The History of Buddhist Thought c20.19

c20.19

The scepticism which sometimes exists with regard to the antiquity of these collections often results from a shallow analogy with theories of Biblical tradition. The Buddhist Scriptures do not as a whole form a sacrosanct entity. It is true, as Asoka said, that whatever has been spoken by Buddha has been well spoken, but that does not make the whole Canon verbally inspired. This was fully recognized by the old commentators, who knew quite well that much of it was spoken by disciples. We find them from time to time pointing out that certain passages were added later, as they say, by the sangītikāras, the holders of the Councils. A modern critical analysis, even if it could be convincingly achieved, would doubtless go further. For our present purpose it is only necessary to recognize a body of ancient tradition common to all the older schools, which contains traces of development, but no evidence of violation of the primitive teaching.