[Buddha-l] Literature written by the Buddha

[curt]

The primary cannon of Buddhism (or at least a third of it anyway - the 
sutta pitaka) is wholly and directly attributed to the Buddha. The catch 
is that it was all spoken by the Buddha, handed down orally for at least 
several generations, and then finally written down later. There were 
some posts recently concerning the dating of the earliest datable 
Buddhist texts - these were at least 2-3 centuries after the Buddha 
died. Another minor detail is that the dates of the Buddha's life are 
uncertain. Western Buddhist scholars tend to range over a period of 
about 200 years for the dates of the Buddha's life - while traditional 
dating within Buddhism ranges even more widely - and tends to push the 
dates back even further. Traditional Buddhist dating goes back as far as 
1000 B.C. for the Buddha - whereas western scholars are more around 
500-300 BC.

But be careful. Buddhism is not a "religion of the book". For the most 
part Buddhists do respect and hold worthy the Suttas - but these are not 
taken as the beginning and ending of all wisdom. And traditionally the 
Suttas, along with all other teachings, require explanation coming from 
someone (usually but not necessarily a monastic) who has expert 
knowledge derived from long years of study and practice, and possibly 
based on unwritten oral instructions received from one or more older 
teachers. One does not pick up (or download) Buddhist teachings, read 
them through, and then just try to figure out on your own what it means 
to you. Well, of course you could do that - but that would be

And then there's this: what the Buddha did others can do - in fact, the 
Buddha's having done it makes it easier for others to do it. Especially 
in Mahayana it is believed that there are many Buddhas (infinitely many, 
in fact) - including "living Buddhas" that might be walking around near 
you right now!

- Curt

Cameron Hughes wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> I'm new to the group, my name is Cameron Hughes and I've been studying
> Buddhism now for about four months. I had some questions about whether
> or not there was any literature written by the Buddha himself, or
> maybe a book compiling HIS own lectures or teachings, in his words.
>
> Thank you,
> Cameron
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