4 INTRODUCTIONBuddhism-viewed as a whole through the more than 2,500 years of its
history-has been remarkably diverse. Although some writers have tried to
maintain that the similarities among the various expressions of Buddhism are
more important than the differences, a close look at those differences will
show that they touch on issues that are most basic to the religion. Nonethe-
less, a continued close look at the development of the tradition shows that
there have been men and women in every Buddhist country who have tried
to bring their country's Buddhism into line with what they understand as the
Dharma-Vinaya. Thus the attempt to reform the tradition to conform to its
original sources-what modern critics of such attempts have branded "Protes-
tant Buddhism"-is actually an integral part of the tradition itself and not sim-
ply the result ofWestern prejudices. As we will see in the following chapters,
the history of Buddhism is in many ways the story of how the tension be-
tween these two tendencies-the need to adapt to a culture and the desire to
remain true to the essence of the original teaching-has kept the religion alive.
From the historian's point of view, both the tendency to adapt and the ten-
dency to hold to an original standard qualifY as valid components ofBud-
dhism. In pointing out how a particular culture's presuppositions have shaped
its perception and practice of Buddhism, or in comparing particular expres-
sions of Buddhism with what is known of the original teachings, we are not
attempting to pass judgment on the inherent worth of those expressions. In-
stead, we are simply attempting to provide an intellectually honest and intelli-
gible portrait of changes and contipuities in the Buddhist tradition.
In the course of writing this text, the historical method has occasionally
forced us to take sides on issues that have divided Buddhists themselves. One
of these issues concerns the relative ages of the various sources. Two of the
"vehicles" of the Buddhist tradition-Hinayana and Mahayana-claim that
their earliest texts go back to the time of the Buddha himself, whereas the
third vehicle, Vajrayana, claims that its texts go back even further in time.
Comparative reading of the texts, however, reveals that the Mahayana texts
themselves assume the preexistence of the Hinayana texts, and the Vajrayana
texts assume that of the Mahayana. At the same time, the major rules of the
Pratimok~a codes, generally recognized as being early by all schools of thought,
outline a religious life that harmonizes better with the Hinayana discourses
than with their Mahayana or Vajrayana counterparts. Thus, in discussing the
early history of the religion, we have given preference to the Hinayana ac-
counts; Mahayana and Vajrayana accounts appear at later points in the narra-
tive. Among the Hinayana texts, the Pali Canon long had the field to itself as
the only available source, but this situation has changed in recent years, as frag-
ments of other Hinayana Canons have come to light. These fragments differ
from the Pali in some details, but these differences do not touch on the major
doctrines. Thus, in discussing the story of the Buddha's life, we have com-
pared two different Hinayana versions-the Pali discourses, preserved by the
"southern" branch of Buddhism, and Asvagho~a's Buddhacarita, preserved by
the "northern" branch-to give a sense of the variations among the Hinayana
schools. In detailing the early doctrine, however, we have followed the Pali