Toh 4335Untitled

Exposition of Toh 4335 — The Northern Mahāyāna Tradition

Background

Toh 4335 belongs to the Tengyur, the translation of the collected treatises, in the Northern Mahāyāna tradition. It is part of a compilation of profound commentaries on the core teachings of the Mahāyāna Buddha Dharma, composed by the great Indian masters between approximately the fourth and tenth centuries, subsequently translated into Tibetan and preserved in the treasury of the Northern Tibetan Buddha Dharma.

The Northern Tibetan tradition values the integration of contemplative cultivation (bhāvanā) and right understanding (samyak-prajñapti). The commentaries in the Tengyur are intended to help practitioners overcome obstacles and attain buddhahood, especially through the bodhisattva path and the cultivation of bodhicitta—the mind resolved upon renunciation and aspiration for the sake of sentient beings.

Main Content

Although no specific title for the original work has been recorded, judging from its place in the Tengyur as Toh 4335, this commentary certainly revolves around an essential Mahāyāna subject: perhaps the bodhisattva path, emptiness (śūnyatā), or the Buddha’s skillful means (upāya-kauśalya).

In the Northern Tibetan tradition, commentaries of this kind commonly affirm that all sentient beings possess Buddha-nature (Buddhadhātu), and that the path to liberation is not reserved solely for arhats but is open to all. The master of the treatise analyzes concepts such as emptiness, dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda), and the One Vehicle (Ekayāna) to demonstrate that, in essence, all paths converge in the Supreme Buddha Dharma.

In particular, Tengyur commentaries often employ the logic of Madhyamaka or Yogācāra to eliminate extreme views of existence and nonexistence, thereby clarifying the Middle Way (Madhyamā-pratipad) taught by the Buddha.