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I don't think that the definition is correct. I think that Shastra means an art/ craft/ technical/ practical or professional knowledge, not knowledge in the general sense- Artha Shastra, Vastu Shastra, etc., KRS 09:16, 20 Nov 2003 (UTC)
I think the problem arises due to the difficulty in pronouncing the two different words shastra and shaastra. The first one has a truncated 'a' in the middle. The current definition is for shaastra not shastra.RH
Dr. Yutang Lin says here: "Parallel to the Heart Sutra, I have written an article entitled "The Heart of Sublimation through Limitless-Oneness Compassion Sastra." Because it has been written by me, not something given by Buddha, it cannot be called a "Sutra"; it is called a "Sastra." In Buddhism, Buddhists are allowed to offer their theses as long as they are consistent with the Sutras, and those are called "Sastras."
http://en.allexperts.com/e/s/sh/shastra.htm
http://lionsroar.name/tantric_glossary.htm
"shastra (S): A treatise upon or exposition of a sutra; a Mahayana texts that expounds the meaning of the sutra or group of sutras. The Indian Mahayana schools grew from an attempt to systemasize the teachings of two groups of sutras. The Madhyamaka school clarifed and categorized the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) sutras, while the Yogacarin school did the same for the "idealist" sutras, the earliest being the Samdhi-nirmocana (c. 2nd c.) and later the Lankavatara (4th c.). A number of the shastras are traditionally attributed to Maitreya, as received by Asanga, founder of the Yogacarin school. These texts include the Uttaratantra Shastra (Ratnagotravibhaga-mahayana-uttaratantra-shastra, or "Analysis of the Jewel Matrix, Supreme Tantra of the Universal Vehicle." Other shastras attributed to Asanga include the Madhyantavibhaga, Mahayanasutra-lamkara, and the Abhisamaya-lamkara. These and shastras attributed to his brother Vasubhandu would be preserved, mostly in Tibet, but also in China where they would influence the doctine of the Fa-hsiang, or Chinese Yogacarin school.
Both Yogacarin and Madhayamaka shastras were transmitted to China, largely due to the efforts of Central-Asian scholar/translator Kumarajiva. Several Indian Buddhist schools were entirely transplanted to China with their Indian form more or less intact, including Kumarajiva’s "Three-Shastra School," based on Madhyamaka shastras by Nagarjuna and Aryadeva and a Yogacarin shastra by Vasubhandu.
1.Madhyamaka Shastra 2.Dvadashamukha Shastra 3.Shatika Shastra: 100 verses, 32 words each. By Vasubhandu.
The Satyasiddhi Shastra, written by Harivarman and translated by Kumarajiva,was the text upon which on which the Hinayana Satyasiddhi sect based its doctrine. It was a Hinayana variation of the Sunyata (emptiness) doctrine. The term is defined as perfectly establishing the real meaning of the Sutras."
,some of it to be inserted within the article's page.
