Mahāyāna Buddhists in India developed numerous theories on a wide range of topics, and according to Buddhist thinkers, all such theories must relate in principle to reaching nirvāṇa, the highest goal toward which Buddhists are meant to strive. Usually a theory prescribes a specific contemplative practice that will lead the Buddhist to that highest goal, and it is understood that the practice will lead to nirvāṇa only when guided by the theory that recommends it. Indian Mahāyāna Buddhists who accepted the soteriological importance of theory thus faced some critical interpretive tasks: select, defend, and articulate the correct (i.e., soteriologically efficacious) theory among competing theories.

As Mahāyāna Buddhist thought develops, these interpretive tasks focus on philosophical texts (śāstras) that become, for one reason...