[Buddha-l] Are the Pali Sutta's really ancient?

[Bankei]

Thank you Bruce for the long and detailed reply. It was very helpful.

You asked if I had an example of variant manuscripts for Pali Suttas. I
don't have anything at hand, but I recall reading many a PTS translation
where the translator  had written about this. Wynne in "The Origin of
Buddhist Meditation" talks about variant readings a fair bit, but I also
believe that whole passages differed between manuscripts found in Sri Lanka
and Thailand or Burma. Does anyone have any references for this?

Thanks

Bankei