The texts of the Tripitaka were collected and the Council “composed 100,000 stanzas of Upadesa Sastras explanatory of the canonical sutras, 100,000 stanzas of Vinaya-vibhasha Sastras explanatory of the Vinaya and 100,000 of Abhidharma-vibhasha Sastras explanatory of the Abhidharma.  For this exposition of the Tripitaka all learning from remote antiquity was thoroughly examined; the general sense and the terse language (of the Buddhist scriptures) was again and again made clear and distinct, and learning was widely diffused for the safe-guiding of disciples.  King Kanishka caused the treatises when finished to be written out on copper plates and enclosed these in stone boxes which he deposited in a tope made for the purpose.  He then ordered spirits to keep and guard the texts and not to allow any to be taken out of the country by heretics; those who wished to study them could do so in the country.  When leaving to return to his own country, Kanishka renewed Asoka’s gift of all Kashmir to the Buddhist Church."[194]

Paramartha (499-569 A.D.) in his Life of Vasubandhu[195] gives an account of a council generally considered to be the same as that described by Hsuean Chuang, though the differences in the two versions are considerable.  He says that about five hundred years[196] after the Buddha’s death (i.e. between 87 B.C. and 13 A.D. if the Buddha died 487 B.C.) an Indian Arhat called Katyayani-putra, who was a monk of the Sarvastivadin school, went to Kipin or Kashmir.  There with 500 other Arhats and 500 Bodhisattvas he collected the Abhidharma of the Sarvastivadins and arranged it in eight books called Ka-lan-ta (Sanskrit Grantha) or Kan-tu (Pali Gantho).  This compilation was also called Jnana-prasthana.  He then made a proclamation inviting all who had heard the Buddha preach to communicate what they remembered.  Many spirits responded and contributed their reminiscences which were examined by the Council and, when they did not contradict the sutras and the Vinaya, were accepted, but otherwise were rejected.  The selected pieces were grouped according to their subject-matter.  Those about wisdom formed the Prajna Grantha, and those about meditation the Dhyana Grantha and so on.  After finishing the eight books they proceeded to the composition of a commentary or Vibhasha and invited the assistance of Asvaghosha.  When he came to Kashmir, Katyayani-putra expounded the eight books to him and Asvaghosha put them into literary form.  At the end of twelve years the composition of the commentary was finished.  It consisted of 1,000,000 verses....  Katyayani-putra set up a stone inscribed with this proclamation.  “Those who hereafter learn this law must not go out of Kashmir.  No sentence of the eight books, or of the Vibhasha must pass out of the land, lest other schools or the Mahayana should corrupt the true law.”  This proclamation was reported to the king who approved it.  The sages of Kashmir had power over demons and set them to guard the entrance to the country, but we are told that anyone desirous of learning the law could come to Kashmir and was in no way interrupted.