Сообщение от
ALBERT J. EDMUNDS
when the monk Purâ.na was informed that the Elders had recited and fixed the Canon, whereto he was asked to bow, he politely replied: "Gentlemen, the Doctrine and Discipline have been beautifully chanted in chorus by the Elders; but, all the same, I shall maintain what I heard and received from the mouth of the Blessed One exactly as I heard it." Now Purâ.na was the leader of a party of five hundred--a symbolical number, meaning a large body; and the same number is attached to the orthodox party. Therefore, from the moment of Buddha's death, there were at least two recensions of the Canon maintained by parties of equal strength. The documents here set before us by Suzuki plainly proclaim the existence of rival recensions, agreeing in fundamentals, but differing in arrangement and extent.