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modern copies, but according to time, according to date of origin. Why then continue the use of an ambiguous phraseology which may be (and which we know, from experience, will be) misunderstood? The only way to avoid endless confusion is to drop the use of it altogether. And I take this opportunity of acknowledging my error in having used it so long myself. In my Buddhism, from the fifteenth edition onwards the mistake has been corrected. So slight is the change that no one is likely to have noticed it. The word "northern " has been replaced by Tibetan," "Japanese," Mahāyanist," etc., according to the context. There has been no loss in clearness, or in conciseness, and much gain in precision.
We must take our Pali canonical books then to be North Indian, not Singhalese in origin; and the question as to whether they have suffered from their sometime sojourn under the palm groves of the mountain viharas in the south must be decided by a critical study of them in their present condition. Toward such a study there are some points that can already be made.
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BUDDHIST INDIA
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The books make no mention of Asoka. Had they undergone any serious re-editing after the reign of the great Buddhist Emperor (of whom the Buddhist writers, whether rightly or wrongly, were so proud), is it probable that he would have been so completely ignored?
The books never mention any person, or any place, in Ceylon; or even in South India. They tell us a goodly number of anecdotes, usually as intro
Shree Sudharmaswami Gyanbhandar-Umara, Surat
www.umaragyanbhandar.com
