The History of Buddhist Thought c20.16

c20.16

About the state of the Canon in the time of Asoka neither the Edicts nor the Chronicles tell us anything positive, but much can be concluded from a comparison of the existing recensions. We have seen that the structure of the Vinaya must have been by this time already fixed, and this harmonizes with the importance attributed to the Sangha by Asoka. But the legendary portion of the Vinaya was always liable to addition. Any rule could be expounded by adding a story to explain its origin. This went much further in the Sarvāstivāda Vinayas than in the Pāli.¹ In Ceylon, on the other hand, the Vinaya seems to have more early become a closed text, probably when it was introduced into the island in a written form. It contains no legends, or legends disguised as prophecies, referring to the period of Asoka.