From: The Journal of the American Oriental Society | Date: July 1, 1996| Author: McDermott, James P. | COPYRIGHT 1996 American Oriental Society. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

It is generally admitted that the Nikayas of the Theravada Buddhist Pali canon consist of a number of strata, some of them earlier and some later. Text critical studies have made clear that the verses of the Suttanipata, especially the Atthakavagga and the Parayanavagga, are to be counted among the earlier strata, which present a picture of a Buddhism fairly different from what is taken by many scholars to be representative of earlier, or "primitive" Buddhism. In Indian Buddhism: A S...