Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Not Exactly

The Saddharma Pundarika Sutra was supposed to be told by Buddha, but actually this sutra appeared maybe two or three hundred years after Buddha passed away. So historically we cannot say Buddha spoke this sutra. If you ask if all the sutras were spoken by Buddha, the answer may be that only parts of them were spoken by him. And they will not be exactly as he said them. Even the Hinayana sutras were not handed down by Buddha’s disciples exactly as he told them. Since even the Hinayana sutras were not told by Buddha, the Mahayana sutras could not have been told by him.

cuke.com/ig for links to the source of the photo. Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture 68-10-20 as found on shunryusuzuki.com, edited by PF. Go to instagram.com/cuke_archives for the Instagram version.