Authenticity of Pali Canon

[Tad]

Hello dear friends,

How much or Pali canon is authentic and can possibly be traced to actual Buddha's teachings? I know Jhananda has done a very in depth study but I do not remember a discussion about this.

Having read a lot of suttas as welll as various discussion and scholarly works, I think it is reasonable to say that some suttas might contain words that Buddha said himself. Some are likely to be created by monks for propagation of Buddhism. Some are probably made up by senior monks for instilling discipline in slacking monks. Lasty, some might have simply been corrupted by human error.

[Jhanananda]

Hello, Tad, it is good to read a message from you again. You pose an interesting question which I have been pondering for decades. We have had debates on this subject before. It is clear to me that some apocrypha is in the Pali Canon. How much is apocrypha is a big question. There are questions that we can ask to help us narrow down the authenticity of suttas in the Pali Canon. For instance:
1) Why are there almost no references to Siddhartha Gautama's father in the Pali Canon?
2) Why did it all get filtered through Ananda who was Siddhartha Gautama's cousin?
3) What would compel Siddhartha Gautama's cousin, Ananda, to give up his ruling class position to join his cousin, Siddhartha, in his homeless, mendicant lifestyle?
4) While the term 'vipassana' is lionized in Theravadan Buddhism; nonetheless, it is a minor term in the Pali Canon, suggesting it is apocrypha, meanwhile Theravadans demonize jhana. Why?
5) The kasina has been discussed here, and by a few Theravadan Buddhists; nonetheless, it is a minor term, suggesting it is apocrypha.

In conclusion we can only test the authenticity of any religious literature by maintaining a fruitful meditation practice.

[Tad]

Hi Jhananda,

Thanks for response. These are interesting questions that I have not thought about. I would add to the list the fact that the canon does not have a clear and non contradictory explanation of Buddha's sequence of enlightmen. How is possible that he practiced arupa jhanas with other teachers and only later started doing 1-4 jhanas?

[Jhanananda]

Hi Jhananda,

Thanks for response. These are interesting questions that I have not thought about. I would add to the list the fact that the canon does not have a clear and non contradictory explanation of Buddha's sequence of enlightmen. How is possible that he practiced arupa jhanas with other teachers and only later started doing 1-4 jhanas?

This is a good question. I explain this by recognizing that the 4 immaterial (arupa) jhanas are Out-of-Body experiences, and while there is a community of people who have been reporting Out-of-Body experiences and astral projection; nonetheless we don't see them getting enlightened, although arguably traveling Out-of-Body certainly enlightens one that there is more than the material world. And, the OOBE crowd don't really understand the significance of the 4 material (rupa) jhanas, although they observe them, but they are in a hurry to get Out-of-Body and do not realize that spending time in the 4 jhanas is transformational, and essential for developing dispassion for the material world, which is why I emphasize them here.

[Tad]

Thanks, Jhananda. Your explanation makes a lot of sense.

[Jhanananda]

You are welcome.