Early Buddhism and the Early Buddhist Texts

By Early Buddhism I mean Buddhism as expressed in the Early Buddhist Texts. I do not mean Theravada Buddhism, though that is the closest surviving school of Buddhism.

What are the “Early Buddhist Texts”? I follow Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali’s definition, Early Buddhist Texts are “Texts spoken by the historical Buddha and his contemporary disciples.” These are “clearly distinguishable from all other Buddhist scripture,” notes Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali, in that “these texts originated from a single historical personality, the Buddha.”

I find it both important and helpful to describe my sources as “Early Buddhist Texts” so as distinguish them from later works that did not originate from the Buddha. All Mahayana Sutras are later inventions and can not be traced back to the historical Buddha. They were composed 400 to 600 years after the Buddha passed away.

Bhikkhu Sujato and Bhikkhu Brahmali enumerate these as being Early Buddhist Texts:

“They are the bulk of the Suttas in the main four Pali Nikayas and parallel Agama literature in Chinese, Tibetan, Sanskrit, and other Indian dialects; the patimokkhas and some Vinaya material from the khandhakas; a small portion of the Khuddaka Nikaya, consisting of the significant parts of the Sutta Nipata, Udana, Itivuttaka, Dhammapada, and Thera- and Theri Gatha.”