See Mahayana Sutras for a list of sutras categorised by source, without discussion. Buddhist texts - Perfection of Wisdom Texts. Deal with prajñā (wisdom or insight). Wisdom in this context means the ability to see Reality as it truly is. Do not contain an elaborate philosophical argument, but simply try to point to the true nature of reality, especially through the use of paradox. The basic premise is a radical non-dualism, in which every, and any dichotomist way of seeing things are denied: so p ...

See also:

Buddhist texts, Buddhist texts - Canonical texts, Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts, Buddhist texts - Texts of the Nikaya Schools, Buddhist texts - Vinaya, Buddhist texts - Sutta, Buddhist texts - Abhidharma, Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts, Buddhist texts - Mahayana texts, Buddhist texts - Perfection of Wisdom Texts, Buddhist texts - Saddharma-pundarika, Buddhist texts - Pure Land Sutras, Buddhist texts - The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra, Buddhist texts - Samadhi Sutras, Buddhist texts - Confession Sutras, Buddhist texts - The Avatamsaka Sutra, Buddhist texts - Third Turning Sutras, Buddhist texts - Tathagatagarbha class sutras, Buddhist texts - Collected Sutras, Buddhist texts - Transmigration Sutras, Buddhist texts - Discipline Sutras, Buddhist texts - Sutras Devoted to Individual Figures, Buddhist texts - Proto-Mahayana Sutras, Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts, Buddhist texts - References, Buddhist texts - Vajrayana Texts, Buddhist texts - Buddhist tantras, Buddhist texts - Other products of the Vajrayana literature

Read more here: » Buddhist texts: Encyclopedia II - Buddhist texts - Mahayana texts

See also:

Buddhist texts, Buddhist texts - Canonical texts, Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts, Buddhist texts - Texts of the Nikaya Schools, Buddhist texts - Vinaya, Buddhist texts - Sutta, Buddhist texts - Abhidharma, Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts, Buddhist texts - Mahayana texts, Buddhist texts - Perfection of Wisdom Texts, Buddhist texts - Saddharma-pundarika, Buddhist texts - Pure Land Sutras, Buddhist texts - The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra, Buddhist texts - Samadhi Sutras, Buddhist texts - Confession Sutras, Buddhist texts - The Avatamsaka Sutra, Buddhist texts - Third Turning Sutras, Buddhist texts - Tathagatagarbha class sutras, Buddhist texts - Collected Sutras, Buddhist texts - Transmigration Sutras, Buddhist texts - Discipline Sutras, Buddhist texts - Sutras Devoted to Individual Figures, Buddhist texts - Proto-Mahayana Sutras, Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts, Buddhist texts - References, Buddhist texts - Vajrayana Texts, Buddhist texts - Buddhist tantras, Buddhist texts - Other products of the Vajrayana literature

Read more here: » Buddhist texts: Encyclopedia II - Buddhist texts - Vajrayana Texts

These are, in some way or other, texts associated with Gautama, the historical Buddha. Different schools, however, are not always in agreement about which texts are canonical, and the various recensions of the Buddhist Canon contain widely varying numbers and types of texts. Broadly speaking, the texts come in three types: sutras (i.e. discourses), vinaya (relating to the rules of monastic discipline), and abhidharma (analytical texts). Together these three make up what is known in Sanskrit as the Tripitaka and in Pali as the Tipitaka. Both ...

See also:

Buddhist texts, Buddhist texts - Canonical texts, Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts, Buddhist texts - Texts of the Nikaya Schools, Buddhist texts - Vinaya, Buddhist texts - Sutta, Buddhist texts - Abhidharma, Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts, Buddhist texts - Mahayana texts, Buddhist texts - Perfection of Wisdom Texts, Buddhist texts - Saddharma-pundarika, Buddhist texts - Pure Land Sutras, Buddhist texts - The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra, Buddhist texts - Samadhi Sutras, Buddhist texts - Confession Sutras, Buddhist texts - The Avatamsaka Sutra, Buddhist texts - Third Turning Sutras, Buddhist texts - Tathagatagarbha class sutras, Buddhist texts - Collected Sutras, Buddhist texts - Transmigration Sutras, Buddhist texts - Discipline Sutras, Buddhist texts - Sutras Devoted to Individual Figures, Buddhist texts - Proto-Mahayana Sutras, Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts, Buddhist texts - References, Buddhist texts - Vajrayana Texts, Buddhist texts - Buddhist tantras, Buddhist texts - Other products of the Vajrayana literature

Read more here: » Buddhist texts: Encyclopedia II - Buddhist texts - Canonical texts

There are a great variety of Buddhist texts. Buddhists place varying value on them: attitudes range from worship of the text itself, to dismissal of some texts as falsification of the ineffable truth. They therefore cannot be called "scripture" in the sense of other religions. The texts can be categorized in a number of ways, but the most fundamental division is that between canonical and non-canonical texts. The former, also called the Sutras (Sanskrit) or Suttas (Pali), are held to be, literally or metaphoricall ...

Including:

• Buddhist texts - Canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Texts of the Nikaya Schools
• Buddhist texts - Vinaya
• Buddhist texts - Sutta
• Buddhist texts - Abhidharma
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Mahayana texts
• Buddhist texts - Perfection of Wisdom Texts
• Buddhist texts - Saddharma-pundarika
• Buddhist texts - Pure Land Sutras
• Buddhist texts - The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra
• Buddhist texts - Samadhi Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Confession Sutras
• Buddhist texts - The Avatamsaka Sutra
• Buddhist texts - Third Turning Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Tathagatagarbha class sutras
• Buddhist texts - Collected Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Transmigration Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Discipline Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Sutras Devoted to Individual Figures
• Buddhist texts - Proto-Mahayana Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - References
• Buddhist texts - Vajrayana Texts
• Buddhist texts - Buddhist tantras
• Buddhist texts - Other products of the Vajrayana literature

Read more here: » Buddhist texts: Encyclopedia - Buddhist texts

There are a great variety of Buddhist texts. Buddhists place varying value on them: attitudes range from worship of the text itself, to dismissal of some texts as falsification of the ineffable truth. They therefore cannot be called "scripture" in the sense of other religions. The texts can be categorized in a number of ways, but the most fundamental division is that between canonical and non-canonical texts. The former, also called the Sutras (Sanskrit) or Suttas (Pali), are held to be, literally or metaphoricall ...

Including:

• Buddhist texts - Canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Texts of the Nikaya Schools
• Buddhist texts - Sutta
• Buddhist texts - Abhidharma
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Mahayana texts
• Buddhist texts - Perfection of Wisdom Texts
• Buddhist texts - Saddharma-pundarika
• Buddhist texts - Pure Land Sutras
• Buddhist texts - The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra
• Buddhist texts - Samadhi Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Confession Sutras
• Buddhist texts - The Avatamsaka Sutra
• Buddhist texts - Third Turning Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Tathagatagarbha class sutras
• Buddhist texts - Collected Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Transmigration Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Discipline Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Sutras Devoted to Individual Figures
• Buddhist texts - Proto-Mahayana Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - References
• Buddhist texts - Vajrayana Texts
• Buddhist texts - Buddhist tantras
• Buddhist texts - Other products of the Vajrayana literature

Read more here: » Buddhist texts

Mahāyāna (literally "great vehicle"; from the Indian language of Sanskrit. Chinese: 大乘, Dàshèng; Japanese: 大乗, Daijō; Vietnamese: Đại Thừa; Korean:대승, Dae-seung) is one of the major branches of Buddhism. (See Yana for the classification of Buddhism into vehicles, and Schools of Buddhism for further information.) Mahayana originated in the Indian subcontinent, and some of the areas in which it is practiced today are India, China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan. From Mahayana d ...

Including:

• Mahayana - Doctrine
• Mahayana - Universalism
• Mahayana - Enlightened wisdom
• Mahayana - Compassion
• Mahayana - Salvation
• Mahayana - Headline text
• Mahayana - Origins
• Mahayana - Epigraphical evidence
• Mahayana - Scriptures
• Mahayana - The 4th Buddhist Council
• Mahayana - Expansion 1st c.CE–10th c.CE
• Mahayana - Bibliography
• Mahayana - Older works

Read more here: » Mahayana: Encyclopedia - Mahayana

For the Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, a text of East Asian Mahayana Buddhism, see Nirvana Sutra. The Mahaparinibbana Sutta is a Buddhist sutra in the Digha Nikaya of the Tripitaka. It concerns the end of Gautama Buddha's life. ...

Read more here: » Mahaparinibbana Sutta: Encyclopedia - Mahaparinibbana Sutta

Zhi Yao (Ch:支曜) was a Kushan Buddhist monk of Yuezhi ethnicity who was involved with the translation of Buddhist texts into Chinese around 185 CE. His origin is described in his adopted Chinese name by the prefix Zhi (Ch:支), abbreviation of Yuezhi (Ch:月支). Zhi Yao was a student of Lokaksema. He translated in particular a Mahayana text: The Sutra on the Completion of Brightness (Ch:� ...

Read more here: » Zhi Yao: Encyclopedia - Zhi Yao

The Amitabha Sutra, or Shorter Sukhavativyuha Sutra (Chn: 佛說阿彌陀經), is a Mahayana Buddhist text associated with Pure Land Buddhism. It was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese by Kumarajiva in the beginning of the 5th century. The text describes the Pure Land and the beings that reside there, including Amitabha, and goes on to explain what one must do in order to be reborn there. See also. Infinite Life Sutra (Longer Pure Land Sutra) < ...

Read more here: » Amitabha Sutra: Encyclopedia - Amitabha Sutra

A Mokugyo (in Japanese language) (木魚, Chn: Mu-Yü), commonly known as a Wooden Fish, is a wooden percussion instrument used by monks ordained in the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. It is used during rituals usually involving recitation of sutras, mantras, or other Buddhist texts. The Mokugyo is mainly used by Buddhist disciples in China, Japan and Korea. In Zen/Ch'an Buddhism, it serves as a signal to start and end a meditation session, and in Pure Land Buddhism, it is used to chant the name of Amitabha Buddha. The Taoist clergy ha ...

Including:

• Mokugyo - Types of Mokugyo
• Mokugyo - History

Read more here: » Mokugyo: Encyclopedia - Mokugyo

Ašvaghosa (?80-?150 CE) was an Indian philosopher-poet, born in Saketa in Central India. He is believed to have been the first Sanskrit dramatist, and is considered the greatest Indian poet before Kalidasa. He was first a student of non-Buddhist teaching, but upon losing an argument with Parshva converted to Buddhism. He became a religious adviser to the Kushan king Kanishka. He is said to be the author of the influential Buddhist text Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana. He also wrote a life of the Buddha called Buddhac ...

Read more here: » Asvaghosa: Encyclopedia - Asvaghosa

Yang Xuanzhi (Chinese:楊衒之) was a Chinese writer and translator of Mahayana Buddhist texts into the Chinese language, during the 6th century, under the Northern Wei Dynasty. He wrote "Stories About Buddhist Temples in Luoyang" (Chinese: 洛陽伽藍記; pinyin: Luòyáng Qiélánjì) in 547. Yang Xuanzhi relates the first introduction of Buddhism to China around 70 CE: "The establishment of the Baima Temple (Temple of the White Horse) by Emperor Ming (58-75 CE) of the Han marked the introduction of B ...

Read more here: » Yang Xuanzhi: Encyclopedia - Yang Xuanzhi

Perfection of Wisdom is a translation of the Sanskrit term prajñā pāramitā (Hanzi. 般若波羅蜜多, Pinyin. bān ruò bō luó mì duō, Jp. hannya-haramita), which is one of the aspects of a bodhisattva's personality called the paramitas. The Perfection of Wisdom Sutras or Prajñāparamitā Sutras are a genre of Mahayana Buddhist scriptures dealing with the subject of the Perfection of Wisdom. The term Prajñāparamitā alone never refers to a specific text, but always to the class of ...

Including:

• Perfection of Wisdom - History
• Perfection of Wisdom - Teachings
• Perfection of Wisdom - Selected English translations of Perfection of Wisdom sutras

Read more here: » Perfection of Wisdom: Encyclopedia - Perfection of Wisdom

The Mahayana scriptures were probably set in writing around the 1st century BCE. Some of them, such as the Perfection of Wisdom sutras, are presented as actual sermons of the Buddha had been hidden. By some accounts, these sermons were passed on by the oral tradition as with other sutras, but other accounts state that they were hidden and then revealed several centuries later by some mythological route. In addition to sutras, some Ma ...

See also:

Mahayana, Mahayana - Doctrine, Mahayana - Universalism, Mahayana - Enlightened wisdom, Mahayana - Compassion, Mahayana - Salvation, Mahayana - Headline text, Mahayana - Origins, Mahayana - Epigraphical evidence, Mahayana - Scriptures, Mahayana - The 4th Buddhist Council, Mahayana - Expansion 1st c.CE–10th c.CE, Mahayana - Bibliography, Mahayana - Older works

Read more here: » Mahayana: Encyclopedia II - Mahayana - Headline text

While tantra and esoterism distinguish Vajrayana Buddhism, it is, from the Tibetan Buddhist point of view, nonetheless primarily a form of Mahayana Buddhism. Sutras important to Mahayana are generally important to Vajrayana, although Vajrayana adds some of its own (see Buddhist texts, list of sutras, Tibetan Buddhist canon). The importance of bodhisattvas and a pantheon of deities in Mahayana carries over to Vajrayana, as well as the perspective th ...

See also:

Vajrayana, Vajrayana - Advantages of Vajrayana, Vajrayana - Tantra techniques, Vajrayana - Esoteric Transmission Initiation, Vajrayana - Relationship with Mahayana, Vajrayana - History of Vajrayana, Vajrayana - India, Vajrayana - China, Vajrayana - Tibet and other Himalayan kingdoms, Vajrayana - Japan, Vajrayana - Indonesia and Malaysia, Vajrayana - Mongolia

Read more here: » Vajrayana: Encyclopedia II - Vajrayana - Relationship with Mahayana

Traditionally, the two vehicles in Mahayana Buddhism consist of sravakayana and pratekyabuddhayana. These in turn refer to doctrines and practices that supposedly aim at becoming two of the three types of Buddha. Mahayana Buddhists take a vow to become the third type, namely bodhisattvas. Therefore Mahayana Buddhist texts sometimes use terms like "followers of the two vehicles" to refer to B ...

See also:

Yana Buddhism, Yana Buddhism - Origins of -yana: Vehicles and Paths, Yana Buddhism - The one yana, Yana Buddhism - The two yanas, Yana Buddhism - The three yanas, Yana Buddhism - The four yanas, Yana Buddhism - The five yanas, Yana Buddhism - The six yanas, Yana Buddhism - The nine yanas, Yana Buddhism - The twelve yanas

Read more here: » Yana Buddhism: Encyclopedia II - Yana Buddhism - The two yanas

Cultural exchanges also flourished, encouraging the development of Greco-Buddhism, a fusion of Hellenistic and Buddhist cultural elements, that was to expand into central and northern Asia as Mahayana Buddhism. Kanishka is renowned in Buddhist tradition for having convened a great Buddhist council in Kashmir. This council is attributed with having marked the official beginning of the pantheistic Mahayana Buddhism and its schism with Nikaya Buddhism. Kanishka also had the original Gandhari vernacular, or Prakrit, Mahayana Buddhist text ...

See also:

Kushan Empire, Kushan Empire - Origins, Kushan Empire - A multi-cultural Empire, Kushan Empire - Heraios 1-30 CE, Kushan Empire - Kujula Kadphises 30-80 CE, Kushan Empire - Vima Taktu 80-105 CE, Kushan Empire - Vima Kadphises 105-127 CE, Kushan Empire - Kanishka I 127-147 CE, Kushan Empire - The Kushans and Buddhism, Kushan Empire - Depiction of Kushan devotees in the art of Gandhara, Kushan Empire - Contacts with Rome, Kushan Empire - Contacts with China, Kushan Empire - Decline, Kushan Empire - Main Kushan rulers

Read more here: » Kushan Empire: Encyclopedia II - Kushan Empire - The Kushans and Buddhism

Concerning the distinctions between Hinayana and Theravada, Dr. Rahula, a prominent buddhist teacher, says the following: "Between the 1st Century B.C. to the 1st Century A.D., the two terms Mahayana and Hinayana appeared in the Saddharma Pundarika Sutra or the Sutra of the Lotus of the Good Law. About the 2nd Century A.D. Mahayana became clearly defined. Nagarjuna developed the Mahayana philosophy of Sunyata and proved that everything is Void in a small text called Madhyamika-karika. About the 4th Century, there were ...

See also:

Hinayana, Hinayana - In brief, Hinayana - Three types of Buddha, Hinayana - Origins of Hinayana: Vehicles and Paths, Hinayana - Hinayana as a pejorative, Hinayana - Hinayana and Theravada, Hinayana - Etymology, Hinayana - Bibliography

Read more here: » Hinayana: Encyclopedia II - Hinayana - Hinayana and Theravada

Lotus Sutra (saddharma-pundarika): An early Mahayana Buddhist text (composed between 100 BCE and 200 CE) which emphasizes the means-to-ends ability (upaya).

 (See also: Lotus Sutra, Eastern Philosophy, Body Mind and Soul)

Lankavatra Sutra: 4th century CE Mahayana Buddhist text of the Yogacara school which is most noted for its lengthy discussion of nirvana in Chapter 8.

 (See also: Lankavatra Sutra, Eastern Philosophy, Body Mind and Soul)