A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t1.22

v2.c19.s3.t1.22

It is evident that it was a favourite practice to utilise this famous and popular Sutta for inserting especially important texts into it, with a view to enhance their prestige by this means; thus, for instance, also the Dhammādāsa, or "mirror of religion," the solemn confession of faith in the Buddha, the doctrine and the community, was inserted.¹ The final redaction of the Mahā-Parinibbāna-Sutta can nevertheless only be of comparatively late date; for one passage speaks of the transmission and authority of the Suttas and of the Vinaya texts;² and in the concluding section of the Sutta, mention is even made of Buddha relics³ and the erection of Stūpas, *i.e.*, the same Buddha who, in the beautiful dialogue with Ānanda, still stood before us as a simple man and teacher, already appears here as the object of a cult, which is not attested by monuments until the time of Aśoka.