+3 votes
by (250 points)
by (18.8k points)
Do you mean like a study to prove that the Tipitaka is actually what the Buddha preached?
by (250 points)
Maybe an historical analysis on why the content of the tipitaka is the actual teachings of the Buddha.

I discussed with some people and one of them told me nothing of what the Buddha said was written down until at last 500 years after his death, so it's merely creative imagination to report what he "said" about anything. In fact, throughout history what is attributed to the Buddha is basically just the views of one monk writer or another framed as the words of the Buddha so as to assume authority. Yes, of course such writings have constituted Buddhism, but it would be naive to imagine that writers were quoting the Buddha's exact words hundreds of years later.

This is in the context of a discussion where he said there was historical evidence of monks working as fortune tellers in traditional buddhist countries like Burma, thailand, etc.

I told him such things were seen as animal arts by the Buddha as it is clearly evidenced in DN 2.
by (250 points)
I already found a text of Ven Sujato and Ven Brahmali argumenting for the authenticity of the Pali Canon, Thank you very much.
by (18.8k points)
You're welcome!
by (250 points)
I already found a text by Venerable Sujato and Venerable Brahmali it's a middle way (pun intended) between historical evidence for the Pali canon and complete lack of evidence for it, thank you very much

2 Answers

+1 vote
by (18.8k points)
I doubt that there is anyway to scientifically prove that the content of any religious book is what the author of that religion actually said, unless it is a religion originated fairly recently.

Having said that, it is common practice in the Theravada Buddhist tradition to try to preserve the original teachings of the Buddha without altering them to fit the popular opinions of the time. That is why it is known as the school closest to the original teachings of the Buddha.

There have been many Buddhist councils in the past headed by enlightened monks to eliminate wrong teachings that crept into the Buddhist society from time to time. I recommend you to study about them.

Transmitting the teachings orally from generation to generation can actually work better in preserving the Dhamma in some ways compared to writing them down. Because a wise teacher is capable of making a student understand the meanings of teachings better than any written material. From personal experience, I have seen people who tried to learn the Dhamma by reading the Suttas on their own without a proper teacher and often getting the meanings wrong.
by (250 points)
I already found a text of Ven Sujato and Ven Brahmali argumenting for the authenticity of the Pali Canon, Thank you very much.
by (18.8k points)
You're welcome!
0 votes
by (3.0k points)

If you're interested in papers you might want to check the site academia.edu

Not everything you can find there is a paper btw. But there are a lot of them. There are books, articles, studies posted. All sorts of stuff.

You also might find Analayo Bhikkhu of interest. He is a Buddhist scholar and does a lot of research in early texts and comparisons to Chinese texts and such.

by (250 points)
I already found a text by Venerable Sujato and Venerable Brahmali it's a middle way (pun intended) between historical evidence for the Pali canon and complete lack of evidence for it, thank you very much
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