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Sanskrit Buddhist literature refers toBuddhist texts composed either inclassical Sanskrit, or in aregister that has been called "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit" (also known as "Buddhistic Sanskrit" and "Mixed Sanskrit"), or a mixture of these two.[1][2] Several non-MahāyānaNikāyas appear to have kept their canons in Sanskrit, the most prominent being theSarvāstivāda school.[3] ManyMahāyāna Sūtras andśāstras also survive in Buddhistic Sanskrit or in standard Sanskrit.[2]
During the IndianTantric Age (8th to the 14th century), numerousBuddhist Tantras were written in Sanskrit, sometimes interspersed with local languages likeApabhramśa, and often containing notable irregularities in grammar and meter.[4]
Indian Buddhist authors also composedtreatises and other Sanskrit literary works onBuddhist philosophy,logic-epistemology,jatakas,epic poetry and other topics. Sanskrit Buddhist literature is therefore vast and varied, despite the loss of a significant amount of texts. While a large number of works survive only inTibetan andChinese translations, many Sanskritmanuscripts of important Buddhist Sanskrit texts survive and are held in numerous modern collections.[5][6]
Buddhists also wrote secular works on various topics like grammar (vyākaraṇa), poetry (kāvya), and medicine (Ayurveda).[7]
Theearliest Buddhist texts were orally composed and transmitted inMiddle Indo-Aryan dialects calledPrakrits.[8][9][10] Various parallel passages in the Buddhist Vinayas state that when asked to put the sutras intochandasas the Buddha refused and instead said the teachings could be transmitted insakāya niruttiyā (Skt.svakā niruktiḥ).[11][12] This passage was interpreted in different ways in India, China and in Western scholarship.[11] Various translations and passages in Indian Vinaya works interpretchandasas as referring to thelanguage used byBrahmins, i.e.Vedic Sanskrit andsakāya niruttiyā as referring to localvernacular languages or dialects.[11] This view has also been taken by various modern scholars like Franklin Edgerton.[1]
However, theSarvāstivāda Vinaya texts state thatchandasas does not refer to Sanskrit itself, but to a specificVedic intonation used to chant theVedas.[11] Scholars likeSylvain Lévi have seen this as an attempt to suppress the Buddha's rejection of Sanskrit but other scholars support the reading of the termnirutti as meaning "intonation", "recitation" or "chant."[11][12]
The British philologistK.R. Norman defines nirutti as "synonym" or "gloss".[12] Bryan Levman notes that the term can also mean "explanation of words," "grammatical analysis," "etymology," "pronunciation," or "way of expression" according to the Pali-English Dictionary.[12] Levman argues that numerous usages of the term in the Pāli canon support the idea that the term here means a description or "explanation, not necessarily etymological, of the meaning of a word or text."[12] According to Levman, the famous Vinaya passage on language can be seen as meaning that the Buddha did not approve of certain monks who were using their own terms, expressions and explanations instead of the special terminology developed by the Buddha to explain his teachings. When some monks told this to the Buddha, they recommended that the Buddha's word be put inchandasas (Vedic meters and chanting forms), but the Buddha refused and said the teaching should merely be transmitted using his "own terminology" (sakāya niruttiyā).[12]
Early Buddhists used a variety of relatedMiddle Indic prakrit dialects.[10] TheTheravãda tradition eventually adopted one form of Middle Indic, calledPāli, as its canonical language and thePāli Canon was written down in this language in the 1st century BCE inSri Lanka.[10] However, inNorth India andCentral Asia, Buddhist texts were transmitted in other prakrits likeGandhari, Northern Buddhist texts were also often sanskritised in varying degrees and translated into other dialects and languages.[9][1]
Furthermore, from the third century on, new Buddhist texts in India began to be composed in standard Sanskrit.[9] Over time, Sanskrit became the main language of Buddhist scripture and scholasticism in North India. This was influenced by the rise of Sanskrit as a political and literarylingua franca of theIndian subcontinent, perhaps reflecting an increased need for elite patronage.[13] Because of this, manymanuscripts from Northern Buddhist traditions are often in Sanskrit, either classical or a non-standard form, often called Buddhist Sanskrit orBuddhist Hybrid Sanskrit (BHS). BHS is an intermediate or mixed language that contains elements of an unknown Middle Indic Prakrit and standard Sanskrit.[9][1]
Edgerton notes that a striking feature of BHS is that "from the very beginning of its tradition as we know it (that is, according to the mss. we have), and increasingly as time went on, it was modified in the direction of standard Sanskrit, while still retaining evidences of its Middle Indic origin."[14] Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit works vary in their extent of Sanskritization. Perhaps the earliest of these texts is theMahavastu (c. 2nd century BCE), which contains only slight Sanskrit elements while later works (such as various Mahayana sutras) are more Sanskritized while also containing unique terminology not found in other standard Sanskrit works.[15]
Sukumar Sen disagreed with Edgerton's view that Buddhist Sanskrit is a "hybrid" language. Sen writes that "Buddhistic Sanskrit is not a hybrid language" and that its structure is that of:
anIndo-Aryan language that was much akin to Sanskrit but unlike it was not rigidly controlled by thegrammarians. It was a free kind of language that was used by ordinary men, not aspiring for Hindu scholarship or veneration. It was what may be called Spoken Sanskrit. By its nature it was an unstable literary or business language varying according to time and place. To call such a language 'hybrid' is not correct. Buddhistic Sanskrit was not an artificially made up language fashioned by fusing Sanskrit and the Prākṛits.[16]
Whatever the case, Buddhist Sanskrit became the main religious language used by north Indian Buddhists for religious purposes and over time, these works adopted more standard Sanskrit forms.[15]
The Sanskritization of Buddhist literature was particularly influenced by the north-western Indian Buddhists, especially those of theSarvāstivāda tradition.[17][18][11] During the reign of theKushan (CE 30-375) emperorKanishka (128–151 CE), a majorSarvāstivādaBuddhist council seems to have been held, either inGandhara orKashmir. During this council, some work was done on the Sarvāstivāda canon, which by now was being transmitted in a form of Sanskrit.[3] The main commentaries of the Sarvāstivāda-Vaibhāṣika were also composed in Sanskrit.[11] An influential and large Sanskrit commentary known as theMahāvibhāṣa ("Great Exegesis") was also composed around this time.[3] According to Maurice Winternitz, numerous fragments of the Sarvāstivāda Sanskrit canon have survived, especially fromarcheological findings inEast Turkestan, and also from quotations in other sources.[18]
Other Indian Buddhist schools, like theMahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravāda andDharmaguptaka schools, also adopted Sanskrit or Sanskritized their scriptures to different degrees.[11][19]
Scholars are unsure of what led to the widespread adoption of Sanskrit by Indian Buddhists, and various theories have been offered.[11]
According toJohannes Bronkhorst, part of the reason for the Buddhist adoption of Sanskrit was due to the cultural and political influence of Brahmanas. Since Buddhists became reliant on the support of the royal and elite classes, "the adoption of Sanskrit became a matter of adjusting to the exigencies of the day."[17] Bronkhorst argues that the use of Sanskrit would have eased the interactions between Buddhists and the Sanskrit-speaking royal courts which the Buddhists relied on for material support.[11]
Vincent Eltschinger writes that the few ancient sources which discuss the phenomenon of the Sanskritization of Buddhist texts "justify the recourse, if not directly to Sanskrit, at least to (Sanskrit) grammar, on the basis of the felt necessity to challenge the Brahmins' monopoly on conceptually and formally well-formed language and eloquence. In other words, what these Buddhists were up to might have been self-authorization, didactic skills and superiority in debate."[11] In this view, the prestige of Sanskrit was adopted by the Buddhists in order to legitimate their teachings as authoritative.[11]
This view is supported by certain passages in the texts of the Northern Mahāyāna tradition. For example, theBodhisattvabhūmi (250-300?) states that "a bodhisattva studies the linguistic science in order to arouse confidence among those who are attached to the Sanskrit language by choosing well-formed phrases and syllables."[11] Also,Sthiramati's (6th century CE?)Sūtrālaṅkāravṛtti bhāṣya states:
Abodhisattva studies thelinguistic science (śabdavidyā) both in order to authorize himself among other experts on account of his [own] skill in the Sanskrit language (saṃskṛtalapita) and in order to defeat the allodox teachers (tīrthika) who boast of knowing the linguistic treatise(/science) (śabdaśāstra).[11]
According to Eltschinger,Yogācāra sources like these "ascribe a threefold purpose to the study of (Sanskrit) grammar: authorizing a bodhisattva's speech so that he does not become the target of the sarcasms of pseudo-experts; allowing him to preach the Buddhist Law in a conceptually precise and formally irreproachable language; cause him to possess the eloquence that enables him to defeat his opponents in debate."[11] Another important use of knowing Sanskrit according to Eltschinger was that it allowed Buddhists to study the scriptures of non-Buddhists, with the goal of defeating them in debate.[11]
Some scholars (such asHeinrich Lüders) have also argued that adopting Sanskrit may have been a strategy to convert Brahmins to Buddhism.[11]Alex Wayman argues that many Buddhistswere Brahmin converts who felt that Buddhism would be left behind if it did not adopt the prestigious Sanskrit language, but at the same time they wanted to retain some of the Middle Indic forms which they felt were expressions used by the Buddha. Due to this, mixed Sanskrit arose.[10]
Furthermore,Jean Filliozat argued that Sanskrit was adopted because of the need for alingua franca:
the more the prakrits evolved, the more they became differentiated and the more it became necessary to have recourse to a common language of to communicate in an increasingly vast Buddhist world as well as for active proselytism to many regions. Sanskrit alone was such a language. It was the best instrument of mutual understanding available to the monks of the various provinces who met at the various holy places.[11]
Oskar von Hinüber meanwhile, argued that the Buddhists were just following "a general development within Indian culture" that was not restricted to Buddhism and which saw a process of Sanskritization throughout the subcontinent.[11]
The Buddhist use ofclassical Sanskrit for Buddhist literary purposes possibly began with the poetAśvaghoṣa (c. 100 CE), author of theBuddhacarita (amahakavya style epic poem) and one of the earliestSanskrit dramatists.[20] Aśvaghoṣa was abrahmin and may have had a classic brahminical education according to Winternitz.[21] The poetic works ofAśvaghoṣa and other Sanskrit poets like Mātrceta and Āryaśūra were very popular in India and they were widely recited and memorized according to Yijing.[22]
Sanskrit was also an important language forMahāyāna Buddhism. ManyMahāyāna sūtras were composed and transmitted in Sanskrit.[10] Some of the earliest and most important Mahāyāna sutras are thePrajñāpāramitā sūtras, many of which survive in Sanskrit manuscripts.[23][24] Various scholars have argued that many of thesePrajñāpāramitā sutras may have developed among theMahāsāṃghika tradition in theĀndhra region ofSouth India (circa 1st century BCE).[25][26][27][28][29]
The Indian Buddhist philosophers of theVaibhāṣika,Sautrāntika,Madhyamaka andYogācāra schools also mainly wrote in Sanskrit.[30]These include well known figures likeKumāralāta,Nāgārjuna,Āryadeva, Matrcetā, Āryasura,Asaṅga,Vasubandhu, Yaśomitra,Dignāga,Sthiramati,Dharmakīrti,Bhāviveka,Candrakīrti,Śāntideva andŚāntarakṣita.[30]
TheGupta Empire (4th–6th centuries) andPāla Empire (8th–12th centuries) eras saw the growth of large Buddhist educational institutions likeNālandā andVikramashila.[31] Maurice Winternitz writes that these large Buddhist universities studied Buddhist philosophy along with "all branches of secular knowledge" for hundreds of years.[32] Chinese pilgrims to India like Yijing also described how, in these universities, the study of Buddhist philosophy was preceded by extensive study of Sanskrit language and grammar.[33]
Great Buddhist philosophers likeDignaga andDharmakirti taught Buddhist philosophy in these universities in the Sanskrit language.[34] These universities also drew foreign students from as far away as China. One of the most famous of these was the 7th century Chinese pilgrimXuanzang, who studied Buddhism in Sanskrit at Nālandā and took over 600 Sanskrit manuscripts back to China for his translation project.[35][36]
The writing of Buddhist Sanskrit has relied on variousIndic scripts throughout its history. Early Buddhist Sanskrit works were mainly written in theBrahmi script and also in theKharosthi script (inGandhara).[8] Later on, Buddhist Sanskrit works were written using other Indic scripts which developed out of the Brahmi script, mainly theGupta script andSiddhaṃ (used circa 600 to 1200). Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts tend to use theRañjanā script or thePracalit script (Newar).[8][37][38]
Some Sanskrit works which were written by Buddhists also cover secular topics, such as grammar (vyākaraṇa), lexicography (koṣa), poetry (kāvya), poetics (alaṁkāra), and medicine (Ayurveda).[7]
During the IndianTantric Age (8th to the 14th century), numerousBuddhist Tantras and other esoteric literature was written in Sanskrit. Esoteric Buddhist works are unique in that they often contain non-standard (non-Paninian) Sanskrit, prakritic elements and also influences from regional languages likeapabhramśa andOld Bengali.[39][4] This tantric Sanskrit is not the same asBuddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, but a form unique to Buddhist tantric texts which contains few Middle Indic words.[39] These vernacular forms are often in verses (dohas) which may be found within esoteric Sanskrit texts.[40] Examples of such non-standard esoteric Sanskrit texts include theKṛṣṇayamāri,Caṇḍamahāroṣaṇa andSaṃvarodaya Tantras.[4]
TheSilk road transmission of Buddhism during thefirst millennium saw a widespread exchange of Sanskrit Buddhist literature, with Asians traveling to India to obtain Sanskrit manuscripts and Indians traveling to China and to Central Asia to spread Buddhism. The influence of Buddhist Sanskrit culture was widespread over a large region during this period. The details of this cultural exchange within Asia can be found in classic texts likeFaxian'sA Record of Buddhist Kingdoms (4th century) and (6th century), and Xuanzang'sRecord of the Western Regions (7th century).[8]
Buddhist Sanskrit exerted a strong influence on theChinese language. For example, the Chinese lexicographical practice calledfǎnqiè (反切) was influenced by Buddhist Sanskrit.[41] Chinese literary forms and metaphors were also drawn from Sanskrit Buddhist works.[8] Fuwei Chen estimates that around 30,000 Sanskrit words were introduced into Chinese from Sanskrit Buddhist sources.[42] Chinese Buddhists also produced Sanskrit Chinese lexicons, like theFānfànyǔ (The Translation of Sanskrit, 翻梵語, T. 2130, c. 517), which contains numerous Sanskritloanwords into Chinese.[43] Some of the most important sources on this cultural exchange come from border regions likeDunhuang and theMogao Caves.[8]
During thePāla era,Vajrayāna Buddhism flourished and its texts and scholarship was mainly conducted in Sanskrit. When Vajrayāna spread to theHimalayan regions ofTibet,Bhutan andSikkim, Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts and scholars also entered these regions. MedievalTibet was an important center for the study and translation of Sanskrit Buddhist works, as well as for the study of Indian Sanskrit grammars (such as theSārasvatavyākaraṇa), poetry and works on poetics (like theKāvyādarśa), drama (nāṭaka) and other Indian sciences (vidyāsthānas). These Sanskrit sources had a significant impact on Tibetan intellectual culture.[44] According toMatthew Kapstein "during the first centuries of the 2nd millennium Tibetan translators continued to refine their art, producing precise, thorough, and nuanced translations of works of considerable sophistication and difficulty, many of which stand as outstanding achievements of the translator's art even today."[44]
The translation effort was often a collaborative one which involved Indian pandits and Tibetan scholars and the support of Tibetan kings likeThri Songdetsen (742–c.797).[45] This process led to the creation of a new Tibetan literary language, a "dharma language" (chos skad) strongly influenced by Sanskrit, and created for the specific purpose of translating Sanskrit Buddhist texts.[45] It also produced theMahāvyutpatti, the great Sanskrit-Tibetan dictionary, with a commentary, theTwo-Volume Lexicon.[46]
The Tibetan Buddhist scholarSakya Pandita (1182-1251) was a well known scholar of Sanskrit grammar and literature, and promoted the study of these disciplines among Tibetan scholars during theNew translation era.[47][48] He had studied Sanskrit grammar, poetics, kāvya, lexicography, and drama with Indian pandits likeŚākyaśribhadra (who traveled to Tibet and taught numerous Tibetan students).[49] According to Jonathan Gold, Sakya Pandita held that Tibetan scholars needed to form an elite guard to protect the Buddha's Dharma from corruption. Sakya Pandita saw their main intellectual tools as "the great Indian traditions of grammar, literature, and philosophy."[48] Sakya Pandita wrote various works in order to remedy what he saw as a lack of knowledge of classical Indian sciences by Tibetans, such as hisGateway to Learning.[48] Other important Tibetan Sanskritists of the new translation period who also studied Sanskrit with Indian pandits were Chak Lotsawa and Thropu Lotsawa.[50]
Under Sakya Pandita's leadership, Sakya monastery became a major center of Sanskrit and Buddhist learning in Tibet. Sakya Pandita's tradition also promoted the study of the "five sciences" taught at Indian universities as a necessary part of the bodhisattva path. These are: "linguistic science (sabdavidya), logical science (hetuvidya), medical science (cikitsavidya), science of fine arts and crafts (silpakarmasthanavidya), and the spiritual sciences (adhyatmavidya) of the dharma."[51] Sakya Pandita argued that without having some basic knowledge of Sanskrit (or at least without being aware of common Tibetan translation strategies and important Sanskrit terms), Tibetan scholars would make numerous mistakes in interpreting scriptures translated into Tibetan. Thus, for him, the ideal Buddhist scholar had at least some basic knowledge of Sanskrit.[52]
From the 15th century on, Tibetan Buddhists were pioneers in thewoodblock printing of Sanskrit works. According to Kapstein, the Tibetans were the first to use printing technology to copy Sanskrit texts.[44] Tibetans also had a developed tradition of Sanskritcalligraphy using numerous scripts.[44] Many manuscripts of Sanskrit Buddhist texts have survived inTibetan Buddhist monastic libraries. Another influential Tibetan Sanskritist was theFifth Dalai Lama (1617-1682). He was known for promoting the study of Sanskrit among Tibetan literati.[44] The Fifth's regent,Desi Sangye Gyatso (1653–1705), also continued to promote the study of Sanskrit texts on the "secular sciences" (vidyāsthāna) such as texts on poetics, grammar, astral calculation and medicine. His efforts included ensuring that the Zhol Printing House at thePotala Palace printed editions of the necessary Indian texts.[44]
Even though Sanskrit was not their canonical language, theTheravāda tradition also relied onSanskrit grammar, poetics andlexicography. Post-canonical Pālicommentaries,sub-commentaries and treatises often quote from Sanskrit grammars, and occasionally reproduce Sanskrit verses.[53]Pali literature inSri Lankan Buddhism also went through a process of increasing Sanskritization which began during what is called "the reform era" of 1157-1270. During this period, Buddhist monastics began to write new forms of literate Sanskritized Pāli poetry as well as other texts influenced by Sanskrit literature, such as new grammars.[54] One example is Moggallana's Pāli Grammar which is influenced by Sanskrit grammatical works.[55] Medieval Theravādins also studied Sanskrit Buddhist texts from the sub-continent and their works show that they were familiar with Indian Mahāyāna Sanskrit literature.[56]
The use of Sanskrit was also widespread inSoutheast Asia (including being used in inscriptions and rituals) during the period before the rise to prominence ofTheravãda Buddhism which mostly replaced Hinduism and Mahāyāna Buddhism in Southeast Asia.[17] TheIndianization of Southeast Asia and the influence of Southeast Asian Brahmins also led to a broader influence of Sanskrit onSouth-East Asian cultures which also had an impact onSoutheast Asian Buddhism.[57] Sanskrit works like theRāmāyana and theDharmaśāstras influenced the literature and culture of these regions and this eventually influenced Buddhism as well.[58]
Thedecline of Buddhism in India saw the loss of a large number of Sanskrit Buddhist texts.[7] In the modern era, Sanskrit Buddhist texts were discovered in numerous regions, includingNepal,India,Tibet,Gilgit (Pakistan),Sri Lanka etc. Many Sanskrit Buddhist Manuscripts are still in temples, monasteries and private collections and have not been published.[7]
The use of Sanskrit as a sacred language survives in theNewar Buddhism ofNepal, and arguably the vast majority of Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts have been preserved by this tradition.[59] The Newar tradition most prominently employs Sanskrit for all ritual and study purposes, and as such is the only living Buddhist Sanskrit tradition.[7] It has also produced a number of respected Sanskritists. Nepalese pandits and monastic scholars have contributed to the production and propagation of Sanskrit Buddhist texts and many complete and reliable Sanskrit copies of important Mahāyāna texts have been found in Nepal. This was mainly due to the Newar Buddhist tradition which has copied and transmitted these scriptures up until the present day.[7] Nepalese institutions, such as the National Archives and Asha Archives inKathmandu and the Rare Sanskrit Buddhist Manuscript Preservation Project inLalitpur, are at the forefront of thepreservation,cataloguing anddigitization of Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts.[7]
Brian Houghton Hodgson was the first Western scholar to bring the Nepalese Buddhist Sanskrit tradition to scholarly attention. Important Sanskrit sutras were published in the 19th century using Nepalese manuscripts, such as theKāraṇḍavyūha (1873),Lalitavistara (1877) andAṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (1888). Many of these Nepalese editions were republished by Parashuram Lakshman Vaidya.[7]
Many Sanskrit Buddhist works have also been unearthed inCentral Asia. One major find was atGilgit in 1931, and most of these are in the National Archives atNew Delhi.[7] Another major find was from Eastern Turkestan (1902, 1904, 1905, and 1913) and was found by the GermanTurfan Expedition. They are kept in theAcademy of Sciences,Berlin.[7] A private collection known as theSchøyen collection, are fromBāmiyān,Afghanistan.[7] Another group of Sanskrit texts were discovered by Russian scholars likeSergey Oldenburg and are held by the Russian Academy of Sciences inSt. Petersburg.[60]
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WithinEast-Asian Buddhism,mantras anddhāranīs are still recited in Sanskrit. Indeed, numerous Buddhist texts in theTaishō Tripitaka contain Siddhaṃ script, such as theWomb Matrix Sanskrit Mantra (T. 854 胎藏梵字真言).[8] Some East Asian Buddhist traditions, like the JapaneseShingon andTendai schools, are also known for their study of Sanskrit. This is closely connected to the importance of Sanskrit mantras and the influence of the Siddhaṃ script in East Asian Esoteric Buddhism.[61]
TheTibetan Buddhist tradition also retains numerous Sanskrit manuscripts and a tradition of Sanskrit study. Many Sanskrit manuscripts were kept in Tibetan monasteries and in thePotala Palace. Some of these were photographed and catalogued byRahula Sankrityayan in the 1930s and others are being studied and published by the China Tibetology Research Center inBeijing together with theAustrian Academy of Sciences.[7]
Buddhist Sanskrit texts are also widely studied in modern academicBuddhist studies programs, both in theWest and inAsia. Many of these works are important sources for understanding the development of Mahāyāna Buddhism and its spread throughout Asia. The standard writing system for most academic publications on Sanskrit Buddhist texts is theInternational Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST).[8]
A major milestone in the study of Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Literature wasFranklin Edgerton's publication of a BHS Dictionary and Grammar, along with a Reader, in 1953.[62][10]
In 2003, the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon (DSBC) project was initiated by theUniversity of the West (California), in cooperation with theNagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods (NIEM,Nepal).[7] DSBC (directed byLewis Lancaster and Min Bahadur Shakya) seeks to collect, digitize and electronically publish Sanskrit Buddhist texts. Part of the project also includes the creation of a reconstructed Sanskrit Buddhist Canon through the compiling of all extant Sanskrit Buddhist Texts.[7] The collection comprising around 545 titles is currently available atDigital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon - Home
This list follows the structure of the Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon (DSBC) project which divides the collection into a Sutrapiṭaka,Vinayapiṭaka andŚāstrapiṭaka.[63][7][64]
This includes numerous categories of Buddhist texts that are considered to fall under the class of "sutra", including:[63][30][65]
While there is no Sanskrit manuscript of any single complete Agama collection, many individual texts and fragments have been found, especially in theTarim Basin and the city ofTurfan.[66][6]
Extant Sanskrit texts which were part of the SanskritSutrapiṭaka include:
There are numerous surviving dharanis, including those found in several collections fromNepal. Examples include:
Numerous collections of past life stories (avadanas) survive in Sanskrit, as well as single avadanas in various manuscripts.[89] The main avadana collections include:
Past life stories in campū style (mixed verse and prose)
Vinaya texts discuss mainly discussBuddhist monastic discipline. However, Vinaya texts may also incorporate sutras, avadanas and jataka stories within them.[96][97] Some Sanskrit Vinayas include:[63][30]
This category includes various types ofŚāstras, i.e. treatises or scholastic works:[63][30]
Commentaries on advaya (non-dual) tantras
Commentaries on Yoginītantras:
Commentaries on Yogottaratantras:
Commentaries on Mahāyogatantras
Source:[118]
Buddhist Indian authors composed numerous works onSanskrit Grammar, such as:[123][124]
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