Toh 1613Untitled

An Explanation of a Tantric Scripture (Toh 1613)

Background

This scripture belongs to the Kangyur, the corpus of Tibetan Buddhist Tantric scriptures, namely the Tantra section within the supreme body of Vajrayāna Buddha Dharma. Tantric scriptures are not public teachings, but profound instructions transmitted only from teacher to disciple through an unbroken lineage.

The Vajrayāna tradition regards Tantra as the pinnacle of the Buddha Dharma, surpassing the bodhisattva path of Mahayana. If Mahayana aims to liberate all sentient beings over many lifetimes, Tantra aims at enlightenment in a single lifetime through special methods: teachings on the vajra body (vajra-kāya), supreme secret methods, and ritual practices (sādhana).

This text is part of the teachings transmitted by the Blessed Buddha to bodhisattvas and great masters on the basis of Tantric learning. Tantric scriptures such as this are often presented in the form of practice liturgies, details concerning the maṇḍala, Buddha mantras, and special states of meditation.

Main Contents

Although the title of this scripture has not been fully specified in the provided descriptive information, and although the specific contents of the scripture have not been fully translated, we may understand that this scripture, like other Tantric scriptures in the Kangyur, instructs on the core matters of esoteric Buddha Dharma:

First, the scripture presents the nature of ultimate reality (paramārtha), the way all phenomena are constructed by mind, and mind itself is without self-nature (śūnyatā). This is not nonexistence, but the absence of fixed and independent existence.

Second, the scripture teaches the transformation of the six sense faculties (indriya), from the coarse differentiations of ordinary daily perception into the subtle states of the luminous body (kāyaprabhāsvara). This is the process of transforming the energy of mind-wind (rasa) in order to reach the complete unification of the practitioner.