Our FBA Dharmabyte today is an extract from the talk and#8220;Mahayana Buddhist Scripturesand#8221; by Nagapriya entitled: and#8220;Imagery, Myth and Symboland#8221;. Nagapriya gives an overview of the vast literature of Mahayana Buddhism in this talk. He discusses how the new texts emerged, why so many are still preserved, and how they found legitimacy in the larger Buddhist tradition. He also lays out how Mahayana texts are different than those of the Pali Canon, why they emphasize imagination and myth, and why it remains useful for modern Buddhists to explore them despite their length and repetition.

Talk given at Manchester Buddhist Centre, 2009, as part of the series Visions of Mahayana Buddhism.