Mahayana Sutras
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Mahayana sutras are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures that began to be composed from the first century BCE. They form the basis of the various Mahayana schools.
It should be noted that the Mahayana sutras form only one part of the Mahayana Canon, the other part being the Agamas, which correspond to the Theravadin Pali Canon, and other non-Mahayana texts. The Mahayana Canon also has complete recensions, in Chinese or Tibetan translation, of the Vinayas of several early schools such as Mulasarvastivada and Dharmaguptaka.
Historicity and Background
Mahayana Buddhists believe that the Mahayana sutras, with the exception of those with an explicitly Chinese provenance, are an authentic account of teachings given during the Buddha's lifetime. However, Theravada Buddhists believe them to be later inventions of monks striving to change the original teachings of Buddha, and consider the Mahayana sutras apocryphal. Scholars conclude that the Mahayana scriptures were all composed from the first century AD onwards, with some of them having their roots in other scriptures, composed in the first century BC.
The Mahayana sutras were thus probably composed in the first centrury AD in Kashmir, during the fourth Buddhist Council of the newly founded Mahayana sect of Buddhism, more than 500 years after the death of Sakyamuni Buddha. The Mahayana sutras are thus not included in the more ancient Agamas of Mahayana Buddhism, nor in the Sutta Pitaka of the Theravada, both of which represent the older Buddhist scriptures which can be historically linked to Sakyamuni Buddha himself.
The tradition in Mahayana is that the Mahayana sutras were written down at the time of the Buddha and stored for five hundred years in the realm of the dragons (or Nagas). After this, they were re-introduced into the human realm at the time of the Fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir. The tradition further claims that the teachings of the Mahayana sutras are higher than the teachings contained in the Agamas and the Sutta Pitaka, and that humankind was unable to understand the Mahayana sutras at the time of the Buddha (500 BC). This is the reason given for the need to store these sutras in the realm of the dragons for 500 years, after which humankind was able to understand the Lotus Sutra.
The Mahayana tradition holds that (based on the Sandhi-nirmocana Sutra), Shakyamuni Buddha's teachings may be divided into three general hierarchical categories, known as the "three turnings of the wheel of dharma"--the Hinayana, and two Mahayana turnings: the Prajna Paramita (Perfection of Wisdom), and Yogacara. According to Tibetan doxological accounts, the Tathagatagarbha (Buddha Nature, Buddha Principle) teachings are also to be allocated to the third group.
List of the Mahayana Sutras
- Texts of Indian origin
- * Lalitavistara Sutra
- * Lankavatara Sutra
- * Lotus Sutra(妙法蓮華經)
- * Perfection of Wisdom sutras (Prajnaparamita sutras)
- ** Diamond Sutra(金剛經)
- ** Heart Sutra(心經)
- * Ten Stages Sutra
- * Vimalakirti-nirdesa Sutra(維摩詰經)
- Texts of Chinese origin
- * Perfect Enlightenment Sutra (Yuanjue Jing)
- * Platform Sutra (Liuzutan Jing)
- Other texts
- * Amitabha Sutra (Smaller Pure Land Sutra)
- * Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower Garland Sutra)
- * Contemplation Sutra
- * Infinite Life Sutra(無量壽經) (Large Pure Land Sutra)
- * Mahaparinirvana Sutra(大涅槃經)
- * Shurangama Sutra
- * Sutra in Forty-Two Sections
- * Sutra of Golden Light
- * Sutra of The Great Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (地藏菩薩本願經)
- * Ullambana Sutra
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