Textos budistas – Las palabras del Buda

ES Spanish Español

La categorización de los textos budistas

Los textos budistas pueden ser categorizados de diversas maneras.

Los términos occidentales «escritura» y «canónico» son aplicados al budismo de manera inconsistente por los académicos occidentales: por ejemplo, una autoridad se refiere a «escrituras y otros textos canónicos», mientras que otra sostiene que las escrituras pueden ser clasificadas en canónicas, comentadas y pseudo-canónicas.

Las tradiciones budistas han dividido generalmente estos textos con sus propias categorías y divisiones, como la distinción entre buddhavacana «palabra del Buda», muchos de los cuales son conocidos como «sutras», y otros textos, como «shastras» (tratados) o «Abhidharma».

Estos textos religiosos fueron escritos en diferentes lenguas, métodos y sistemas de escritura.

Memorizar, recitar y copiar los textos se consideraba espiritualmente valioso.

La preservación de los textos budistas

En un esfuerzo por preservar estas escrituras, las instituciones budistas asiáticas estuvieron a la vanguardia de la adopción de tecnologías chinas relacionadas con la producción de libros, incluyendo el papel y la impresión en bloque, que a menudo se implementaron a gran escala.

Debido a esto, el primer ejemplo sobreviviente de un texto impreso es un amuleto budista, el primer libro impreso completo es el Sutra del Diamante Budista (c. 868) y la primera impresión a mano coloreada es una ilustración de Guanyin datada en 947.

Incluso después del desarrollo y la adopción de la impresión por parte de las instituciones budistas, los budistas continuaron copiándolos a mano como una práctica espiritual.

La literatura comentarial

La tradición Theravāda cuenta con una extensa literatura comentarial, gran parte de la cual aún no ha sido traducida.

Estas obras se atribuyen a eruditos que trabajaron en Sri Lanka, como Buddhaghosa (siglo V d.C.) y Dhammapala.

Los sutras del Mahāyāna también son generalmente considerados por la tradición Mahāyāna como más profundos que los textos śrāvaka, así como generadores de mayor mérito y beneficio espiritual.

La literatura comentarial y exegética del Mahāyāna es vasta. Muchos de estos trabajos exegeticos y escolásticos son llamados Śāstras, que pueden referirse a un tratado escolástico, exposición o comentario.

Los textos tántricos posteriores, desde el siglo VIII en adelante (denominados de diversas maneras Yogatantra, Mahayoga y Yogini Tantras) abogaron por la unión con una deidad (yoga de deidad), sonidos sagrados (mantras), técnicas para la manipulación del cuerpo sutil y otros métodos secretos para alcanzar rápidamente la Budeidad.

Lista de textos y colecciones budistas

Esta es una lista no exhaustiva de textos y colecciones budistas de diversas escuelas y corrientes budistas.

Dhammapada

El Dhammapada es una colección de dichos del Buda en forma de verso y uno de los textos budistas más leídos y conocidos. La versión original del Dhammapada se encuentra en el Khuddaka Nikaya, una división del Canon Pali del budismo Theravada.

Eleven-Faced Avalokitesvara Heart Dharani Sutra

The Heart-dhāraṇī of Avalokiteśvara-ekadaśamukha Sūtra is a Buddhist text first translated from Sanskrit into Chinese on the 28th day of the third lunar month of 656 CE, by Xuanzang.

The title in Tibetan language is Spyan-ras-gzigs-dbang-phyug-shal bcu-gcig-pa, while the Sanskrit title recovered from the Tibetan translation is Avalokiteśvara ikadaśamukha dhāraṇī.

Alternatively, the sutra’s title has been translated as the Eleven-Faced Avalokitesvara Heart Dharani Sutra by Professor Ryuichi Abe.

Longchen Nyingthig

Longchen Nyingthig is a terma, revealed scripture, of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism, which gives a systematic explanation of Dzogchen. It was revealed by Jigme Lingpa (1730-1798).

Maṇi Kambum

The Maṇi Kambum is a Tibetan Buddhist terma text which contains teachings connected with the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara. The Maṇi Kambum was composed over time by different hands. It was likely composed from the 12th century to the 13th century.

Abhisamayalankara

The Abhisamayālaṅkāra «Ornament of/for Realization[s]», abbreviated AA, is one of five Sanskrit-language Mahayana sutras which, according to Tibetan tradition, Maitreya revealed to Asaṅga in northwest India circa the 4th century AD. Those who doubt the claim of supernatural revelation disagree whether the text was composed by Asaṅga himself, or by someone else, perhaps a human teacher of his.

Avadanasataka

The Avadānaśataka or «Century of Noble Deeds (Avadāna)» is an anthology in Sanskrit of one hundred Buddhist legends, approximately dating to the same time as the Ashokavadana. Ratnamālāvadāna. The work may be from the Mulasarvastivada school.

Chu sanzan jiji

The Chu sanzang jiji (出三藏记集) is the earliest extant catalog of Chinese Buddhist texts. It was compiled by Sengyou of the Liang Dynasty and finished c. 515 CE.

Maitreyasamitināṭaka

Maitreyasamitināṭaka is a Buddhist drama in the language known as Tocharian A. It dates to the eighth century and survives only in fragments. Maitrisimit nom bitig is an Old Uyghur translation of the Tocharian text. It is a much more complete text and dates to the tenth century. The drama revolves around the Buddha Maitreya, the future saviour of the world. This story was popular among Buddhists and parallel versions can be found in Chinese, Tibetan, Khotanese, Sogdian, Pali and Sanskrit. According to Friedrich W. K. Müller and Emil Sieg, the apparent meaning of the title is «Encounter with Maitreya».

Nagarakretagama

The Nagarakretagama or Nagarakṛtāgama, also known as Desawarnana or Deśavarṇana, is an Old Javanese eulogy to Hayam Wuruk, a Javanese king of the Majapahit Empire. It was written on lontar as a kakawin by Mpu Prapanca in 1365. The Nagarakretagama contains detailed descriptions of the Majapahit Empire during its greatest extent. The poem affirms the importance of Hindu–Buddhism in the Majapahit empire by describing temples and palaces and several ceremonial observances.

Pañcarakṣā

Pañcarakṣā means «Five Protectors», and it is the title of a Buddhist text in Sanskrit. It is an early work in the dhāraṇī genre of Buddhist literature, with Tibetan records mentioning it by about 800 CE. The Pañcarakṣā manuscripts survive in Tibet, Nepal and India in many divergent versions. The text includes spells, a list of benefits by its recitation, and the ritual instructions on how and when to use it. In the Buddhist tradition, each of the «Five» protections that are mentioned in the Pañcarakṣā are Buddhist deities (goddesses).

Pramanavarttika

The Pramāṇavārttika is an influential Buddhist text on pramana, a form of Indian epistemology. The Pramāṇavārttika is the magnum opus of the Indian Buddhist Dharmakirti.

Seri-Vanija Jathaka Katha

Seri-Vanija Jathaka is one of the five hundred and fifty jatakas of the Buddha. A Jataka is any of the stories of former lives of the Buddha, which are preserved in Buddhism. Some Jataka tales are scattered in different parts of the Pali: Pali canon of Buddhist writings, including a group of 35 that were collected for didactic purposes. This Seri jataka has included as the third story in the first volume of the Jataka Tales Compendium

Tattvasamgraha

The Tattvasamgraha is a text written by the 8th century Indian Buddhist pandit Śāntarakṣita.

The text belongs to the ‘tenets’ (Tib. sgrub-mtha) genre and is an encyclopedic survey of Buddhist and non-Buddhist philosophical systems.

Śāntarakṣita’s student Kamalashila wrote a commentary on it, entitled Tattvasamgrahapanjika.

Viśeṣastava

The Viśeṣa-stava is a Buddhist stotra by the author Udbhaṭa-sidhi-svāmin and has pride of place as the text that opens the TIbetan bstan ‘gyur. Originally written in Sanskrit, the hymns was extensively propagated and most people of the country recited these as songs. It was written to demonstrate the superiority of Buddhism over tirthikas. It is now only known from its Tibetan translation. At the time of its translation into Tibetan Prajñāvarman wrote a commentary on it which immediately follows it in the Bstan ‘gyur.