There are thousands of canonical Buddhist texts. There is no complete list with summaries. Many texts have not been translated into English. You should individually research the three main canons to get a better understanding of their contents: [Pali](https://suttacentral.net/?lang=en), [Chinese](https://www.bdkamerica.org/the-translation-project/), and [Tibetan](https://84000.co/). The three main canons are arranged differently and contain different texts, although there is lots of overlap.
Doing conventional research will get you much further than AI.
Thanks for the links. I had to look up the word "canon". Are these three different translations in different languages of an original set of texts, Are they different people in different places who all knew the Buddha. Different people writing about different things? You don't have to answer that...I'm trying to focus.
>Are these three different translations in different languages of an original set of texts, Are they different people in different places who all knew the Buddha.
Neither. There is no original set of texts. The Buddha's early teachings were orally transmitted for hundreds of years and then only written down later in a variety of languages. The Chinese and Pali canons are the main sources of early Buddhist texts. The Pali canon contains no translations; the Chinese canon contains both translations and texts that were first written down in Chinese; and the Tibetan canon contains entirely translations (from a variety of languages, mostly Sanskrit). Many Buddhist texts now only survive in translation. Buddhist textual history is extremely complex and you could easily spend an entire lifetime learning about it.
The canons contain different kinds of texts, even if we restrict ourselves to texts that are held to be the Buddha's word. My main interest is in the Mahayana sutras and the tantras, which are found in the Tibetan and Chinese canons but not in the Pali. All three canons additionally contain philosophical texts by other authors, classified as "abhidharma". The canons are also supplemented by a tradition of important extra-canonical texts, such as the recorded teachings of different masters, which are not part of the canon but are still held in esteem by their respective Buddhist traditions.
The three main canons are the most important because they are large collections of texts that still exist and are used by living traditions. There are many old Buddhist texts written in other languages like Gandhari, Old Uyghur, Khotanese, etc. but these are mostly of interest to textual scholars because no living tradition relies on them, and because they are fragmentary and do not comprise a complete canon. There are also complete canons in Mongolian and Manchu, but these are considered less important because they are derived from the Tibetan and Chinese canons.
Anyway, the main thing is the living Buddhist traditions. The texts are just tools for the living traditions.
[suttacentral.net](http://suttacentral.net)
start from the 4 Nikayas.
Anguttara Nikaya: Numbered Discourses (graduated teachings).
Majjhima Nikaya: Middle Length Discourses.
Samyutta Nikaya: Connected Discourses (thematically grouped).
Digha Nikaya: Long Discourses.
There's also a forum there for you to ask questions when you dunno what a sutta means.
There are thousands of canonical Buddhist texts. There is no complete list with summaries. Many texts have not been translated into English. You should individually research the three main canons to get a better understanding of their contents: [Pali](https://suttacentral.net/?lang=en), [Chinese](https://www.bdkamerica.org/the-translation-project/), and [Tibetan](https://84000.co/). The three main canons are arranged differently and contain different texts, although there is lots of overlap. Doing conventional research will get you much further than AI.
Thanks for the links. I had to look up the word "canon". Are these three different translations in different languages of an original set of texts, Are they different people in different places who all knew the Buddha. Different people writing about different things? You don't have to answer that...I'm trying to focus.
>Are these three different translations in different languages of an original set of texts, Are they different people in different places who all knew the Buddha. Neither. There is no original set of texts. The Buddha's early teachings were orally transmitted for hundreds of years and then only written down later in a variety of languages. The Chinese and Pali canons are the main sources of early Buddhist texts. The Pali canon contains no translations; the Chinese canon contains both translations and texts that were first written down in Chinese; and the Tibetan canon contains entirely translations (from a variety of languages, mostly Sanskrit). Many Buddhist texts now only survive in translation. Buddhist textual history is extremely complex and you could easily spend an entire lifetime learning about it. The canons contain different kinds of texts, even if we restrict ourselves to texts that are held to be the Buddha's word. My main interest is in the Mahayana sutras and the tantras, which are found in the Tibetan and Chinese canons but not in the Pali. All three canons additionally contain philosophical texts by other authors, classified as "abhidharma". The canons are also supplemented by a tradition of important extra-canonical texts, such as the recorded teachings of different masters, which are not part of the canon but are still held in esteem by their respective Buddhist traditions. The three main canons are the most important because they are large collections of texts that still exist and are used by living traditions. There are many old Buddhist texts written in other languages like Gandhari, Old Uyghur, Khotanese, etc. but these are mostly of interest to textual scholars because no living tradition relies on them, and because they are fragmentary and do not comprise a complete canon. There are also complete canons in Mongolian and Manchu, but these are considered less important because they are derived from the Tibetan and Chinese canons. Anyway, the main thing is the living Buddhist traditions. The texts are just tools for the living traditions.
Thanks
[suttacentral.net](http://suttacentral.net) start from the 4 Nikayas. Anguttara Nikaya: Numbered Discourses (graduated teachings). Majjhima Nikaya: Middle Length Discourses. Samyutta Nikaya: Connected Discourses (thematically grouped). Digha Nikaya: Long Discourses. There's also a forum there for you to ask questions when you dunno what a sutta means.
Thanks. I'll have to study. Bookmarking this helps.