Studies in the Origins of Buddhism c8.136

c8.136

At the end, this section (III) purports to set down B’s farewell speech recommending the seven lists that constitute the 37 Bodhipakkhiyas. Then follows the leave-taking and finally a few verses. It is a little remarkable that the words reported to be Buddha’s last⁴² should also have been uttered by him three months before his death. Is it not better to suppose that whoever composed this sermon thought to add to its appearance of authenticity by appending to it some acknowledgedly authentic words of the Master, forgetting the difference in context?