84000 Glossary of Terms

Our trilingual glossary combining entries from all of our publications into one useful resource, giving translations and definitions of thousands of terms, people, places, and texts from the Buddhist canon.

ཆོས་སྨྲ་བ། | Glossary of Terms

  • ཆོས་སྨྲ་བ།

  • chos smra ba
  • dharmabhāṇaka
  • dharma­kathika
  • Term
Publications: 14

Speaker or reciter of scriptures. In early Buddhism a section of the saṅgha would consist of bhāṇakas, who, particularly before the teachings were written down and were only transmitted orally, were a key factor in the preservation of the teachings. Various groups of dharmabhāṇakas specialized in memorizing and reciting a certain set of sūtras or vinaya.