A front section of a Tibetan translation of a sūtra or tantra that sets forth the first four of the five “excellences” (phun sum tshogs pa lnga) that make up the introductory scene-setting (aka narrative context) of the discourse: the excellence of the time, teacher, location, and audience. This begins with “Thus have I heard” and ends with the description of the audience. For example, the Heart of Wisdom Sūtra (shes rab snying po'i mdo) begins:

Thus have I heard at one time. The Transcendent Victor was residing on Rājagṛha Vulture Peak with a great assembly of monks and a great assembly of bodhisattvas.