Buddhism

==Buddhist texts==
{{Main|Buddhist texts}}
[[File:Nava Jetavana Temple - Shravasti - 013 First Council at Rajagaha (9241729223).jpg|thumb|A depiction of the supposed [[First Buddhist council]] at [[Rajgir]]. Communal recitation was one of the original ways of transmitting and preserving Early Buddhist texts.]]
Buddhism, like all Indian religions, was initially an [[oral tradition]] in ancient times.<ref name="lopez2004busc1"/> The Buddha's words, the early doctrines, concepts, and their traditional interpretations were orally transmitted from one generation to the next. The earliest oral texts were transmitted in Middle [[Indo-Aryan languages]] called [[Prakrits]], such as [[Pali]], through the use of communal recitation and other [[mnemonic]] techniques.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=39–41}} The first Buddhist canonical texts were likely written down in Sri Lanka, about 400 years after the Buddha died.<ref name="lopez2004busc1" /> The texts were part of the ''[[Tripiṭaka|Tripitakas]]'', and many versions appeared thereafter claiming to be the words of the Buddha. Scholarly Buddhist commentary texts, with named authors, appeared in India, around the 2nd century CE.<ref name="lopez2004busc1" /> These texts were written in Pali or Sanskrit, sometimes regional languages, as [[palm-leaf manuscript]]s, birch bark, painted scrolls, carved into temple walls, and later on paper.<ref name="lopez2004busc1">{{cite book|author=Donald Lopez |title=Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Pd-2IIzip4C |year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-190937-0 |pages=xi–xv}}</ref>

Unlike what the [[Bible]] is to [[Christianity]] and the [[Quran]] is to [[Islam]], but like all major ancient Indian religions, there is no consensus among the different Buddhist traditions as to what constitutes the scriptures or a common canon in Buddhism.<ref name="lopez2004busc1" /> The general belief among Buddhists is that the canonical corpus is vast.<ref>{{cite book|author=Donald Lopez |title=Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Pd-2IIzip4C |year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-190937-0 |pages=xii–xiii}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gethin|2008|p=xiv}}{{sfnp|Eliot|1935|p=16}} This corpus includes the ancient ''Sutras'' organised into ''[[Nikāya|Nikayas]]'' or ''[[Āgama (Buddhism)|Agamas]]'', itself the part of three basket of texts called the ''Tripitakas''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Donald Lopez |title=Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Pd-2IIzip4C |year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-190937-0 |pages=xiii–xvii}}</ref> Each Buddhist tradition has its own collection of texts, much of which is translation of ancient Pali and Sanskrit Buddhist texts of India. The [[Chinese Buddhist canon]], for example, includes 2184 texts in 55 volumes, while the [[Tibetan Buddhist canon|Tibetan canon]] comprises 1108 texts{{snd}}all claimed to have been spoken by the Buddha{{snd}}and another 3461 texts composed by Indian scholars revered in the Tibetan tradition.<ref name="lopez2004busc2">{{cite book|author=Donald Lopez |title=Buddhist Scriptures |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6Pd-2IIzip4C |year=2004|publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-14-190937-0 |pages=xi–xxv}}</ref> The Buddhist textual history is vast; over 40,000 manuscripts{{snd}}mostly Buddhist, some non-Buddhist{{snd}}were discovered in 1900 in the Dunhuang Chinese cave alone.<ref name="lopez2004busc2" />

===Early Buddhist texts===
{{Main|Early Buddhist Texts}}
[[File:Fragmentary Buddhist text - Gandhara birchbark scrolls (1st C), part 31 - BL Or. 14915.jpg|thumb|left|Gandhara birchbark scroll fragments ({{Circa|1st century}}) from British Library Collection]]
The Early Buddhist Texts refers to the literature which is considered by modern scholars to be the earliest Buddhist material. The first four [[Pali]] [[Nikayas]], and the corresponding Chinese [[Āgama (Buddhism)|Āgamas]] are generally considered to be among the earliest material.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=42–43}}{{sfnp|Sujato|Brahmali|2015|pp=9–10}}<ref>Mun-Keat Choong (1999). ''The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism,'' Motilal Banarsidass, p. 3. {{ISBN|978-81-208-1649-7}}.</ref> Apart from these, there are also fragmentary collections of EBT materials in other languages such as [[Sanskrit]], [[Saka language|Khotanese]], [[Classical Tibetan|Tibetan]] and [[Gāndhārī language|Gāndhārī]]. The modern study of [[pre-sectarian Buddhism|early Buddhism]] often relies on comparative scholarship using these various early Buddhist sources to identify parallel texts and common doctrinal content.<ref>e.g. "''Mun-keat, Choong (2000), The Fundamental Teachings of Early Buddhism''" and "''Analayo. Early Buddhist Meditation Studies (Volume 1)''"</ref> One feature of these early texts are literary structures which reflect oral transmission, such as widespread repetition.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Anālayo|author-link=Bhikkhu Analayo|year=2008|title=Reflections on Comparative Āgama Studies|url=https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/reflect-comp-agama.pdf|journal=Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal|publisher=Taipei: Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies|volume=21|pages=3–21|issn=1017-7132|access-date=6 September 2019|archive-date=12 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191212122454/https://www.buddhismuskunde.uni-hamburg.de/pdf/5-personen/analayo/reflect-comp-agama.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

===The Tripitakas===
{{Main|Tripiṭaka|Pali Canon}}
After the development of the different [[early Buddhist schools]], these schools began to develop their own textual collections, which were termed ''Tripiṭakas'' (Triple Baskets).{{sfnp|Warder|2000|pp=282–283}}

Many early ''Tripiṭakas'', like the Pāli ''Tipitaka'', were divided into three sections: ''[[Vinaya|Vinaya Pitaka]]'' (focuses on [[Monasticism|monastic rule]]), ''[[Sutta Pitaka]]'' (Buddhist discourses) and ''[[Abhidhamma|Abhidhamma Pitaka]],'' which contain expositions and commentaries on the doctrine. The [[Pāli Canon|Pāli ''Tipitaka'']] (also known as the Pali Canon) of the Theravada School constitutes the only complete collection of Buddhist texts in an [[Indo-Aryan languages|Indic language]] which has survived until today.<ref>Crosby, Kate (2013). ''Theravada Buddhism: Continuity, Diversity, and Identity''. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 2. {{ISBN|978-1-4051-8906-4}}</ref> However, many ''Sutras'', ''Vinayas'' and ''Abhidharma'' works from other schools survive in Chinese translation, as part of the Chinese Buddhist Canon. According to some sources, some early schools of Buddhism had five or seven ''pitakas''.{{sfnp|Skilling|1992|p=114}}

===Mahāyāna texts===
{{Main|Mahayana sutras}}
[[File:Korea-Haeinsa-Tripitaka Koreana-01.jpg|thumb|alt=Tripiṭaka Koreana in South Korea, over 81,000 wood printing blocks stored in racks|The [[Tripitaka Koreana|Tripiṭaka Koreana]] in South Korea, an edition of the [[Chinese Buddhist canon]] carved and preserved in over 81,000 wood printing blocks]]

The [[Mahayana sutras|Mahāyāna sūtras]] are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures that the [[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] Buddhist tradition holds are original teachings of [[Gautama Buddha|the Buddha]]. Modern historians generally hold that the first of these texts were composed probably around the 1st century BCE or 1st century CE.<ref name="Buddhism 2004, page 293">''Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism'' (2004): p. 293</ref>{{sfnp|Hirakawa|1993|p=252}}{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|p=494}} In Mahāyāna, these texts are generally given greater authority than the early Āgamas and Abhidharma literature, which are called "[[Śrāvakayāna]]" or "[[Hinayana]]" to distinguish them from Mahāyāna sūtras.<ref>[[Jan Nattier|Nattier, Jan]] (2003), ''A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to The Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparipṛcchā)'', [[University of Hawaii Press]], pp. 172–174, {{ISBN|978-0-8248-3003-8}}</ref> Mahāyāna traditions mainly see these different classes of texts as being designed for different types of persons, with different levels of spiritual understanding. The Mahāyāna sūtras are mainly seen as being for those of "greater" capacity.<ref>[[Kalu Rinpoche|Rinpoche, Kalu]] (1995), ''Profound Buddhism From Hinayana To Vajrayana'', Clearpoint Press. p. 15. {{ISBN|978-0-9630371-5-2}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=this claim needs a non-sectarian source|date=September 2019}} Mahāyāna also has a very large literature of philosophical and exegetical texts. These are often called [[Shastras|''śāstra'']] (treatises) or ''vrittis'' (commentaries). Some of this literature was also written in verse form (''karikās''), the most famous of which is the ''[[Mulamadhyamakakarika|Mūlamadhyamika-karikā]]'' (Root Verses on the Middle Way) by [[Nagarjuna]], the foundational text of the [[Madhyamika]] school.

===Tantric texts===
{{Main|Tantras (Buddhism)}}During the [[Gupta Empire]], a new class of Buddhist sacred literature began to develop, which are called the [[Tantras (Buddhism)|Tantras]].<ref>Wayman, Alex  (2008). ''The Buddhist Tantras: Light on Indo-Tibetan Esotericism.'' Routledge. p. 23.</ref> By the 8th century, the tantric tradition was very influential in India and beyond. Besides drawing on a [[Mahāyāna]] Buddhist framework, these texts also borrowed deities and material from other Indian religious traditions, such as the [[Śaiva]] and [[Pancharatra]] traditions, local god/goddess cults, and local spirit worship (such as [[yaksha]] or [[nāga]] spirits).<ref>Sørensen, Henrik H; Payne, Richard K; Orzech, Charles D. (ed.) (2010). ''Esoteric Buddhism and the Tantras,'' ''in East Asia''. Handbook of Oriental Studies. p. 20.</ref><ref>Grey, David B.; Tantra and the Tantric Traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism</ref>

Some features of these texts include the widespread use of mantras, meditation on the [[Lung (Tibetan Buddhism)#Subtle Body|subtle body]], worship of [[fierce deities]], and [[antinomian]] and [[wikt:transgressive|transgressive]] practices such as ingesting [[Alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] and performing sexual rituals.{{sfnp|Williams|Tribe|Wynne|2012|loc=chapter 7}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Wallis |first=Christopher |date=2016 |title=The Tantric Age: A Comparison Of Shaiva And Buddhist Tantra}}{{full citation needed|date=October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Dalton |first=J. |title=A Crisis of Doxography: How Tibetans Organized Tantra During the 8th–12th Centuries |journal=Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies |volume=28 |issue=1 |date=2005 |pages=115–181}}</ref>