Question

Buddhist literature​

Answer 1

Answer:

Buddhist texts were initially passed on orally by monks, but were later written down and composed as manuscripts in various Indo-Aryan languages which were then translated into other local languages as Buddhism spread. They can be categorized in a number of ways. The Western terms "scripture" and "canonical" are applied to Buddhism in inconsistent ways by Western scholars: for example, one authority[1] refers to "scriptures and other canonical texts", while another[2] says that scriptures can be categorized into canonical, commentarial, and pseudo-canonical. Buddhist traditions have generally divided these texts with their own categories and divisions, such as that between buddhavacana "word of the Buddha," many of which are known as "sutras," and other texts, such as shastras (treatises) or Abhidharma.

These religious texts were written in many different languages and scripts but memorizing, reciting and copying the texts were of high value. Even after the development of printing, Buddhists preferred to keep to their original practices with these text

Answer 2

Answer:

Sanskrit Buddhist literature refers to Buddhist texts composed either in classical Sanskrit, in a register that has been called "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit" (BHS), or a mixture of the two. Several non-Mahāyāna Nikāyas appear to have kept their canons in Sanskrit, most prominent among which was the Sarvāstivāda. The Mahāyāna Sūtras are also in Sanskrit, with less classical registers prevalent in the gāthā portions. Buddhist Tantras too are written in Sanskrit, sometimes interspersed with Apabhramśa, and often containing notable irregularities in grammar and meter (traditionally ascribed to the esoteric nature of the texts).[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

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 and Chinese translations.