Original Teachings of the Buddha
The Original Teachings of the Buddha are textually recorded teachings of the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, regarded by modern scholarship as authentic. These authentic teachings are called in Buddhism Buddha Vacana (the "word of the Buddha"). Modern scholarship regards the Pali Canon (the only complete extant edition of the Tripitaka) as representing the most reliable recension of these teachings. These source teachings have given rise to the numerous schools and traditions of Buddhism that exist today.
In modern academia, the Vinaya Pitaka and the Sutta pitaka of the Pali Canon, the derivative Chinese Agamas as well as surviving fragments of the Sanskrit Canon and Gandhari Canon have been identified as containing the earliest known record of these teachings. These teachings were passed down over a period of several centuries in oral form before being committed to writing in the first century BCE.
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