Most people think of Buddhism as a spiritual practice that focuses on meditation in order to achieve a transcendent experience of awakening. In this approach, words and concepts are silenced in favor of pure experience. But what about the guiding words of the Buddha and his awakened followers? Are these also to be jettisoned? In this Alumnae College session, presented during All Reunion Weekend 2012, Jamie Hubbard, Professor of Religion and Yehan Numata Lecturer in Buddhist Studies, talks about the Buddhist approach to scripture, its preservation and transmission, and the role that it plays in the Buddhist tradition, as well as in the academic study of Buddhism.