in oneself while cultivating “universal respect” for the
inherent buddhahood of all other sentient beings.
The Sanjie community was headquartered at Huadu
and four other monasteries in the capital city of
Chang’an, though it had communities throughout
China. In their monastic life, members followed a typ-
ical regimen that included a wide variety of contem-
plative practices, penitentiary rituals, veneration of the
buddhas, devotional liturgies, chants, the seeking of
alms, and the like. Perhaps reflecting their emphasis
on recognizing the evil in oneself, Sanjie communities
were extremely rigorous in these practices and pun-
ished even small infractions. The best-known Sanjie
institution was the charitable Inexhaustible Storehouse
(Wujinzang), which lent goods free of interest to the
poor and needy.
In spite of its popularity, Sanjie was suppressed five
times between 600 and 725. It is hard to know the ex-
act reasons behind the suppressions, for there was
nothing particularly radical or socially dangerous
about Sanjie teachings, practices, or institutions—
indeed, they were typical of many other groups of the
time. There was also no common theme linking the
suppressions: Some edicts banned Sanjie texts from the
canon, others aimed at its institutional base at Huadu
Monastery, and others attacked unspecified practices.
The reign (684–705) of Empress Wu saw both imper-
ial support for the Inexhaustible Storehouse and sup-
pression of Sanjie scriptures, though none of the
attacks ever actually eliminated the movement. The
treatment Sanjie received does show the political na-
ture of religious institutions and the important yet
ephemeral nature of orthodoxy.
See also:Apocrypha; China; Persecutions
Bibliography
Buswell, Robert E., Jr., ed. Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha.Hon-
olulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1990.
Hubbard, Jamie. Absolute Delusion, Perfect Buddhahood: The
Rise and Fall of a Chinese Heresy.Honolulu: University of
Hawaii Press, 2001.
JAMIEHUBBARD
SANSKRIT, BUDDHIST LITERATURE IN
Buddhist literature in Sanskrit is a large and diverse
category. It consists of both canonical and non-
canonical materials, the latter ranging from anony-
mous narrative collections and ritual manuals
through technical treatises, poetry, and plays written
by known individuals. Two distinct languages are used
in this category: Sanskrit and so-called Buddhist Hy-
brid Sanskrit. Sanskrit is the ancient prestige language
of Indian culture, first known through collections of
hymns called Vedas dating from the second millen-
nium B.C.E., and later systematized in a generative
grammar by Panini (fourth century B.C.E.). In brah-
manical Hindu religion, Sanskrit is seen as the natural
language, that which would be spoken by any person
if not trained in a vernacular as a child, and as such
represents reality more closely than external phe-
nomena perceived through the senses. The ability to
compose in Sanskrit—requiring precise control of its
complex inflectional system, and in verse the capacity
to reproduce artfully a variety of metrical patterns—
was seen as the epitome of educated civilization. Bud-
dhist Hybrid Sanskrit (hereafter BHS) is the language
of a text called the MAHAVASTUand of most MAHAYANA
sutras, that is, discourses attributed to the Buddha. It
has been denoted by this name since the publication of
a dictionary and grammar of the language by Franklin
Edgerton, but has also been called “Buddhist Sanskrit,”
“mixed Sanskrit,” and “the gathadialect” (reflecting the
fact that it is most commonly found in the verses, gatha,
of Mahayana discourses). The origin and nature of
BHS is disputed, Edgerton preferring to view it as the
result of an incomplete process of translation into San-
skrit of materials originally composed in a vernacular,
prakrit.This was not a formal attempt at translation
but a gradual process of influence reflecting the pres-
tige of Sanskrit proper in the broader community
(Edgerton, sect. 1.34). BHS texts vary in character, par-
ticularly in the degree to which they employ vernacu-
lar grammatical forms. Later BHS texts are identified
as such largely through their vocabulary, their gram-
mar being that of standard, if simple, Sanskrit. In the
eyes of traditionally trained pandits and even some
Western scholars, BHS has appeared to be a highly in-
correct, even barbaric, language requiring correction.
The work of defining BHS continues, as texts are edited
anew with greater sensitivity.Canonical literature
Whereas for the MAINSTREAMBUDDHIST SCHOOLS, the
CANONwas defined in terms of an exclusive tripitaka,
both the Mahayana and VAJRAYANAtraditions utilized
a more flexible, inclusive concept of canon that al-
lowed, alongside the tripitaka,the incorporation of a
large number of texts claiming to be BUDDHAVACANA,SANSKRIT, BUDDHISTLITERATURE IN