The Mission Accomplished

The book begins by explaining that the author’s aim is to study the themes of the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta in historical perspective. The first chapters compare the Pāli version with Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Chinese recensions, then examine the structure of the sutta and its development through additions and interpolations. Subsequent chapters discuss three extended discourses connected with the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta, the date of the Great Decease, the First Council, the earliest record of a cremation ceremony, the position of women in the dispensation, docetic elements in the portrayal of the Buddha, early concepts of authority, Theravāda discipline, Pāṭaliputta, Buddhist ideas of gods, stanzas in the sutta, philosophical concepts, and the path of training. The final chapters and appendices address the figure of the Buddha in the sutta, the meaning of “Tathāgata,” Tibetan omissions and additions, major subjects discussed in the text, stanza indexes, bibliography, and abbreviations.