Toh 4197Untitled

An Exposition of Toh 4197 — From the Northern Canonical Tradition

Context

This scripture belongs to the Tengyur (Bstan ’gyur), the Tibetan collection of treatises—the treasury of commentarial works developed from the Buddha’s teachings. In the Northern Tibetan Mahāyāna tradition, the Tengyur supplements the Kangyur, the words of the Buddha, and comprises doctrinal expositions, commentaries, and instructional letters by learned masters and wise bodhisattvas. Toh 4197 is one such work, profoundly reflecting the Mahāyāna philosophical foundations of emptiness (śūnyatā) and the bodhisattva path.

Historically, treatises of this kind were composed at the great centers of Buddhist learning in ancient India—especially Nālandā—where saints and bodhisattvas of the early tradition devoted their lives to illuminating the intended meaning of the Dharma. The specific content of this scripture has not yet been fully translated into Vietnamese, but from its position within the Tengyur we may understand that it concerns essential Mahāyāna subjects: the nature of relative reality, the bodhisattva resolve, and the method of awakening.

Main Content

Treatises in the Tibetan tradition generally provide detailed explanations of the Buddha’s symbolic or profound discourses. Based on its classification, Toh 4197 may concern such subjects as the interdependent arising of all phenomena (pratītyasamutpāda), the insubstantial nature of the self (anātman), and the bodhisattva path of practice through the six perfections (ṣaḍ-pāramitā).

In the Northern Tibetan Mahāyāna tradition, particularly in the Gelug and Kagyu schools, works of this kind frequently employ logical reasoning (tarka) and incisive arguments to dispel misunderstandings about emptiness. Emptiness is not nonexistence or the absence of mind, but the absence of an independent, unconditioned intrinsic nature. On this basis, the bodhisattva resolves to realize emptiness in order to liberate all sentient beings.