Early Buddhist Oral Tradition
Textual Formation and Transmission
Analayo Bhikkhu
- 312 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Early Buddhist Oral Tradition
Textual Formation and Transmission
Analayo Bhikkhu
About This Book
A fascinating investigation into the formation and transmission of the early Buddhist oral tradition. For hundreds of years after his death, the Buddha's teachings were transmitted orally, from person to person. In this volume, acclaimed scholar-monk Bhikkhu Analayo examines the impact of such oral transmission on early Buddhist texts, be these monastic rules, verses, or prose portions of the early discourses. He scrutinizes various oral aspects of these texts, surveying evidence for memory errors, the impact of attempts at systematization, and instances of additions and innovations. Finally, he explores the implications of the nature of these texts as the final product of centuries of oral transmission and evaluates the type of conclusions that canâand cannotâbe drawn based on them.