The Word of Buddfta: Scriptures and Schools 47
to examine and consider the teaching in order to see if it con-
forms to what they already know the teaching to be.^18 This is not
quite as subjective as it sounds. The discourses of the Buddha
as preserved in the Nikayas do not of themselves constitute a
systematic exposition of Buddhist thought with a begiml.ing,
middle, and end. Each discourse is rather presented as a more
or less self-contained pi~ce on a particular theme. And yet, the
discourses as a whole do contain quite explicit indications of how
these various themes relate to each other and fit together to form
an overall structure and pattern.^19 The final criterion for judging
a teaching lies in an appreciation and understanding of this
overall structure and pattern of the teaching. Thus at times the
question of who originally spoke the words appears irrelevant to
the tradition: 'Whatever monk, nun, male or female layfollower,
god or ... Brahma might teach and proclaim Dharma, it is all
considered as taught and proclaimed by the Teacher [i.e .. the
Buddha].'^20 Nevertheless the principle that certain texts repres-
ent the primary 'word of the Buddha', while others are the sec-
ondary work of commentators and scholars, remains significant
to the Buddhist tradition. And the question of just which texts
are to be counted as the word of the Buddha has, at particular
points in the history of Buddhism, been a critical one.
The term abhidharma (Pali abhidhamma) means approxim-
ately 'higher' or 'further' Dharma. In many ways the extant works
of 'the basket of Abhidharma', the third part of the ancient
canon of Buddhist scriptures, can be seen as continuing the pro-
cess of systematization already evident in the Nikayas. That
some form of commentary and interpretation formed part of
Buddhism almost from its inception is indicated by certain of
the sutras in the Nikayas. The Mahiivedalla Sutta, for example,
recounts how a nun is approached and asked to comment on
certain technical terms of the Buddha's teaching;^21 in the Vinaya