The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c9.27

v1.c9.27

Nor probably is it safe to insist¹ that the period between the older Upaniṣads and Buddhism must be one of several centuries, and thus to increase the antiquity of these Upaniṣads, and consequently of the Brāhmaṇas and Saṁhitās. We have no means of estimating the rate of advance of thought in the period in question, and a further serious difficulty must be faced by those who wish to establish an early date for the Upaniṣads. The developed doctrines of Buddhism cannot be proved to be those of the Buddha, or to date from even the fifth century b. c.,² so that it is in all likelihood wiser to content ourselves with the belief, rather than the absolute assurance, that a date before 500 b. c. may reasonably be assumed for these Upaniṣads.³ To assert a much greater antiquity is easy and it has the advantage of increasing the interest of the study of the Upaniṣads, but there seems little satisfaction in beliefs which cannot be supported by any serious evidence.