Studies in the Origins of Buddhism c19.37

c19.37

or contemplative way.²⁷ The precise determination of what Buddha taught positively as spiritual discipline presents difficulties. According to D.s. 16 the dying charge of the Master was what later came to be called the 37 Bodhipakkhiya dhammas.²⁸ Here the order of the various groups in the list is "just a matter of arithmetical progression, as elsewhere; first the fours, then the fives, the sevenfold, the eightfold."²⁹ On the other hand, the order of these very groups in SN. V. is more erratic, and what is more, the eightfold Maggo here occupies the first instead of the last place. This suggests that the report in DN. sutta 16 reflects a later stage, when ordering had become more systematic, and when the importance of the eightfold Path had somewhat receded.³⁰