A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t1.26

v2.c19.s3.t1.26

Whilst the Mahā-Parinibbāna-Sutta is a mosaic composed of earlier and later pieces, other Suttas belong entirely to a later stratum of tradition. The Suttas (especially in Book I) in which Buddha appears as a human teacher only, cannot possibly have been written at the same time as the Mahā-Apadāna-Sutta (No. 14), "the great discourse on the miracles (of Buddha)" in which the dogma of the six Buddhas,¹ who are said to have been the precursors of Gotama Buddha, is already taught, and in which the entire Buddha legend, adorned by numerous miracles, especially all the miracles of the conception and birth of Buddha, is recited.² The Lakkhaṇa-Sutta (No. 30) also belongs to the same stratum of tradition. This Sutta enumerates the 32 signs of a "great man"; the man who has these physical marks, must become either a ruler of the world, or a saviour of the world, a Buddha. There is no doubt that Buddha, like the majority of his contemporaries, believed that by continued meditation one could attain to all sorts of supernatural powers (iddhis) and become a kind of superman. However, he expressly declared it unworthy of a monk and dangerous for the doctrine, to attempt to exert influence over a layman by means of magic of this nature, rather than by means of teaching and persuasion, and the "miracle of instruction."[^3) For this reason it is certain that the main portion of the Pāṭika-Sutta (No. 24) in which Buddha not only takes part in a miracle-working competition with other ascetics, but also boasts grandiloquently of his marvellous powers, represents a later stage of the tradition. As a matter of fact, this Sutta is a very miserable compilation, in which only the beginning is ancient, and all the rest is an inferior admixture.¹