The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c35.s4.6

v1.c35.s4.6

The summary (*supra*, pp. 192-7) of the known facts as to the age of the early Pāli literature is there stated with the utmost brevity. For longer accounts see Rh. D., Buddhist India, pp. 140-209; Dialogues of the Buddha, I, ix-xx, and II, 70-7; Winternitz, Gesch. d. ind. Lit. II, i, 17-139. Oldenberg's introduction to Vinaya Texts, S.B.E. XIII (1881) is still the best critical discussion of the growth of the Vinaya literature. A similar study of the growth of the Abhidhamma is much required. Steps towards such a study have been taken by Mrs Rhys Davids in Buddhist Psychology (London, 1914), chap. VII, pp. 134-55.