Sanskrit Buddhist literature refers to Buddhist texts composed either in classical Sanskrit, or in a register that has been called "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit", or a mixture of the two. Several non-Mah?y?na Nik?yas appear to have kept their canons in Sanskrit, most prominent among which was the Sarv?stiv?da. The Mah?y?na S?tras are also in Sanskrit, with less classical registers prevalent in the g?th? portions. Buddhist Tantras too are written in Sanskrit, sometimes interspersed with Apabhram?a, and often containing notable irregularities in grammar and meter (traditionally ascribed to the esoteric nature of the texts).
Besides texts considered "Word of the Buddha" (Buddhavacana) by the traditions that transmitted them, Buddhist authors have composed treatises and literary works in Sanskrit dealing with Buddhist philosophy, logic, etc., but also with more worldly topics such as gemology, erotics, literary aesthetics, etc.
Sanskrit Buddhist literature is therefore vast and varied, despite the loss of a significant amount of texts. A large number of works survive only in Tibetan or Chinese translations.
Video Sanskrit Buddhist literature
Sanskrit in the Buddhist Traditions
Traditional accounts vastly vary in identifying the language in which the Buddha taught, as well as in respect to the history of the non-Mah?y?na Nik?yas. While the Therav?da tradition usually upholds that the Buddha taught exclusively in the language of Magadha, other accounts offer a very different perspective on the languages of the early non-Mah?y?na schools, and in these accounts Sanskrit plays a central role. As for the Mah?y?na tradition, Sanskrit is a key language invested with esoteric and symbolic significance in both S?tras and Tantras. Sanskrit grammarians and commentators justify some irregular usages in the Buddhavacana either as "Buddhist usage" (bauddhaprayoga) or by resorting to the concept of ?r?a, i.e. not unlike their non-Buddhist contemporaries. It should be understood that different types of Sanskrit texts employ different registers, with different degrees of conformity to standardized rules of grammar: in this, Buddhist texts are in no way unique, and thus terms like "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit" should perhaps be used with some caution and contextual care.
According to some contemporary hypotheses, while the earliest Buddhist texts were orally composed and transmitted in Middle Indo-Aryan languages called Prakrits; Sanskrit gradually became the main language of Buddhist scriptures and scholasticism in India mirroring its rise as political and literary lingua franca of the Indian subcontinent, perhaps reflecting an increased need for elite patronage. This process, it is proposed, began with the north-western Indian Buddhists of the Kushan empire (CE 30-375). The Sarv?stiv?din Pi?akas were mostly transmitted in Sanskrit and many Mah?y?na s?tras such as the Prajñ?p?ramit? s?tra were composed in different registers of Sanskrit. The Buddhist use of classical Sanskrit for literary purposes possibly began with Asvagho?a (c. 100 CE), author of the Buddhacarita and one of the earliest Sanskrit dramatists. Buddhist thinkers like N?g?rjuna, ?ryadeva, Asa?ga, Vasubandhu, Dign?ga, Sthiramati, Dharmak?rti, Bh?viveka, Candrak?rti, etc., and also wrote in Sanskrit.
Readers should be aware that contemporary reconstructions are hypotheses, which differ from traditional accounts due to significantly divergent presuppositions about the nature of a Buddha, the nature of language, and the nature of history itself. Furthermore, both contemporary reconstructions and traditional accounts contain a plurality of voices and perspectives on history, relying on different and usually very fragmentary data - especially when it comes to such factual details as which language or languages the Buddha may have taught in. While we have here offered a tentative and small sample of views and hypotheses, this is by no means comprehensive, nor conclusive, and should be taken as a starting point for further reflection rather than as a definitive account of the distant Buddhist past.
The decline of Buddhism in India saw the loss of a large number of Sanskrit Buddhist texts. The use of Sanskrit as a sacred language survives in the Newar Buddhism of Nepal and arguably the vast majority of Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts have been preserved by this tradition.
Most Buddhist traditions have a relation to Sanskrit, and it could be argued that Sanskrit is in some sense the only pan-Buddhist language. The Therav?da tradition has relied heavily on Sanskrit grammar and lexicography; Pali commentaries and treatises often quote from Sanskrit grammars, and occasionally reproduce Sanskrit verses, while the influence of Sanskrit on South-East Asian languages and literature is omnipresent and easily perceptible. Within East-Asian Buddhism, mantras and dh?ra.n?s are still recited in Sanskrit, and the same is of course true of Him?layan Buddhism, where the Tibetan tradition retained Sanskrit scholarship well into the 20th and 21st century (with a further revival thanks to the Tibetan community in exile). The Newar tradition most prominently employs Sanskrit for all ritual purposes, and has produced a number of respected Sanskritists.
Maps Sanskrit Buddhist literature
Partial list Buddhist texts extant in Sanskrit
Early s?tra and Agamas
There is no complete Sanskrit copy of any of the Agamas, many fragments have been found, especially in the Tarim Basin and the city of Turfan.
- Sarv?stiv?da D?rgha ?gama (fragmentary)
- Madhyama ?gama (fragmentary)
- Sarv?stiv?da Sa?yukta ?gama (fragmentary)
- Ekottara ?gama (fragmentary)
- Ud?navarga
- Dharmapada
- S?tra Nipata (fragmentary)
- ??listamba S?tra (mostly extant, fully reconstructed by modern scholarship)
- Ajitasena S?tra (a 'proto-mahayana' text)
Prajñ?p?ramit? (perfection of wisdom) sutras
- ?atas?hasrik? - 100000 lines
- Pañcavi??atis?hasrik? - 25000 lines
- A??ada?as?hasrik? - 18000 lines (fragments)
- Da?as?hasrik? - 10,000 (fragments)
- A?tasahasrika - 8000 lines
- Adhyardhas?hasrik? - 2500 lines
- Ratnagunasañcayag?th?
- Advaya?atik?
- Suvikr?ntivikr?miparipr?cch?
- Pañca?atik? - 500 lines
- Vajracchedik? Prajñ?p?ramit? S?tra-300 lines
- Prajñ?p?ramit? H?daya S?tra
Avatamsaka (flower ornament) sutras
- Avatamsaka Sutra
- Ga??avy?ha S?tra
- Da?abh?mikas?tra
Ratnakuta sutras (Heap of Jewels)
- K??yapaparivarta
- Sukh?vat?vy?ha (larger) aka S?tra of the Land of Bliss
- Sukhavativyuha (smaller) aka S?tra of the Land of Bliss
- Bhaisajyaguruvaiduryaprabharaja Sutra
- Nairatmyapariprccha sutra
- Aparimitayurjnana sutra
- Rastrapalaparip?chha sutra
- Sagarnagarajaparip?ccha sutra
- Triskandhanama Mahayana sutra
- Vimalak?rti Nirde?a S?tra
Other Mahayana sutras
- Saddharma Pundarika Sutra - Lotus sutra
- La?k?vat?ra S?tra
- Samadhiraja Sutra
- Suvar?aprabh?sa S?tra - Golden Light Sutra
- K?ra??avy?has?tra
- Saddharma-Sm?tyupasth?na S?tra - "Fine-dharma establishing of mindfulness"
- Pratyutpannabuddhasammukh?va??hitasam?dhi S?tra, 'Sam?dhi of the Direct Encounter with Buddhas of the Present'
Vinaya (discipline, monastic regulations)
- Bodhisattva Pr?timok?a Sutra
- Bhiksu-karmavakya
- Bhiksuni-vinaya
- Mulasarvastivada-vinayavastu
- Pratimoksa sutra of Mulasarvastivada
- Pratimoksa sutra of Mahasanghika
- Pratimoksa sutra of Sarvastivada
- Vinaya sutra of Gunaprabha
- Vinaya viniscaya Upalipariprccha sutra
Abhidharma
- Arthaviniscaya Sutra
- Abhidharma-kosa-bhasya of Vasubandhu
- Abhidharma-samuccaya of Asanga
- Abhidharma-samuccaya-bhasya
- Jnanaprasthan shastra - Arya Katyayaniputra (fragmentary)
- Abhidharmamrita-Ghosaka
- Satyasiddhisastra of Haribhadra
- Prajnaptipada - Maudgalyayana / Maha Katyayana
- Sputarthabhidharmakosavyakhya of Yasomitra
Dharani - several collections from Nepal
- Aparimitayur Dharani
Avadana
- Avadanasataka (100 stories)
- Kalpadrumavadanamala (26 stories)
- Asokavadanamala
- Vicitrakarnika Avadanamala (32 stories)
- Divyavadana (38 stories)
- Vrata Avadana (3 stories)
- Bhadrakalpa Avadana (34 stories)
- Mahavastu Avadana
- Dvavimsatya Avadana (22 stories)
- Sugata Avadana
- Ratnamala Avadana (12 stories)
- Avadanakalpalata (108 stories)
- Bodhisattvavadana
- Uposadhavadana
- Suchandravadana
- Lalitavistara S?tra
- Kumaralata's Kalpanamanditika (fragmentary, prose and verse)
Jataka
- J?takam?l? of ?rya?ura
- J?takam?l? of Haribhatta
Stotra
- Prajñ?p?ramit?-stotra attributed to R?hulabhadra
- Dharmadhatu-stava (praise to the sphere of reality) and other works attributed to Nagarjuna
- The Satapañcasatka and the Catusataka of Mat?ceta
- Catusataka of Aryadeva
Shastra (treatise or commentary)
- Prajnaparamita shastras
- Madhyamaka shastras
- M?lamadhyamakak?rik? and other works by Nagarjuna
- Cary?mel?pakaprad?pa (Lamp That Integrates the Practices) by Aryadeva
- ?ik??samuccaya-k?rik? by Shantideva
- Madhyamak?vat?ra (Entering the Middle Way) by Candrak?rti
- Madhyamakah?daya-K?rik? by Bh?viveka
- Yogacara shastras
- Yogacarabhumi-sastra
- Abhisamayalankara
- Mah?y?nas?tr?lamk?rak?rik?
- Ratnagotravibh?ga
- Madhyanta-vibhaga-karika
- Mahayana-sutra-alamkara-karika
- Trisvabh?va-nirde?a by Vasubandhu
- Vim?atik?vijñaptim?trat?siddhi by Vasubandhu
- Tri??ik?-vijñaptim?trat? by Vasubandhu
- Pramana shastras
- Seven Treatises on Valid Cognition by Dharmakirti
- Prasannapad? (Clear Words) by Candrak?rti
- Nirdesh shastras
Tantra
- Kriya tantras
- Carya tantras
- Yoga tantras
- Anuttarayoga Tantra
- Sahajayana texts ("Vehicle of the Natural" or "Easy Vehicle")
- Ritual Vrata texts
- Sadhana texts
Other (practice manuals, philosophical treatises, etc.)
- Bodhisattvacary?vat?ra (the way of the Bodhisattva) by Shantideva
- Bh?van?krama (Stages of meditation) by Kamalashila
Mahakavya - Epic Poetry
- Asvaghosa's Buddhacarita (partial in Sanskrit, complete in Chinese)
- Asvaghosa's Saundarananda Mahakavya
- Maitreyavyakarana (prophecy of Maitreya) of Aryacandra (fragmentary)
Sanskrit Drama
- Asvaghosha's Sariputra-Prakarana (partial, ninth and last chapters)
See also
- Sanskrit literature
- Buddhist texts
- Pali literature
Sources
External links
- Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon
Source of article : Wikipedia
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