Buddhism Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===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. Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page