Buddha: His Life, his Doctrine, his Order c8.27

c8.27

The development of the traditions of Buddha corresponds as closely as possible to these parallel illustrations. His disciples had begun at an early date to fix those discourses which the great teacher had preached, or at any rate, discourses after the method and manner in which he had delivered them, and to deliver these to the Church. They did not omit to note where and to whom he had uttered or was supposed to have uttered each word; this was necessary in order to fix in concrete the situation, and thereby to place the authenticity of the respective words of Buddha beyond all doubt. But, when Buddha said so and so, they did not ask. The narratives begin: At one time—or: at this time the exalted Buddha was tarrying at such and such a place; as far as dates go, this is worthless. People in India have never had any organ for the when of things: and in the life of an ascetic, such as Buddha was especially, year after year rolled by so very uniformly that it must have appeared to them superfluous to ask: When did this or that happen? When was this or that word uttered?—provided any one had ever thought at all of the possibility of such a question arising.*