[Buddha-l] Question for academic teachers of Buddhism

[Curt Steinmetz]

Richard P. Hayes wrote:
> He probably had no wishes at all on this topic, since it is now believed to be 
> unlikely that there were any written languages in his day. What is well known 
> through the Pali canon is that he did not wish his teachings to be chanted, 
> and he did not wish Sanskrit to be used as the medium of transmission. (The 
> Buddha depicted in the Pali canon clearly would not have liked Mahayana very 
> much, since it used Sanskrit and went wild with chanting. But the Buddha of 
> the Sanskrit canons did not like the Buddha of the Pali canon very much. They 
> were obviously entirely different buddhas.)
>
>   

None of this takes into account the evidence presented to Nagarjuna by 
the snake people. Or is that the evidence presented to us by Nagarjuna 
on behalf of the snake people? Either way. Also, and very conveniently 
for us Mahayanists, it turns out there are lots of Buddhas - skads of 
them. No one knows for sure how many - well, except for the Buddhas of 
course - and maybe the snake people.

And, besides, isn't it true that the earliest extant Buddhist texts are 
Mahayana texts written in Ghandari from the first century AD? At least 
that's what I read on teh Internet.

Curt Steinmetz