Early Buddhist texts (EBTs), early Buddhist literature or early Buddhist discourses are parallel texts shared by the early Buddhist schools. The most widely studied EBT material are the first four Pali Nikayas, as well as the corresponding Chinese Āgamas. However, some scholars have also pointed out that some Vinaya material, like the Patimokkhas of the different Buddhist schools, as well as some material from the earliest Abhidharma texts could also be quite early.
Ashoka Minor Rock Edict No. 3
Burmese-Pali Palm-leaf manuscript
Gold Plates containing fragments of the Pali Tipitaka (5th century) found in Maunggan (a village near the city of Sriksetra)
Gandhara birchbark scroll fragments (c. 1st century) from British Library Collection
The Abhidharma are a collection of Buddhist texts dating from the 3rd century BCE onwards, which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It also refers to the scholastic method itself, as well as the field of knowledge that this method is said to study.
Depiction of the First Council at Rajgir, a painting at the Nava Jetavana, Shravasti.
Seated Buddha from the Sarvāstivādin monastery of Tapa Shotor, 2nd century CE
Buddhaghosa (c. 5th century), the most important Abhidhamma scholar of Theravāda, presenting three copies of the Visuddhimagga.
Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakośabhāsya is a major source in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism.