Readings in Indian Religions: Studying Mahayana Buddhist texts in Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan

In this course, students read pre-selected chapters from the Samadhirajasutra across the primary source languages of Sanskrit/Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit, Chinese, and Tibetan. The SRS is a Mahayana Buddhist text. The Mahayana (or "Great Vehicle") was a significant movement within Indian Buddhism that began in approximately the first century BCE, persisted throughout Buddhism's demise in India in approximately the twelfth century CE, and exerted an enormous influence upon the further development of Buddhism as it spread throughout East Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam) and Tibet and the Himalayan region.