Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • Chapter 2 - The Saṅgha and the Oral Transmission

  • from Part I - Background and Context
  • Roderick S. Bucknell, University of Queensland
  • Book:
    Reconstructing Early Buddhism
    Published online:
    13 October 2022
    Print publication:
    20 October 2022, pp 25-50

  • Summary

    This chapter provides the historical context of “early Buddhism”, the roughly four centuries of oral transmission from the death of the Buddha until his teachings were written down for the first time. It recounts how Buddhist doctrine was memorised by chanting aloud, using such mnemonic devices as repetition and ordered lists; it also shows how errors in transmission could have been introduced. Such errors became more likely as Buddhism spread throughout the Indian sub-continent and beyond into Central Asia, the number of monasteries increased, and sectarian differences arose, with each school preserving its own canon. The importance of comparative textual analysis is demonstrated by reference to accounts in Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese of the Buddha’s first sermon, the founding of the Buddhist Saṅgha (order of monks), and of the First Buddhist Council.