Śāstra · Buddhist treatises

What does the word mean?

Śāstra, also written shastra, is Sanskrit for a treatise or instructional work. The word is used beyond Buddhism too. In Buddhist literature, it commonly names an explanatory work by a teacher or scholar. Tibetan uses tenchö (Wylie: bstan bcos).

A śāstra can clarify a difficult passage, bring teachings into a systematic account, examine a philosophical question or guide practice. It need not explain one particular sūtra line by line.

Sūtra and śāstra

Sūtra · a discourse

A scripture traditionally accepted as the Buddha’s teaching, sometimes voiced by a disciple with his approval or inspiration. Sutta is the Pāli form.

Śāstra · an explanatory treatise

A work attributed to a teacher or scholar who interprets and develops the teachings. It may be highly authoritative within a tradition while remaining distinct from Buddha-word.

This distinction describes a text’s traditional status; it does not by itself establish when a text was composed. A work’s title alone is not always a reliable guide to its category.

Is it only a Tibetan Buddhist term?

The word and the Indian works described by it predate their transmission to Tibet. Tibetan Buddhism inherited a large body of Indian treatises; it did not invent the category.

The early discourses preserved in Theravāda are called suttas. Śāstra is a Sanskrit term, whereas Theravāda’s classical textual language is Pāli. Theravāda has its own rich explanatory literature: commentaries (aṭṭhakathā), subcommentaries and independent manuals. Buddhaghosa’s fifth-century Visuddhimagga is a major example of a treatise, distinct from the early discourses it helps interpret.

Meet the texts and their authors

These examples show how wide the genre is, from philosophical argument to instructions for living.

Where the Tengyur fits

In the Tibetan canon, the Kangyur chiefly gathers translated works accepted as Buddha-word. The Tengyur gathers translated treatises and commentaries, chiefly by Indian masters. Many major śāstras are preserved there; it is a collection, rather than another name for the genre.