________________ Sutra and Abhidharma 23 Buddha on the eve of his parinirvana laid down the four 'Great Authorities' : "In the first place Brethren, a bhikkhu may say thus : From the mouth of the Exalted One himself I have heard, from his own mouth have I received it. This is the Dhamma (Doctrine), this is the Vinaya (Law), this is the teaching of the Master. The word spoken, ........should be fully understood and then put beside the Suttas and compared with the Vinaya. If, when so compared, they do not harmonize with the Suttas and do not fit in with the rules of the order, then you may come to the conclusion : 'Verily, this is not the word of the Exalted One, and has been wrongly grasped by that brother. Therefore, brethren, you should reject it. But if they harmonize with the Suttas and fit in with the Vinaya, then you may come to the conclusion : Verily this is the word of the Exalted One and has been well grasped by that brother".?.... ... etc. This passage, occurring in one of the most important and widely respected sutras, is very interesting for the history of the authenticity of several Buddhist scriptures handed down to us. It anticipates, even during the lifetime of the Buddha the existence of several different versions and at least one authorized version of the Sutta and Vinaya collections. It is possible that this particular authorized version was accepted as the only authentic one in the First Council of Rajagliha, held immediately after the passing away of the Buddha. The omission of the term Abhidharma in this passage, in spite of its occurrence in several other suttas, points to a later period for the composition of the Abhidharma texts, traditionally claimed as the word of the Buddha. The passage itself is silent on the meaning of the tearms sutta and vinaya, but from the context we can assume 1 See Ado. p. 100, n. 1. 2 Not of the written words but of the words heard by his direct disci ples as for instance, shown in the Chullavagga: 2 yasmantam Puranam thera bhikkhu etadavochum, 'therehi, avuso Purana, dhammo sangito upehi tam sangitim ti', 'susangitavuso therehi dhammo cha vinayo cha, api cha yatheva maya Bhagavato sammukha sutam sammukha patiggahitan tathevaham dharessami ti'. "Vinaya, Vol. II, p. 290.
