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I know Theravada has the Pali Canon, but I am a little confused about what scripture the Mahayana schools follow. I have read that Mahayana and Theravada share some of the same core ideas, The four noble truths, the eight fold path and some other things but where do the Mahayanist get this from? Every Theravada monastery I have been too has a copy of pali canon. Every dhamma talk I have heard has been based in teachings directly from the Pali canon. So If I were to go to a Mahayana monastery would they also have their version of the Pali Canon, the "Agamas" ? How common is it for Mahanaya monasteries to have these and why are they so hard to find? I know that Mahanaya also follow later "Sutras". What does the average Mahayanist read to learn about Buddhism? What about Vajrayana Buddhism?
Tibetan Buddhism has the Lam Rim as a foundational text, which is taken from Theravada--the Pali Cannon. They also use a text called "The Bodhisattva Way of Life", and many others. At the very advanced, esoteric level, they have tantric texts, many of which are taken from Hinduism. These texts take the concept of "emptiness" to an extreme, teaching that everything is empty of meaning, even morality/virtue, that the Buddha taught. Naturally, this leads to ... "issues".
Research on the Ghandari Scrolls, the oldest known Buddhist scriptures (older than the oldest existing version of the Pali Cannon) has revealed that Mahayana and "Hinayana" (speaking historically) evolved simultaneously, both from the Buddha's discourses, but with a different emphasis one from the other. The Ghandari scrolls have more of what we now know as a Mahayana emphasis, meaning: a greater emphasis on compassion and doing good works, as the Bodhisattva ideal: dedicating oneself to alleviating suffering for sentient beings. https://tricycle.org/magazine/whose-buddhism-truest/
Ch'an/Zen has as some of its basic texts, more mystical teachings, like the Heart Sutra. Scholarship has more recently found that these texts evolved in part from Taoist mysticism, and don't trace back to the Buddha's teachings.
Thanks for the reply. There is so much to read about Mahayana out there its hard to know where to start.
Good question. And Vajrayana has come to dominate the Mahayana "market" in the West to such an extent, that it can be hard to find sources of advice, that aren't slanted toward Tibetan Buddhism. There was an international Zen forum, where several scholar-monks were available to give advice, but it's been temporarily suspended, for some sort of reorganization. Are you looking for books about Mahayana, or are you looking for the root texts, the "cannon" so to speak?
Both but I was looking more for roots texts. That tricycle article was really good. I hope they do discover more texts.
Here's some good information from Wikipedia, on a page called "Zen scriptures".
[B]Grounding Chán in scripture[/b]
The early Buddhist schools in China were each based on a specific sutra. At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, by the time of the Fifth Patriarch Hongren (601–674), the Zen school became established as a separate school of Buddhism. It had to develop a doctrinal tradition of its own to ascertain its position and to ground its teachings in a specific sutra. Various sutras were used for this, even before the time of Hongren: the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra (Huike),Awakening of Faith (Daoxin), the Lankavatara Sutra (East Mountain School), the Diamond Sutra (Shenhui), the Platform Sutra. Subsequently, the Zen tradition produced a rich corpus of written literature which has become a part of its practice and teaching.
Other influential sutras are the Vimalakirti Sutra, Avatamsaka Sutra, the Shurangama Sutra, and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra.
The growing Chán tradition also faced the challenge to put its teachings into words, to bolster its identity and to apply it in formal teaching settings, without losing the central insight into the "suchness" of reality. One solution to this was the shift of emphasis from the recorded sayings of the historical Buddha, to the sayings of living Buddhas, namely the Chán masters. In time, these sayings, from the so-called "encounter-dialogues" between masters and students, but also from sermons, became codified and formed the basis of typical Zen-genres, namely the "yü-lü" (recorded sayings) and the classic koan-collections. These too became formalised, and as such became a subject of disputes on the right way to teach Zen and the avoidance of dependence on words.
They are also available in printed book or e-book forms.
This e-book is also available in hardback or paperback, for free. It is in over 40 languages. Based on Mahayana sutras mainly, it is an excellent introduction of Mahayana.
They are also available in printed book or e-book forms.
This e-book is also available in hardback or paperback, for free. It is in over 40 languages. Based on Mahayana sutras mainly, it is an excellent introduction of Mahayana.
Wow thanks for sharing that, I appreciate it. How many of those sutras would have parallels in the Pali Canon.
Too scholarly for me to know. If you only want to know about the textual traditions you will have to do your own research. I am sure there is much material out there.
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I hope they do discover more texts.
