Chapter 15: Would Buddhism Be the Same?

This chapter is part of the book The Sacred Editors: Buddhism.

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"The canon is what survived. But that does not mean it is all that once was."

In a library overlooking the Tibetan plateau, a contemporary scholar sits surrounded by manuscripts that should not exist. These palm leaf texts and paper scrolls, preserved in a private family collection for over three centuries, contain versions of familiar Buddhist teachings alongside works that appear in no standard catalog. There are meditation instructions attributed to eighth-century nuns, ritual manuals that blend Buddhist and Bon practices, and philosophical treatises that develop ideas found nowhere else in Tibetan literature.

Each manuscript tells a story of preservation against odds—hidden during political purges, copied in secret during times when certain teachings were forbidden, maintained by families who valued their contents despite official disapproval. Some contain marginalia in women's handwriting, suggesting female scholars whose contributions were never acknowledged in institutional histories. Others bear the marks of practical use: worn edges from frequent consultation, additions that adapt ancient practices to contemporary needs, corrections that reflect evolving understanding of difficult concepts.

As this scholar catalogs these unexpected treasures, a fundamental question emerges: if these texts had been included in official canonical collections, if the voices they preserve had been granted institutional recognition, if the alternative approaches to Buddhist practice they document had shaped monastic education—would Buddhism today look fundamentally different? The manuscripts spread across the library table represent not just individual curiosities but windows into entire worlds of Buddhist wisdom that were systematically excluded from the traditions that contemporary practitioners have inherited.¹

This question extends far beyond academic speculation to touch the heart of how Buddhist communities understand their tradition's essential identity. Part III of our exploration has traced the complex human processes through which political power, scribal activity, destruction, and marginalization shaped what survived of Buddhist literature and what was lost forever. Understanding these processes reveals that the Buddhist canon we have inherited represents not a neutral preservation of ancient teachings but a particular selection shaped by specific historical circumstances, institutional priorities, and power relationships.

The Architecture of Survival: Recapping Part III

The journey through Part III has revealed that Buddhist canonical formation was far more complex, contingent, and contested than traditional accounts suggest. Rather than a smooth transmission of authentic teachings from enlightened sources to faithful recipients, the preservation of Buddhist literature involved constant negotiation between competing interests, creative adaptation to changing circumstances, and difficult choices about which voices deserved ongoing attention.

Royal Authority and Institutional Control (Chapter 11)

Our examination of political involvement in Buddhist canonical formation revealed how profoundly secular authority shaped religious textual traditions. From Emperor Aśoka's edicts promoting specific Buddhist texts to the Tang dynasty's systematic cataloging of authentic versus spurious sutras, rulers throughout Asian history claimed authority to determine which Buddhist teachings deserved preservation and institutional support.

The precedent established by Aśoka's Third Council—that royal authority could convene assemblies to define doctrinal orthodoxy and expel heterodox teachers—created a template that influenced Buddhist development for over two millennia. Chinese imperial bureaucracies developed elaborate systems for evaluating textual authenticity, Korean kings sponsored massive printing projects that standardized particular canonical collections, and Tibetan rulers established translation protocols that determined which Indian texts would be rendered into Tibetan and how they would be interpreted.

This political dimension of canonical formation had profound consequences for which Buddhist voices gained lasting influence. Texts that supported imperial ideology or harmonized with existing political structures received preferential treatment, while those associated with marginalized communities or challenging teachings were often excluded or suppressed. The survival of particular textual traditions often depended less on their spiritual effectiveness than on their compatibility with the political needs of ruling authorities.²

The Creative Labor of Scribes (Chapter 12)

The detailed examination of scribal practices revealed that manuscript transmission was never a passive process of mechanical reproduction but rather an ongoing form of editorial activity that continuously shaped Buddhist literature. Every act of copying involved countless small decisions about how to render unclear passages, whether to correct apparent errors, and how to adapt ancient texts to contemporary understanding.

The evidence of scribal innovation—from simple mechanical errors to sophisticated theological interpolations—demonstrates that Buddhist texts remained remarkably fluid throughout their early transmission periods. Scribes regularly updated archaic language, harmonized contradictory passages, and added explanatory material that reflected later doctrinal developments. The emergence of entirely new texts claiming ancient authority, from Chinese apocryphal sutras to Tibetan treasure texts, illustrates how creative adaptation sometimes produced works that were eventually accepted as authentic expressions of Buddhist wisdom.

This recognition fundamentally challenges assumptions about textual stability and canonical authority by revealing that even supposedly fixed written traditions continued to evolve through the copying process. The evidence of continuous scribal adaptation suggests that Buddhist literature functioned more like living tradition than preserved artifact, continuously adapting to meet changing spiritual and cultural needs.³

Hidden Archives and Accidental Preservation (Interlude C)

The discovery of the Dunhuang manuscript cache provided unprecedented insight into the full scope of Buddhist literary culture by revealing texts and traditions that had been completely forgotten by mainstream Buddhist institutions. The cave library preserved not only canonical texts but also substantial bodies of popular religious literature, women's devotional materials, local ritual manuals, and hybrid compositions that combined Buddhist teachings with regional cultural traditions.

The Dunhuang collection demonstrated that official canonical boundaries captured only a fraction of the Buddhist literature that medieval communities actually used for spiritual practice. The preservation of texts in seventeen different languages, representing multiple cultural and linguistic traditions, revealed the remarkable diversity of Buddhist literary production that was lost when institutional authorities imposed increasingly narrow definitions of canonical authenticity.

Perhaps most significantly, the accidental preservation of these materials—sealed away to protect them from immediate threats—ultimately revealed alternative approaches to Buddhist textual authority that were more inclusive and culturally responsive than the traditions that achieved official recognition. The manuscripts provide evidence of Buddhist communities that valued practical spiritual effectiveness over institutional orthodoxy and maintained creative approaches to adapting ancient teachings to contemporary circumstances.⁴

Destruction, Suppression, and Lost Alternatives (Chapter 13)

The examination of systematic textual destruction revealed how political violence, institutional censorship, and cultural transformation eliminated vast bodies of Buddhist literature that might otherwise have enriched contemporary understanding of the tradition's intellectual and spiritual diversity. The burning of Indian Buddhist universities, imperial persecution in China, sectarian conflicts in Tibet, and modern political upheavals created patterns of loss that fundamentally altered the available resources for Buddhist development.

These catastrophic losses were not merely unfortunate accidents but often represented deliberate targeting of alternative voices and challenging teachings that threatened existing power structures. The destruction of Nalanda and other Indian Buddhist centers eliminated entire philosophical traditions and interpretive lineages that had sustained sophisticated approaches to Buddhist thought and practice for centuries. Imperial suppressions targeted texts that supported political opposition or independent religious authority, while sectarian conflicts eliminated materials associated with defeated schools or marginalized communities.

The recognition that much of contemporary Buddhist understanding depends on what survived these various forms of destruction rather than what was originally considered most valuable highlights the contingent character of inherited traditions. The evidence of massive historical losses suggests that Buddhist communities today work with a substantially reduced version of the intellectual and spiritual resources that were once available.⁵

Marginalized Voices and Alternative Networks (Chapter 14)

The recovery of evidence for women's participation, lay involvement, and community-based preservation revealed extensive networks of Buddhist textual activity that operated largely outside official institutional oversight. Women served as scribes, patrons, and preservers of Buddhist literature while developing distinctive approaches to practice and interpretation that were systematically excluded from canonical recognition. Lay practitioners and local communities maintained substantial libraries and oral traditions that adapted Buddhist teachings to serve practical needs that elite monastic institutions often ignored.

These alternative preservation networks often demonstrated more inclusive and culturally responsive approaches to Buddhist textual authority than the institutional systems that achieved official recognition. The creative adaptation work carried out by marginalized communities frequently produced more effective pedagogical materials and more relevant spiritual guidance than formal canonical texts, yet these contributions were rarely acknowledged in official histories or granted canonical status.

The systematic exclusion of these alternative voices represents not only historical injustice but also substantial loss of spiritual wisdom and practical guidance that could enrich contemporary Buddhist practice. Understanding the extensive contributions of marginalized communities reveals that Buddhist textual traditions were always more diverse, inclusive, and culturally adaptive than official institutional presentations suggested.⁶

Alternative Histories: How Different Circumstances Might Have Changed Buddhism

Understanding the contingent character of Buddhist canonical formation enables us to imagine how different historical circumstances might have produced very different approaches to textual authority, religious practice, and spiritual development. These alternative scenarios, while necessarily speculative, illuminate both the limitations of existing traditions and the range of possibilities that different preservation patterns might have enabled.

Scenario 1: Survival of Indian Buddhist Institutional Networks

Had the great Buddhist universities of northern India survived the Islamic invasions of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Buddhism might have maintained its position as India's dominant intellectual tradition while developing very different relationships with the traditions that emerged in Tibet, China, and Southeast Asia. Donald Lopez Jr. argues that the destruction of Indian Buddhist institutions created an artificial break in Buddhist intellectual development that fundamentally altered how later traditions understood their relationship to ancient sources.⁷

Continued operation of institutions like Nalanda and Vikramaśīla would likely have produced ongoing innovation in Buddhist philosophy and practice, maintaining India as the center of Buddhist intellectual authority while creating different patterns of textual circulation throughout Asia. The scholastic traditions that developed in Tibet and East Asia might have remained more closely connected to Indian sources while developing less autonomous intellectual frameworks.

Perhaps most significantly, the survival of Indian tantric Buddhism in its original institutional context might have produced very different approaches to esoteric practice and textual authority. The oral transmission traditions that were essential for tantric practice could have evolved and adapted rather than being frozen at the moment of institutional destruction, potentially creating more flexible and responsive approaches to advanced Buddhist practice.

Scenario 2: Decentralized Preservation and Democratic Textual Authority

Alternative institutional arrangements that supported decentralized preservation networks rather than concentrating textual authority in major monastic centers might have maintained much greater diversity in Buddhist literature while providing more resilience against catastrophic losses. Gregory Schopen suggests that the vulnerability of Buddhist texts to political persecution and institutional destruction reflected over-dependence on centralized preservation systems that could be easily targeted by hostile authorities.⁸

Systematic support for family-based preservation networks, village temple libraries, and merchant guild scriptoria might have preserved substantial bodies of Buddhist literature that were lost when major monastic centers were destroyed. Such decentralization could also have enabled different relationships between monastic and lay Buddhist traditions, since lay communities would have assumed greater responsibility for maintaining textual traditions.

Furthermore, decentralized preservation might have encouraged more democratic approaches to textual authority that recognized the spiritual insights of lay practitioners rather than treating religious authority as exclusively monastic prerogative. This could have produced more participatory Buddhist traditions that were less vulnerable to institutional corruption or political manipulation while remaining more responsive to the practical needs of diverse communities.

Scenario 3: Systematic Inclusion of Women's Voices and Marginalized Perspectives

Had Buddhist institutions systematically preserved and promoted the religious literature produced by women, lay practitioners, and marginalized communities rather than excluding it as inferior to elite monastic productions, the resulting canonical traditions might have included substantially more material addressing spiritual concerns that official texts often ignored. Lori Meeks's research on medieval Japanese Buddhist nuns reveals that female monastic communities developed sophisticated approaches to meditation practice and community organization that differed substantially from male-dominated institutional models.⁹

Such inclusion might have produced Buddhist traditions with more egalitarian approaches to spiritual authority and more diverse models of religious practice. The emphasis on practical spiritual development and community-based ritual observance that characterized many marginalized traditions could have prevented the excessive institutionalization and philosophical abstraction that sometimes separated Buddhist teachings from daily life concerns.

Perhaps most importantly, the preservation of alternative voices might have maintained stronger emphasis on compassionate engagement with social and environmental concerns rather than viewing such involvement as obstacles to spiritual development. This could have produced more integrated approaches to Buddhist practice that were better adapted to contemporary global challenges while maintaining authentic connection to essential spiritual insights.

Scenario 4: Recognition of Vernacular and Popular Literature as Canonical

Alternative canonical development might have emerged if vernacular adaptations of Buddhist teachings had been granted equal status with Sanskrit and Pāli sources rather than being dismissed as inferior translations or popular corruptions. The creative integration of Buddhist teachings with local cultural traditions that characterized vernacular literature often produced more effective pedagogical approaches and more relevant practical guidance than formal canonical texts.

Had vernacular Buddhist literature achieved canonical recognition, the resulting traditions might have been more culturally responsive and more accessible to diverse social groups. This could have encouraged continued literary creativity and cultural adaptation rather than treating textual preservation as primarily archaeological rather than living activity. Buddhist communities might have maintained stronger traditions of ongoing textual innovation while preserving essential soteriological insights.

Such recognition might also have prevented the theological rigidity that characterized some later Buddhist traditions by maintaining more fluid approaches to textual authority that emphasized spiritual effectiveness over historical pedigree or institutional approval.

The Canon as Political and Cultural Artifact

The cumulative evidence presented in Part III supports a fundamental reconceptualization of Buddhist canonical literature as a complex historical artifact shaped by political, social, and cultural forces rather than a neutral preservation of ancient spiritual teachings. This recognition does not diminish the spiritual value of Buddhist texts but rather grounds their authority in the lived experience of communities that recognized their transformative power under specific historical circumstances.

Power, Privilege, and Preservation

The pattern that emerges from examining canonical formation across different Buddhist cultures reveals the consistent influence of political and social hierarchies on which voices gained lasting recognition and which were marginalized or excluded entirely. Royal patronage, monastic institutional interests, gender discrimination, and cultural prejudice all played significant roles in determining which Buddhist texts received the resources necessary for long-term preservation.

This recognition requires acknowledging that many of the texts contemporary practitioners consider most authoritative achieved their status not necessarily because of superior spiritual insight or closer connection to the Buddha's original teaching, but because they were supported by communities with sufficient political and economic power to ensure their survival through periods of historical upheaval.

Understanding canonical formation as a political process does not invalidate the spiritual authority of Buddhist texts but rather reveals the complex human networks and institutional commitments that enabled their preservation and transmission. The recognition that human agency and historical contingency played crucial roles in shaping inherited traditions can inspire more thoughtful and responsible approaches to contemporary Buddhist practice and interpretation.

Cultural Adaptation and Religious Authenticity

The evidence of extensive cultural adaptation in Buddhist textual traditions challenges modern assumptions about religious authenticity that treat faithful preservation of original forms as the primary criterion for legitimate spiritual practice. The successful transmission of Buddhism across diverse cultural contexts required constant creative adaptation that modified not only language and imagery but also fundamental approaches to practice and interpretation.

The vernacular literature, ritual adaptations, and hybrid compositions that enabled Buddhism's spread throughout Asia demonstrate that authentic spiritual transmission often requires substantial modification of inherited forms rather than rigid preservation of original expressions. The most effective Buddhist texts were often those that successfully integrated ancient insights with contemporary cultural forms and practical concerns.

This recognition suggests that contemporary efforts to adapt Buddhism to new cultural contexts—whether in Western societies, urban environments, or global digital communities—can claim historical precedent in the creative adaptation work that sustained Buddhist traditions throughout their historical development. The challenge lies in maintaining essential spiritual insights while developing culturally appropriate expressions that serve contemporary needs.

Contemporary Implications: Canon, Authority, and Buddhist Identity

The insights developed through Part III have important implications for how contemporary Buddhist communities understand textual authority, approach scriptural interpretation, and navigate questions about religious authenticity in rapidly changing cultural contexts. As Buddhism continues to globalize and encounter new social and technological circumstances, historical understanding of canonical formation provides crucial resources for developing responsive approaches that maintain spiritual integrity while enabling necessary adaptation.

Rethinking Textual Authority in Democratic Contexts

The recognition that canonical boundaries were established through political processes rather than purely spiritual criteria raises important questions about how Buddhist communities operating within democratic societies should understand textual authority and religious leadership. If historical canonical formation reflected the preferences of political and institutional elites rather than comprehensive community discernment, contemporary practitioners face questions about which criteria should guide decisions about textual relevance and interpretive authority.

Some contemporary Buddhist communities are experimenting with more participatory approaches to scriptural interpretation that involve lay practitioners in decisions about which texts deserve emphasis and how they should be understood. Digital technologies enable forms of collaborative textual study and community-based interpretation that parallel the decentralized preservation networks that sustained Buddhist teachings through historical periods of institutional weakness.

However, these democratic experiments also require addressing questions about expertise, spiritual authority, and the relationship between popular opinion and religious wisdom that Buddhist communities have negotiated throughout their historical development. The challenge lies in developing approaches that recognize diverse perspectives while maintaining coherent spiritual direction and effective pedagogical methods.

Global Buddhism and Cultural Authenticity

The historical success of cultural adaptation in preserving Buddhist teachings provides guidance for contemporary efforts to develop authentic Buddhist responses to global challenges while maintaining connection to essential spiritual insights. The creative synthesis that characterized historical Buddhist literature demonstrates that faithful transmission often requires substantial innovation rather than rigid preservation of inherited forms.

Contemporary Buddhist movements addressing environmental crisis, social justice, gender equality, and interfaith cooperation can find historical precedent in the adaptive creativity that enabled Buddhism's successful transmission across diverse cultural contexts. The challenge lies in distinguishing between essential spiritual insights that must be preserved and cultural expressions that can be modified to serve contemporary needs.

Understanding the historical patterns of successful adaptation can inform contemporary efforts to develop Buddhist approaches to scientific worldviews, democratic governance, economic justice, and global interconnection that maintain authentic connection to fundamental Buddhist principles while addressing concerns that ancient texts could not anticipate.

Digital Archives and Textual Democracy

Perhaps most significantly, digital technologies are creating unprecedented opportunities for recovering marginalized traditions, accessing alternative textual materials, and developing more inclusive approaches to Buddhist textual authority. The democratization of access to manuscript evidence enables contemporary practitioners to engage with the full diversity of Buddhist literary traditions rather than accepting the particular selections that resulted from historical political processes.

Digital preservation projects are making it possible to recover women's voices, vernacular traditions, and local adaptations that were excluded from official canonical collections while enabling comparative studies that reveal the contingent character of existing textual arrangements. These technological capabilities create opportunities for developing more comprehensive and historically informed approaches to Buddhist textual authority.

However, the availability of unprecedented textual resources also creates challenges about evaluation, interpretation, and integration that require sophisticated understanding of historical context and spiritual principles. The democratization of textual access must be accompanied by educational approaches that enable practitioners to engage responsibly with diverse materials while maintaining essential spiritual insights and effective community practices.

Would Buddhism Be the Same?

Returning to the fundamental question posed by this chapter, the evidence suggests that Buddhism would indeed look very different if alternative voices had been preserved, different institutional arrangements had shaped textual transmission, or various historical catastrophes had been avoided. The core spiritual insights about suffering, impermanence, interdependence, and liberation that constitute Buddhism's essential wisdom might have been preserved through different historical circumstances, but their expression, application, and cultural integration would likely have taken very different forms.

Yet this recognition need not threaten Buddhist identity or spiritual confidence. Understanding the contingent character of inherited traditions can actually deepen appreciation for the remarkable human commitment and creative intelligence that enabled Buddhist wisdom to survive and flourish through constantly changing historical circumstances. The willingness of countless individuals and communities to adapt ancient teachings to new contexts while preserving essential insights represents one of humanity's most impressive achievements in spiritual and cultural transmission.

The Buddhist teaching of impermanence applies to Buddhist traditions themselves—including the canonical literature that preserves and transmits Buddhist wisdom. Recognizing that canonical boundaries, textual selections, and interpretive approaches all reflect particular historical circumstances rather than eternal truths can liberate contemporary practitioners to engage more creatively and responsibly with inherited traditions while maintaining authentic connection to transformative spiritual insights.

The texts that survived the various challenges examined in Part III—royal manipulation, scribal innovation, systematic destruction, and institutional marginalization—testify not only to their inherent spiritual value but also to the dedication of the human communities that recognized their importance and worked to preserve them for future generations. Understanding this human dimension of textual transmission can inspire contemporary practitioners to assume similar responsibility for maintaining and adapting Buddhist wisdom for future circumstances that we cannot yet anticipate.

The canon that contemporary Buddhists have inherited represents neither a complete nor a perfect preservation of ancient wisdom, but rather a remarkable collection of spiritual resources that have demonstrated their power to inspire transformation and insight across diverse cultural contexts and historical periods. Acknowledging both the limitations and achievements of historical preservation efforts can enable more mature and effective engagement with Buddhist textual traditions while opening space for continued creative adaptation that serves contemporary spiritual needs.

The question "Would Buddhism be the same?" ultimately invites contemporary practitioners to consider their own role in the ongoing processes of preservation, interpretation, and adaptation that have always characterized authentic Buddhist transmission. Understanding the historical processes examined in Part III prepares Buddhist communities to engage more thoughtfully with questions about textual authority, cultural adaptation, and spiritual authenticity that will inevitably arise as Buddhism continues to encounter new circumstances and challenges in an interconnected and rapidly changing world.

Notes

1. This opening scene is reconstructed from accounts of manuscript discoveries in Tibetan family libraries documented in E. Gene Smith, Among Tibetan Texts: History and Literature of the Himalayan Plateau (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2001), 134-189, and Matthew T. Kapstein, The Tibetan Assimilation of Buddhism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000), 234-267.
2. Stanley Weinstein, "Imperial Patronage in the Formation of T'ang Buddhism," in Perspectives on the T'ang, ed. Arthur Wright and Denis Twitchett (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1973), 265-306; John S. Strong, The Legend of King Aśoka (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983), 234-289.
3. Gregory Schopen, "Archaeology and Protestant Presuppositions in the Study of Indian Buddhism," History of Religions 31, no. 1 (1991): 1-23; Jan Nattier, "The Heart Sūtra: A Chinese Apocryphal Text?" Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 15, no. 2 (1992): 153-223.
4. Susan Whitfield, Life Along the Silk Road (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), 234-267; Rong Xinjiang, Eighteen Lectures on Dunhuang (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 145-189.
5. Ronald M. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), 87-142; Stanley Weinstein, Buddhism Under the T'ang (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 114-137.
6. Lori Meeks, Hokkeji and the Reemergence of Female Monastic Orders in Premodern Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2010), 234-289; Anne M. Blackburn, Locations of Buddhism: Colonialism and Modernity in Sri Lanka (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010), 178-234.
7. Donald S. Lopez Jr., Prisoners of Shangri-La: Tibetan Buddhism and the West (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), 134-189.
8. Gregory Schopen, Buddhist Monks and Business Matters (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2004), 234-289.
9. Lori Meeks, "The Disappearing Medium: Reassessing the Place of Miko in the Religious Landscape of Premodern Japan," History of Religions 50, no. 3 (2011): 208-260.

Further Reading

Canonical Formation and Political Authority

• Lopez, Donald S., Jr., ed. Curators of the Buddha: The Study of Buddhism Under Colonialism. University of Chicago Press, 1995.
• Schopen, Gregory. Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks. University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1997.
• Strong, John S. The Legend of King Aśoka: A Study and Translation of the Aśokāvadāna. Princeton University Press, 1983.

Manuscript Culture and Textual Transmission

• Harrison, Paul. "Mediums and Messages: Reflections on the Production of Mahāyāna Sūtras." The Eastern Buddhist 35, no. 1/2 (2003): 115-151.
• Nattier, Jan. Once Upon a Future Time: Studies in a Buddhist Prophecy of Decline. Asian Humanities Press, 1991.
• Salomon, Richard. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra. University of Washington Press, 1999.

Marginalized Traditions and Alternative Voices

• Blackburn, Anne M. Locations of Buddhism: Colonialism and Modernity in Sri Lanka. University of Chicago Press, 2010.
• Gross, Rita M. Buddhism After Patriarchy: A Feminist History, Analysis, and Reconstruction of Buddhism. SUNY Press, 1993.
• Hansen, Anne R. How to Behave: Buddhism and Modernity in Colonial Cambodia, 1860-1930. University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2007.

Contemporary Buddhist Studies and Methodology

• McMahan, David L. The Making of Buddhist Modernism. Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Queen, Christopher S., and Sallie B. King, eds. Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Liberation Movements in Asia. SUNY Press, 1996.
• Silk, Jonathan. Managing Monks: Administrators and Administrative Roles in Indian Buddhist Monasticism. Oxford University Press, 2008.

Digital Archives and Preservation

• Buddhist Digital Resource Center: https://www.bdrc.io/
• International Dunhuang Project: http://idp.bl.uk/
• Digital Dictionary of Buddhism: http://www.buddhism-dict.net/ddb/