Scriptures/ sacred texts
They are various texts in Buddhism, some writings are considered to be canonical and others non-canonical. The Sanskrit and Tripitaka (Pail) are believed to have been metaphors for the words of Buddha or his actually words.
The Tripitaka The Tripitaka (Pail) are the oldest writings in Buddhism. They were first passed down orally but were later written down in the third century BCE. The word Tripitaka means three baskets because of the way the teachings were written down. The teaching were written down in paper made out of long and narrow leafs that were sown together. These pieces of paper were stored in large baskets which is equivalent to forty five volumes in modern society. The baskets were divided to store certain information. The Discipline Basket (Vinaya Pitaka) is where the rules and obligations for the monks and nuns are. It tells them what type of relationship they must have with laity. The Discourse Basket (Sutra Pitaka), is the second basket, in which Buddha’s sermons are. His sermons contain the moral behavior a Buddhist should follow and patterns of Theology. The third basket contains the Special Teaching (Abhidharma Pitaka), it contains miscellaneous collections of poems and writing to Buddha. The Tripitaka are the sole of the canonical text. The Sutras The Mahayana' s have a deep respect for the Tripitaka and added a total of 2184 scared writing. These added scared writing are known as the Sutras and written around the second century BCE between the development of the Theravada and Mahayana. There were a lot of many new writing but only a few are key to the thought and development of the Mahayana. The important sutra will be the Lotus Sutra because it holds Buddha’s teachings own finding your own Buddha-nature. Nagarjuna The Nagarjuna are often overlooked but he organized the key concepts of Buddhism. He founded a Mahayana school and showed that things come from other things. That teaching shows that nothing in the earth is permanent and things are always changes. The Texts of Vajrayana Buddhism The Vajrayana Buddhism is the literature of Buddhism. It draws upon the Tripitaka and the Mahayana Sutras especially those of Wisdom and Tantric texts. There are two books written that are known in the Western Hemisphere. The first one is Great Stages of Enlightenment, by Tsongkhapa, it demonstrates the importance of ethical importance to live a Tantric life. The second one is Tibetan Book of the Dead, which shows the steps a person goes through when they are dying. |
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