Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c30.131

c30.131

In general the monasteries confined their studies and teachings within the limits of the Buddhist Canon, whether Vinaya, Abhidharma, or Sūtra, but we find one or two instances where these usual limits seem to have been transgressed by the inclusion of some subjects of study not strictly connected with the traditional Buddhist Scriptures. We read of a monk in a monastery in Laghman producing a notable work on magical invocations, which was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese (i, 182), while in some of the monasteries in Udyāna the monks became distinguished as "experts in magical exorcisms" (p. 226). Some monasteries specialized in the study of Yoga texts (ii, 227). According to I-tsing, monasteries had provision for instruction in both sacred and secular literature.