[Buddha-l] Re: Where does authority for "true" Buddhism come from?

[Richard Nance]

I wrote:

> > Perhaps  you  mean  "the  Buddhist  teachings  before
> > Buddhist abhidharma hijacked history"?

Benito responded:

>    I just meant the earliest teachings.

OK, but I hope you see why I opted to phrase the point the way I did. 
Your idea of "hijacking history" (which I borrowed from one of your
earlier posts) seems closely aligned with historical attempts to shift
what counts and does not count as what the (or a) Buddha taught. My
point is that such shifts take place within Buddhist traditions
themselves; such shifts arguably comprise the very stuff of those
traditions. Without them, Buddhism *has* no history. Hence, in
protesting as you do against the hijacking of history, you may think
of yourself as guarding the tradition against misappropriation from
outside. But you may, in the process, actually be denying that
Buddhism has a history to hijack.

Best wishes,

R. Nance