Toh 4444Untitled

Exposition of Scripture Toh 4444 — The Northern Treasury Mahayana Tradition

Context

Scripture No. 4444 from the Tengyur—the Tibetan Treasury of Treatises—is a work belonging to the Mahayana tradition, specifically the Northern Tibetan tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The Tengyur, or “Bhāṣya” (Commentaries), is a collection of treatises, commentaries, and translated works by bodhisattvas and highly realized masters concerning the teachings of the Buddha. The works in this Treasury of Treatises are systematically arranged to support practice along the bodhisattva path—the path directed toward enlightenment through the aspiration to liberate all sentient beings.

The Northern Tibetan tradition, encompassing such major schools as Nyingma, Kagyu, Gelug, and Sakya, developed from the teachings of great Indian masters such as Nāgārjuna, Asaṅga, and Vasubandhu. The works in the Tengyur reflect a profound integration of Madhyamaka (the Middle Way) and Yogācāra (Mind Only) philosophy with the practices of meditative concentration and luminous insight (jñāna, vipassanā).

Main Content

Although the title of this scripture has not yet been fully translated and transliterated, based on its position within the Treasury of Treatises, this work is certainly a commentary or exposition on the fundamental principles of the Mahayana Dharma. Works of this kind in the Tengyur commonly explain such matters as: (1) the nature of mind and its lucid awareness; (2) the absence of inherent existence (śūnyatā) and its relationship to dependent origination (pratītyasamutpāda); and (3) the bodhisattva path, with its two branches of the accumulation of merit (puṇya-saṃbhāra) and the accumulation of wisdom (jñāna-saṃbhāra).

Within the context of the Northern Tibetan tradition, these treatises often emphasize the importance of “Mind Only” (Cittamātra)—the view that all phenomena arise from mind and that this mind, when purified through meditative concentration and luminous insight, is capable of encompassing the entirety of reality. The scripture may also discuss the principle of “Actions and Results”