History of Buddhism
The councils and the Pali canon
Oral recitation, councils, and a canon first written down about four centuries after the Buddha.
Oral tradition
Buddhist tradition says the monks recited the teachings at a first council at Rajagaha soon after the Buddha's death, and a second at Vesali about a century later (Vinaya, Cullavagga 11-12). For centuries the texts were handed down by memory and recitation.
Writing it down
The Sri Lankan chronicles (Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa) report that the canon was written down at Aluvihara in the first century BC. The oldest Buddhist manuscripts that survive are birch-bark scrolls from Gandhara, from about the first century BC to the first century AD.
Compare the New Testament
Paul's letters were written about twenty to thirty years after Jesus' death, and the Gospels within the first century, while eyewitnesses were alive. Thousands of Greek manuscripts survive, the earliest fragments from the second century.
1Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us, 2even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us, 3it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus; 4that you might know the certainty concerning the things in which you were instructed.
Luke 1:1-4 (WEB) · context
16For we didn’t follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
2 Peter 1:16 (WEB) · context
1That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life 2(and the life was revealed, and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life, which was with the Father, and was revealed to us); 3that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
1 John 1:1-3 (WEB) · context
Where scholars and traditions differ
- Scholars debate how faithfully oral recitation preserved the earliest teaching; many think the core of the Pali discourses is early, while the councils' details are partly legendary.
Sources
- Richard Salomon, Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhara (University of Washington Press, 1999).
- K. R. Norman, Pali Literature (Wiesbaden, 1983).