I am trying to read through Vasubandhu's Abhidharmakosa, and I noticed that the translator's introduction mentions something called an 'Autocommentary'.

I could not find any entries for this word in the online dictionaries, but find that this is commonly used in a lot of Abhidharma text translations.

Any advice on this would be really helpful.

EDIT: Or really any good Discord server for discussing buddhism from an academic perspective

Can you cite examples of the Buddha changing/improving/modifying his teachings overtime?

Hello everyone, can someone help me with the textual (or non-textual) sources for the date of the Buddha's birthday? I'm not really talking about the year, although that's interesting too, I'm talking about the month and day of the month. I would like to know which texts record on what day of the year the Buddha was born, and what the earliest texts were which record that day. I would also like to know how Buddhist countries, especially Theravāda countries, arrived at their dates for the Buddha's birthday. Are there claims related to the date found in the Pāli Canon and its (sub-)commentaries? It's very difficult to find information of a scholarly level on this topic online. Thank you very much!

Project 84000 has released a sutra on Manjusri, in the foot notes a long mantra is referenced in Sanskrit. Can anyone translate this? I have it in text form if needed. I tried chatgbt but still need to validate it.

We all know the Five Precepts, though depending on the school we are practicing in, there might be different numbers (5, 8, 10, 16...). My question aims to the Pali Canon, i.e. the Theravada beliefs.

When reading through different sutta, I have the view that there were two different tradtions of early precepts. In the Digh Nikaya, 11 - Kevaddha Sutta, the Buddha gives an overview about the ethics. The first four are the same as the Five Precepts (not kill, steal, abuse, lie). But the fifth is about low chatter/ gossipping. I have seen similar lists all over the Pali Canon.

On the other hand, in the Samyutta Nikaya, in the Pancasikkhapada Sutta (SN 14.25 - German edition), the traditional five are given with the fifth about intoxicants.

Are there any studies about these different lists? Why was the fifth precept sometimes given as low chatter, but then accepted as about intoxicants?

What are the skills and opportunities we will get. What can be the career options.

Has anyone read Estudios budistas en América Latina y España (vol. I), edited by Jaime Vallverdú and Daniel Millet (not "Miller") (Tarragona: Fundación Dharma-Gaia, 2023)? It's available on ResearchGate and looks interesting. It's billed as the first of a two-volume series. My Spanish is rudimentary, so I'll probably approach it by reading an article here and there rather than straight through.