In this chapter, most references appear within parentheses in the text. A few endnotes appear immediately following the text. For complete information on both the internal references and the works cited in the notes, see the bibliography at the end of this chapter.
Individual Indian authors of the past two millennia can usually be dated accurately to within a century. But many Indian texts, especially of the older period, have undergone layer upon layer of expansion and revision; in such cases, the termini a quo et ad quem must be very widely spaced.
Indian Buddhist teachings are found in two closely related languages: Pali and Sanskrit. For the sake of consistency, unless otherwise noted, all terms are given in Sanskrit spelling. Special diacritical marks have been omitted in deference to the general reader.