Toh 4303Untitled

EXPOSITION OF TENGYUR TREATISE TOH 4303

Background

This text belongs to the Tengyur—the Treatise Collection of the Northern Canon, a compilation of profound commentaries by venerable elders and Buddhist scholars on the Buddha’s teachings. Toh 4303 was composed within either the Yogācāra or Madhyamaka tradition—the two principal schools of Mahayana Buddhist thought. The Treatise Collection consists not merely of textual commentaries, but of systematic presentations of how to understand and practice the Dharma in order to attain bodhi—supreme awakening.

Within the context of the Northern Canon, these treatises are regarded as precious guides for those pursuing the bodhisattva path—those who wish to liberate themselves and deliver sentient beings to liberation. These treatises are based on the original scriptures, yet expand upon and clarify profound aspects that the sutras only mention.

Main content

Although the title of the text has not been clearly identified in the descriptive information, this work belongs to the Treatise Collection and therefore addresses essential themes of Mahayana Buddhism, such as the Madhyamaka doctrine of emptiness (Śūnyatā)—that all phenomena lack an independently existing intrinsic nature—or the Yogācāra doctrine of Mind-Only (Cittamātra)—that the entirety of our experience of the world is created and conditioned by mind.

The treatise may also present the doctrine of the Two Truths (Dvi-satya): Conventional Truth (Samvṛti-satya), the manner in which the world perceives things according to convention; and Ultimate Truth (Paramārtha-satya), the true nature of phenomena when illuminated by transcendent wisdom. These commentaries help practitioners clearly understand the relationship between the relative and the absolute, and thereby cultivate ways of acting and thinking that accord with the Dharma.

Practical significance

The profound theories in this treatise are not intended merely for intellectual discussion, but have a clear practical purpose.