History and Archaeology

[Guest guest]

Thank you Prafulla for your email suggesting archeo-astronomy, which is a

helpful suggestion for attempting to provide reliable dates.

 

I have posted a number of files to this group on the subject, the latest being

'Cooking the Buddhist Books', which concludes:

 

" Do the similarities between the creative and persuasive arguments for dating

the historical Buddha offered by Hajime Nakamura and Richard Gombrich resolve

the issues entertained by Heinz Bechert's remarkable Göttingen symposium?

Hardly! But their postulated dates for the Buddha suggest that much new work on

this topic is both necessary and required if we are to have a clearer

understanding of the first centuries of Indian Buddhist history. Considering the

enormous importance of the history of the councils, the work and mission of the

Vinayadharas, and the role of the great Indian King Asoka in early Indian

Buddhism, we have little time to lose. "

 

Yes, there is little time to lose.