The History of Buddhist Thought c28.11

c28.11

There have been disputes between scholars as to the relative value of the Sanskrit and Pāli sources. Burnouf’s documents belonged chiefly to late schools, and it was impossible in his time to distinguish those portions which really were comparatively early. Then the Pāli Canon was discovered. It was more complete than anything else that had been found. It claimed, like the Sanskrit works, but with more vraisemblance, to be the actual word of Buddha, and it was on the material of this Canon that expositions of Buddhism were written by Pāli scholars. The protests of the Sanskritists were largely unavailing; as a matter of fact