This article examines the Tibetan term dgos 'brel which is used to describe the interpretation of a text as a whole with regard to its uses and topics. Broido focuses on dgos 'brel within tantric literature and notes the differences between dgos 'brel and a similar term, bshad thabs. At the end of the article, two short pieces on dgos 'brel are reproduced, one in Tibetan and the other in Sanskrit and Tibetan. (Ben Deitle 2006-01-25)