[Buddha-l] Back to the core values? -- and origins

[Christopher Fynn]

Bob Zeuschner wrote:
> If only the senior monks had written everything down, instead of keeping 
> it an oral tradition for four hundred years.

> How perfect is the oral tradition? There were already controversies 
> within a hundred years after the Buddha's death (Kathavathhu?).
> Bob

There are still apparently a few monks who memorize the whole Tripitaka ...
<http://www.nibbana.com/tipitaka/tipilist.htm>

I've also met a couple of Tibetan lamas who have memorized hundreds
of large volumes (each consisting of many texts). One of these Tibetan
monks also read the whole Encyclopedia Britannica & the Bible and seems to
remember large parts of these many years later after only one reading.

- Chris