it highly likely that this text belongs to the class of treatises on the Buddha-nature of all sentient beings (tathāgatagarbha), a central Mahayana subject. Buddha-nature here is not a “thing” that exists independently, but the luminous, unborn, and undying nature of mind, ever present in all sentient beings.

This treatise may also explain the relationship between emptiness (śūnyatā) and Buddha-nature. According to the Tibetan Madhyamaka view, emptiness is neither nothingness nor the absolute negation of all phenomena, but the absence of independently existing intrinsic characteristics (rangzhin). Precisely because of this absence, the mind possesses an infinite capacity for transformation and for manifesting the countenance of a buddha.