gs recorded have an air of
authenticity. In the suttas the strong side of Hindu memory is brought
into play. Of consecutive history there is no question. We have only an
introduction giving the names of some characters and localities followed
by a discourse. We know from the Vinaya that the monks were expected to
exercise themselves in remembering these things, and they are precisely
the things that they would get rightly by heart. I see no reason to
doubt that such discourses as the sermon preached at Benares[642] and
the recurring passages in the first book of the Digha-Nikaya are a Pali
version of what was accepted as the words of the Buddha soon after his
death. And the change of dialect is not of great importance. Asoka's
Bhabru Edict contains the saying: _Thus the good law shall long endure_,
which is believed to be a quotation and certainly corresponds pretty
closely with a passage in the Anguttara-Nikaya[643]. The King's version
is _Saddhamma cilathitike hasati_: the Pali is _Saddhammo ciratthitiko
hoti_. Somewhat similar may have been the differences between the
Buddha's speech and the text which we possess. The importance of the
change in language is diminished and the facility of transmission is
increased by the fact that in Pali, Sanskrit and kindred Indian
languages ideas are concentrated in single words rather than spread over
sentences. Thus the principal words of the sermon at Benares give its
purport with perfect clearness, if they are taken as a mere list without
grammatical connection. Similarly I should imagine that the recurring
paragraphs about progress in the holy life found in the early Suttas of
the Digha-Nikaya are an echo of the Buddha's own words, for they bear an
impress not only of antiquity but of eloquence and elevation. This does
not mean that we have any sermon in the exact form in which Gotama
uttered it. Such documents as the Samannaphala-sutta and Ambattha-sutta
probably give a good idea of his method and style in consecutive
discourse and argument. But it would not be safe to regard them as more
than the work of compilers who were acquainted with the surroundings in
which he lived, the phrases he used, and the names and business of those
who conversed with him. With these they made a picture of a day in his
life, culminating in a sermon[644].

Like the historical value of the Pitakas, their literary value can be
justly estimated only if we remember that they are not books in our
sen