The Positive Background of Hindu Sociology c10.s10.13

c10.s10.13

During these four or five centuries six Buddhist Councils (three in India and three in Ceylon) were held. At each Council the texts were being settled. This fact ought to place the chronology of the Śākyan texts on a secure footing. But the reports of the Councils themselves are anything but uniform and fail to assure any precision, especially in regard to the Śākyan texts. The result is the emergence of a question in regard to each and every document of the Śākyan (Buddhist) Canon in Pali.²⁴ Like the authenticity of Plato's dialogues in the West the authenticity of Sākya's dialogues and sermons has long been the subject of controversy in indology.