An account of the formation of the canon is given in the last two chapters of the Cullavagga[627].  After the death of the Buddha his disciples met to decide what should be regarded as the correct doctrine and discipline.  The only way to do that was to agree what had been the utterances of the master and this, in a country where the oral transmission of teaching was so well understood, amounted to laying the foundations of a canon.  Kassapa cross-examined experts as to the Buddha’s precepts.  For the rules of discipline Upali was the chief authority and we read how he was asked where such and such a rule—­for instance, the commandment against stealing—­was promulgated.

“At Rajagaha, sir.”

“Concerning whom was it spoken?”

“Dhaniya, the potter’s son.”

“In regard to what matter?”

“The taking of that which had not been given.”

For collecting the suttas they relied on the testimony of Ananda and asked him where the Brahmajala[628] was spoken.  He replied “between Rajagaha and Nalanda at the royal rest-house at Ambalatthika.”  “Concerning whom was it spoken?” “Suppiya, the wandering ascetic and Brahmadatta the young Brahman.”

Then follows a similar account of the Samannaphala sutta and we are told that Ananda was “questioned through the five Nikayas.”  That is no doubt an exaggeration as applied to the time immediately after the Buddha’s death, but it is evidence that five Nikayas were in existence when this chapter was written[629].

3

Lines of growth are clearly discernible in the Vinaya and Sutta Pitakas.  As already mentioned, the Khuddaka-Nikaya is, as a collection, later than the others although separate books of it, such as the Sutta-nipata (especially the fourth and fifth books), are among the earliest documents which we possess.  But other books such as the Peta-[630] and Vimana-vatthu show a distinct difference in tone and are probably separated from the Buddha by several centuries.  Of the other four Nikayas the Samyutta and Anguttara are the more modern and the Anguttara mentions Munda, King of Magadha who began to reign about forty years after the Buddha’s death.  But even in the two older collections, the Digha and the Majjhima, we have not reached the lowest stratum.  The first thirteen suttantas of the Digha all contain a very ancient tractate on morality, and the Samannaphala and following sections of the Digha and also some suttas of the Majjhima contain either in whole or in part a treatise on progress in the holy life.  These treatises were probably current as separate portions for recitation before the suttas in which they are now set were composed.