{"version":"1.0","type":"rich","provider_name":"Acast","provider_url":"https://acast.com","height":250,"width":700,"html":"","title":"Mahayana - Part 4: Texts, teachers, and the transmission of authority","description":"A chant echoes through the monastery. A teacher passes a scroll to a student. A council debates which texts will be preserved for centuries. In Mahayana Buddhism, authority is never just one thing—it is contested, constructed, and always evolving.\r\n\r\nSacred texts are crucial. Mahayana sutras like the Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, Lotus Sutra, and the Prajnaparamita literature form the backbone of ritual, doctrine, and commentary. These texts circulated in many languages—Sanskrit, Prakrit, Gandhari—before being translated into Chinese, Tibetan, and more. Translation was transformative. Kumarajiva’s fifth-century Chinese version of the Lotus Sutra became a touchstone for East Asian Buddhists. In the seventh century, Xuanzang’s monumental translation project after his pilgrimage to India shaped entire schools in China. The Tibetan Kangyur and Tengyur collections came together through centuries of translation and editorial work, grounding spiritual and scholarly life across the Himalayas.\r\n\r\nLearn more at: https://thecreedarchive.com/creed/mahayana-buddhism","author_name":"The Archive Network"}