The History of Buddhist Thought c28.s1.4

c28.s1.4

The disciples felt these difficulties, for we find in the Scriptures a discourse attributed to Buddha giving four rules for determining the genuineness of any doubtful passage. We can accept the fact that the monks found these rules necessary and made use of them, without supposing that Buddha, forseeing the difficulties to come, actually formulated them. The rules are, (1) if a monk says that he has heard directly from the Lord anything as being the Dhamma, the Vinaya, or the teaching of the Master, it is to be compared with the Sutta or shown to exist in the Vinaya. If it does not correspond, it is not the word of the Lord, and is to be rejected. The same method is to be used (2) if a monk says he has received it from an assembly (*sangha*) of monks with a leader, or (3) from a number of learned elders who have acquired the Āgamas, and who know by heart the Dhamma, the Vinaya, and the Mātikā, or (4) from such a single learned elder.¹