Studies in the Origins of Buddhism c6.47

c6.47

dasz Gotama Buddha, der Erhabene, ein Tathāgata (so gegangene) sei, d.h. dasz Gotama selbst den in D. II. 40. 97 vorgeschriebenen Heilsweg zur Erlosenden Erkenntnis zurückgelegt habe.”³⁴ A certain homogeneity of ideas and style, of course, cannot be gainsaid, but the similarities of words, phrases and paragraphs pointed out by Franke, are not sufficient to prove his thesis which takes an inadequate notice of the differences. To explain this “identity-in-difference” we must resort to the hypothesis that the Nikāyas are frequently ‘edited’ texts embodying doctrines deriving from a common source.³⁵