Toh 2277 · classical Tibetan · Tengyur edition

Cultivating [An Understanding of] Objects

Translated from the Tibetan by buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate · machine-assisted

Edition 1.0 · 2026 · not a critical edition machine draft

Catalogue: Toh 2277
Genre: Treatise
Period: classical Tibetan
Edition: Tengyur vol. 052_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཞི.txt
Extent: 3 passages · 2,279 Tibetan characters · 534 English words
Translation: buddhist-nlp/mitra-qwen35-translate (English, machine-assisted)
Status: Edition 1.0 · 2026 · machine draft
Rights: Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction)

Cultivating [An Understanding of] Objects is a brief instructional text that addresses the ontological status of entities and the path toward enlightenment. The text begins by distinguishing between entities and non-entities, arguing that the perception of non-entities as existing is a delusion, while the nature of actual entities is characterized by constant arising. This philosophical premise serves as a foundation for a practical ethical framework. The author commits the reader to the cultivation of the six paramitas—specifically generosity, ethical discipline, patience, diligence, and meditative concentration—as the necessary means to achieve unsurpassed enlightenment. The text concludes by emphasizing the integration of insight and skillful means, directing the practitioner to apply these realizations through compassion for all sentient beings in pursuit of omniscience. The work is structured as a transition from a metaphysical analysis of perception to a prescriptive guide for spiritual practice.

Provenance

About this text

A treatise addressing the ontological status of entities and the path toward enlightenment, the Bhāvasañcara is attributed to the Indian author Nāgārjuna. The work entered the Tibetan tradition through the efforts of the translators Vajrapāṇi and Rma ban Chos ’bar, and it is preserved in the Tengyur, volume ཞི, where it comprises two pages. Within the Tibetan canon, it is situated among the General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works. The text argues that the perception of non-entities as existing is a delusion, asserting that all phenomena are equal to space. This philosophical foundation leads to a practical ethical framework, urging the practitioner to rely upon generosity, ethical discipline, patience, diligence, and meditative concentrations to attain unsurpassed enlightenment. By integrating insight and skillful means with compassion for all sentient beings, the practitioner seeks the supreme state of omniscience. A scholar or serious reader consults this classical Tibetan translation to examine the intersection of ontological inquiry and the cultivation of the paramitas, observing how the text moves from the nature of arising and delusion to the application of Buddhist ethics in the pursuit of divinity.

Sanskrit title: Bhāvasañcara
Indian author: Nāgārjuna
Tibetan translators: Vajrapāṇi, bod kyi lo tsa ba rma ban chos ’bar
Canonical collection: General Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Works
Genre: Treatise
Source edition: Tengyur, vol. ཞི
Period: classical Tibetan

Read further

Catalogue

84000 catalogue entry

Bibliography

BDRC library search

Libraries

WorldCat

Sanskrit sources

Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon

Reference

Cite thisAnuvāda, “Cultivating [An Understanding of] Objects” (Toh 2277), machine draft, 2026.https://naxiai.com/tibetan/works/toh2277

Summary & commentary

Significance

The work is significant for its synthesis of emptiness-related ontology and the Bodhisattva path. It demonstrates the traditional Indo-Tibetan movement from the analysis of delusion to the application of the paramitas. For the modern reader, it illustrates the interdependence of philosophical view and ethical conduct in Buddhist praxis.

Structure

Passages	Section	Description
1	Ontology of Entities	Discusses the nature of entities and the delusion of perceiving non-entities.
2	Path to Enlightenment	Outlines the necessary virtues, the role of compassion, and the goal of omniscience.
3	Colophon	Identifies the translator and editor, Rma ban Chos ’bar.

Themes

Nature of Existence (1)
Paramitas and Ethical Discipline (2)
Compassion and Omniscience (2)

Summary, significance and provenance note generated by gemma4:31b from the translation and the catalogue record.

AnuvādaCultivating [An Understanding of] Objects·

#༄༅༅། ། རྒྱ་གར་སྐད་དུ། བྷ་#བ་སཉྩར་ནཱ་མ། བོད་སྐད་དུ། དངོས་པོ་སྦྱོང་བ་#ཞེས་བྱ་བ། སངས་རྒྱས་ལ་ཕྱག་འཚལ་ལོ། ། དངོས་པོ་མེད་ལ་དངོས་པོར་ཤེས། ། དངོས་མེད་སྐྱེ་བ་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། ། རྟག་ཏུ་སྐྱེ་བ་དངོས་པོ་ཉིད། ། དངོས་འཁྲུལ་ནམ་མཁའི་མེ་ཏོག་བཞིན། ། མཁའ་དང་མཉམ་པའི་ཆོས་རྣམས་ནི། ། སྐྱེ་བ་མཁའ་དང་མཉམ་ཉིད་མཆོག། ཐམས་ཅད་རང་བཞིན་གྱིས་མཁའ་མཉམ། ། དེས་ན་སྲིད་པ་དམ་པའི་དངོས། ། རྒྱུ་མེད་འབྲས་བུ་མེད་པ་སྟེ། ། ལས་ཀྱི་རང་བཞིན་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་པ་མེད་འཇིག་རྟེན་མེད། ། འདི་དག་ཐམས་ཅད་བདེན་མ་ཡིན། ། མ་སྐྱེས་པས་ནི་དངོས་པོ་གང་། ། ཇི་ལྟར་གཞན་ལས་ཤེས་པར་འགྱུར། ། མོ་གཤམ་གྱི་ནི་བུ་ཉིད་ཀྱང་། ། དེ་ཚེ་སྐྱེ་བར་འགྱུར་#མ་ཡིན། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་གཟོད་ནས་མ་སྐྱེས་ཏེ། ། གང་གིས་ཀྱང་ནི་སྤྲུལ་མ་ཡིན། ། དོན་མེད་འཁྲུལ་པའི་འཇིག་རྟེན་འདི། ། ཟླ་བ་བཟང་པོའི་གྲོང་ཁྱེར་བཞིན། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་རྣམ་པར་རྟོག་ལས་#འབྱུང་། ། རྣམ་རྟོག་སེམས་ལས་བྱུང་བ་སྟེ། ། གང་ཕྱིར་ལུས་ལས་སེམས་བྱུང་བས། ། དེ་ཕྱིར་ལུས་ལ་རྣམ་པར་བརྟག། གཟུགས་སྟོང་ཚོར་བ་རང་བཞིན་མེད། ། འདུ་ཤེས་མེད་ཅིང་འདུ་བྱེད་མེད། ། སེམས་བྱུང་མེད་ཅིང་#དངོས་པོ་མེད། ། དེ་ཕྱིར་མི་རྟོག་རང་བཞིན་ནོ། ། དེས་ན་སེམས་མིན་ཆོས་ཀྱང་མིན། ། ལུས་མིན་ཁམས་ལ་སོགས་པ་མིན། ། གཉིས་སུ་མེད་པའི་ལམ་འདི་ནི། ། དེ་ཉིད་རིག་པ་རྣམས་ཀྱིས་གསུངས། ། དམིགས་པ་མེད་པའི་ཆོས་འདི་ཀུན། ། དམིགས་པ་མེད་པར་རབ་ཏུ་བསྟན། ། དམིགས་པ་མེད་པའི་བློ་བྱས་ན། ། དམིགས་པ་མེད་པར་འགྱུར་བ་ཡིན། །

In the language of India: Bhāvasaṃśodhana-nāma. In the language of Tibet: Dngos po sbyong ba (Purifying Entities). Homage to the Buddha. One perceives non-entities as entities; non-entities do not arise. Constant arising is the very nature of entities; the delusion of entities is like a flower in the sky. All phenomena are equal to space; their arising is the supreme equality of space. All things are by nature equal to space; therefore, existence is the ultimate entity. There is no cause and no effect; the nature of karma does not exist. There is no world and no worldly things; all these are not true. Since no entity is unarisen, how could it be known from another? Even the son of a barren woman would not be born at that time. The world is unarisen from the beginning; it was not created by anyone. This world, a meaningless delusion, is like a city of the Gandharvas. The world arises from conceptual construction; conceptual construction arises from the mind. Since the mind arises from the body, one should analyze the body. Form is empty; feeling lacks intrinsic nature. There is no perception and no mental formations. There are no mental factors and no entities; therefore, it is the nature of non-conceptuality. Thus, it is neither mind nor phenomena; it is neither body nor the elements and so forth. This path of non-duality was taught by those who know reality. All these phenomena, which are without an object of observation, are thoroughly taught as being without an object of observation. If one applies a mind that is without an object of observation, one will become without an object of observation.

structureTitle block: the Sanskrit title is given as it is transmitted in Tibetan transliteration, not reconstructed from Sanskrit sources; the Tibetan title is translated after it.

terminologyསངས་རྒྱས → “buddha”. The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carried by context, not by a suffix.

homonymསངས་རྒྱས is rendered “buddha” here; the glossary also records Awakened, awakened, Buddha for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionསངས་རྒྱས “buddha” — The Indic term buddha means "The Awakened One" and is used in Buddhism as an epithet for the historical Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama as well as other spiritually enlightened beings in general. “ Buddha ” is the past partici

periodཆོས → “dharma”. In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two referents; the list decides.

homonymཆོས is rendered “dharma” here; the glossary also records special qualities, phenomena, qualities for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས “dharma” — The term “ dharma ” ( chos ) conveys ten different meanings, according to Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti . It may mean the Buddhist teachings, the awakened qualities which buddhas and bodhisattvas acquire, phenomena or thing

periodརིག་པ → “knowledge”. 'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge' versus 'ignorance'.

homonymརིག་པ is rendered “knowledge” here; the glossary also records awareness, spell, incantation for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionརིག་པ “knowledge” — This term may, according to context, refer to exoteric or esoteric knowledge, a goddess, her associated dhāraṇī , or some combination of these. In the body of this scripture, the dhāraṇī is referred to as a vidyā . In ta

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: knowledge

termསངས་རྒྱས → buddha

termཕྱག་འཚལ → homage

termཆོས → dharma

termརིག་པ → knowledge

སྦྱིན་དང་ཚུལ་ཁྲིམས་བཟོད་བརྩོན་འགྲུས། ། བསམ་གཏན་ལས་བྱུང་བསྟེན་པར་བྱ། ། དུས་མི་རིང་བ་ཉིད་ན་ནི། ། བླ་མེད་བྱང་ཆུབ་ཐོབ་པར་འགྱུར། ། ཤེས་རབ་ཐབས་ལ་གནས་གྱུར་པས། ། སེམས་ཅན་ཀུན་ལ་བརྩེ་བར་བྱ། ། ཐམས་ཅད་མཁྱེན་པའི་གོ་འཕང་མཆོག། ལྷ་ཉིད་དུས་མི་རིང་བར་འཐོབ། ། འདི་དག་ཐམས་ཅད་མིང་ཙམ་སྟེ། ། ཐ་སྙད་ཙམ་དུ་རབ་ཏུ་འཇུག། དངོས་པོ་མེད་ལ་ཐ་དད་པའི། ། བརྗོད་བྱ་ཡོད་པ་མ་ཡིན་ཏེ། ། བདག་ཉིད་གང་དང་གང་གིས་ནི། ། ཆོས་རྣམས་གང་དང་གང་བརྟགས་པ། ། དེ་ནི་དེ་ལ་ཡོད་མིན་ཏེ། ། ཆོས་རྣམས་ཀྱི་ནི་ཆོས་ཉིད་དེ། ། མིང་གིས་མིང་ཉིད་སྟོང་པས་ན། ། མིང་ལ་མིང་ནི་ཡོད་མ་ཡིན། ། ཆོས་རྣམས་ཐམས་ཅད་མིང་མེད་པས། ། མིང་ནི་བཏགས་#པ་ཙམ་ཉིད་དོ། ། མི་བདེན་པར་གྱུར་ཆོས་འདི་དག། བརྟགས་པ་ཉིད་དུ་རབ་ཏུ་འཇུག། གང་ལ་བརྟགས་པ་དེ་མེད་ན། ། སྟོང་པ་ཉིད་དུ་བརྟགས་པ་གང་། ། མིག་གིས་མཐོང་བའི་གཟུགས་རྣམས་ནི། ། དེ་ཉིད་རིག་པ་ཞེས་དེ་བཤད། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་ལོག་པའི་ང་རྒྱལ་ཅན། ། ཀུན་རྫོབ་བདེན་པ་ཞེས་འདིར་འཇོག། གང་དུ་ཚོགས་པའི་རྐྱེན་མཐོང་བ། ། འདྲེན་པ་གསལ་བར་གྱུར་པ་ཡིན། ། བློ་དང་ལྡན་པས་དོན་དམ་ལ། ། བརྟགས་ཏེ་གྲགས་པ་ངེས་པར་མཐོང་། ། གཟུགས་ནི་མིག་གིས་མི་མཐོང་ཞིང་། ། ཡིད་ཀྱིས་ཆོས་རྣམས་མི་རིག་པ། ། འདི་ནི་མཆོག་ཏུ་བདེན་པ་སྟེ། ། འཇིག་རྟེན་གང་གིས་ཀྱང་མི་ཤེས། ། དངོས་པོ་སྦྱོང་བ་ཞེས་བྱ་བ་སློབ་དཔོན་ཆེན་པོ་འཕགས་པ་ཀླུ་སྒྲུབ་ཀྱི་ཞལ་སྔ་ནས་མཛད་པ་རྫོགས་སོ། ། ། ། རྒྱ་གར་གྱི་མཁན་པོ་བཛྲ་པཱ་ཎི་དང་།

One should rely upon generosity, ethical discipline, patience, diligence, and the meditative concentrations. In no long time, one will attain unsurpassed enlightenment. Abiding in both insight and skillful means, one should act with compassion for all sentient beings. The supreme state of omniscience, the very divinity itself, will be attained in no long time. All of these are merely names; they function only as conventional designations. Since there is no entity, there is no referent for distinctness. Whatever identity one uses to designate whatever phenomena, that [identity] does not exist in those [phenomena]. That is the very nature of phenomena: since a name is empty of being a name, a name does not exist within a name. Because all phenomena are nameless, a name is merely a designation. These phenomena, being unreal, function only as designations. If that which is designated does not exist, then what is the designation of emptiness? The forms seen by the eye are explained as the knowledge of reality. The world, possessed of false pride, posits this as "conventional truth." Where the conditions of an assembly are seen, the Guide becomes clearly manifest. The wise, having analyzed the ultimate, see the certainty of renown. That the eye does not see form and the mind does not perceive phenomena—this is the supreme truth, which no one in the world understands. This concludes the Purification of Entities, composed by the great master, the noble Nāgārjuna. [Translated by] the Indian abbot Vajrapāṇi and...

homonymཤེས་རབ is rendered “insight” here; the glossary also records discernment, wisdom, knowledge for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཤེས་རབ “insight” — In this text shes rab seems to mean primarily knowledge (defined as insight and understanding one has gained through studying and experience), specifically knowledge of the teachings of the Buddha in general, and of karm

periodལྷ → “god”. Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.

homonymལྷ is rendered “god” here; the glossary also records deva, divine being, God for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionལྷ “god” — In the most general sense the devas‍—the term is cognate with the English divine ‍—are a class of celestial beings who frequently appear in Buddhist texts, often at the head of the assemblies of nonhuman beings who atten

terminologyཆོས་ཉིད → “the nature of phenomena”. Not 'dharma-nature' in running prose; 84000 harmonises on 'the nature of phenomena'.

homonymཆོས་ཉིད is rendered “the nature of phenomena” here; the glossary also records true nature of things, suchness, basic nature for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionཆོས་ཉིད “the nature of phenomena” — The real nature, true quality, or condition of things. Throughout Buddhist discourse this term is used in two distinct ways. In one, it designates the relative nature that is either the essential characteristic of a spec

definitionསྟོང་པ་ཉིད “emptiness” — Emptiness denotes the ultimate nature of reality, the total absence of inherent existence and self-identity with respect to all phenomena. According to this view, all things and events are devoid of any independent, intr

terminologyམཁན་པོ → “abbot”. In colophons it is the Indian preceptor who authorised the translation; 'abbot' is wrong there. Use 'preceptor' in colophons.

homonymམཁན་པོ is rendered “abbot” here; the glossary also records upādhyāya, Preceptor for other contexts — the sense follows the passage, not a fixed default.

definitionམཁན་པོ “abbot” — A person’s particular preceptor within the monastic tradition. They must have at least ten years of standing in the saṅgha, and their role is to confer ordination, to tend to the student, and to provide all the necessary

adherencePinned rendering paraphrased here: god; the nature of phenomena

checkAutomatic check: bracketed gloss waived.

termཤེས་རབ → insight

termལྷ → god

termཆོས → dharma

termཆོས་ཉིད → the nature of phenomena

termསྟོང་པ་ཉིད → emptiness

termརིག་པ → knowledge

བོད་ཀྱི་ལོ་ཙཱ་#བ་རྨ་བན་ཆོས་འབར་གྱིས་བསྒྱུར་ཅིང་ཞུས་ཏེ་གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པའོ། ། #

Translated, edited, and finalized by the Tibetan translator Rma ban Chos ’bar.

Terminology used in this text (10)

Term	Rendering	×	Note
ཆོས	dharma	3	In Abhidharma lists (སྐྱེ་མཆེད, ཁམས) ཆོས is 'phenomena', the objects of mind — not the Buddhist teaching. Same word, two
རིག་པ	knowledge	2	'awareness' belongs to the Dzogchen (11th c. onward) usage; in earlier tantras and in རིག་པ་དང་མ་རིག་པ it is 'knowledge'
སངས་རྒྱས	buddha	1	The title, not a name. In Old Tibetan the spelling is usually སངས་རྒྱས already; the plural sense ('the buddhas') is carr
ཕྱག་འཚལ	homage	1
ཤེས་རབ	insight	1
ལྷ	god	1	Standard 84000 rendering is 'god'; 'deity' where the text contrasts classes of beings.
ཆོས་ཉིད	the nature of phenomena	1	Not 'dharma-nature' in running prose; 84000 harmonises on 'the nature of phenomena'.
སྟོང་པ་ཉིད	emptiness	1
དོན་དམ	ultimate	1
མཁན་པོ	abbot	1	In colophons it is the Indian preceptor who authorised the translation; 'abbot' is wrong there. Use 'preceptor' in colop

Colophon

Source: tengyur vol. 052_རྒྱུད་འགྲེལ།_ཞི.txt. Derge Kangyur/Tengyur e-text, Esukhia/Barom edition — public domain (mechanical reproduction).

Translation status: Not among 84000's published translations, and not in progress there. Translations published elsewhere have not been searched for, so one may exist. (source: 84000 catalogue + registry; checked 2026-11-10).

Set in Newsreader and EB Garamond; Tibetan in Noto Serif Tibetan; Chinese in Noto Serif SC.

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