Buddhist literature

collection of traditional narratives of the previous lives of Buddha before his last life as Gautama

thumb|360px|A Sanskrit manuscript page of [[Lotus Sutra (Buddhism) from South Turkestan in Brahmi script]] thumb|360px|A manuscript page from Kalpa Sūtra (Jainism)

parable from the ancient Indian subcontinent, in which several blind men feel and try to conceptualize an elephant

Avadāna (Sanskrit; Pali: Apadāna) is the name given to a type of Buddhist literature correlating past lives' virtuous deeds to subsequent lives' events.

variety of Sanskrit used in Buddhist texts

standard formula to introduce Buddhist discourses

Buddhist texts composed in Sanskrit