Part 2 - Sanskrit canon of Buddhist literature

We know the existence of a Sanskrit canon of the Sarvāstivāda school of Buddhism from following sources:

1. Large and small fragments discovered from Eastern Turkestan (central Asia) by Sir A. Stein, A. Grunwedel, P. Pelliot and others.
2. Quotations in other Buddhist Sanskrit texts (like Mahāvastu, Divyavadāna and Lalitavistara).
3. Chinese and Tibetan translations.

From these sources we know the existence of 4 Āgamas composed in Sanskrit:

(i) Dirghāgama, corresponding to Pāli Digha-nikāya.

(ii) Madhyamagama, corresponding to Pāli majjhimāgama.

(iii) Samyuktagāma, corresponding to Pāli Samyutta-nikāya.

(iv) Ekottarāgama, corresponding to Pāli Anguttara-nikāya.

(v) Ksudrakāgama, corresponding to the khuddaka-nikāya of Pāli.

(vi) No Complete copy of Sanskrit canon has come down to us. The existence of a Sanskrit Vinaya-pitaka is indicated by fragments from central Asia and Nepal, quotations in other Sanskrit texts and from Chinese and Tibetan translation.

It is not certain whether the collection of seven texts of the Abhidharma, translated from Sanskrit to Chinese, also belong to Abhidharma-pitaka.

There seven texts are:

1. Sangiti-paryāya
2. Dharma-skandha
3. Prajñapti
4. Vijñanakāya
5. Dhatukāya
6. Prakarana
7. Jñana Prasthāna

The seven books are all extant in Chinese translations but in the Tibetan version there exists only the Prajñapti sastra while the Sanskrit originals have been lost. These seven books have nothing in common with Abhidhamma-pitaka of the Pāli canon except the number seven and a few titles.