Table of Contents
For Students
Quizzes
Read Next
Mystical practices and esoteric sects are found in all forms of Buddhism. The mystical tendency that Buddhism inherited from Indian religion became increasingly pronounced. Following the codification of the Theravada canon—which according to tradition emerged orally shortly after the Buddha’s death and was written down by the late 1st century bce—and the subsequent emergence of Mahayana (1st century ce), this mystical element slowly developed into discrete schools of thought. Buddhist mysticism (including the philosophical school of Chan), like other forms of mysticism, insists on the ineffability of the mystical experience, because it is not intelligible to anyone who has not ...(100 of 40226 words)