ASK THE TEACHERS

BHANTE SUJATO: In 2014 I coauthored, with Bhikkhu Brahmali, a book called The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts. The “early Buddhist texts” are essentially the main parts of the Pali suttas and vinaya, as well as the cognate texts in Chinese and other languages. We examined a wide variety of textual features: historical, linguistic, political, geographic, doctrinal, archaeological, and more. We showed that these can best be explained by the simple, rational thesis that the texts stem primarily from the teachings of the historical person known as the Buddha, as collected and edited by his followers.

There are skeptical scholars who resist this conclusion. But in their analyses they usually pick out just one or two details, scorning any serious attempt to acknowledge the nature and scope of the evidence as a whole.