A History of Indian Literature v2.c19.s3.t1.67

v2.c19.s3.t1.67

Suttas Nos. 41 and 42 may be taken as significant of the manner in which the collection originated. The latter, with the exception of a short introduction, is literally identical with No. 41. Elsewhere, too, the same sermons or dialogues recur, only in a different setting. Thus, for example, Nos. 132-134 are only different versions of one and the same sermon. These are probably sermons which were actually delivered by the monks;²) if nothing better occurred to him, a monk would repeat an already existing sermon with slight alterations. The collectors then collected *everything*, from the lips of any preacher, on which they could possibly lay hands.³)