Quote:
Originally Posted by Searcher  As I understand it, no Buddhist scriptures were recorded in writing until at least 400 years after his death. |
The Buddha had already organized a band of disciples , to carry forth his message in his own time, and he spend many years in training them.
Around two dozen disciples of his became enlightened in his own time.
Indian society at that time was highly literate,educated and cultured, and great importance was given to scholarship. Universities and great institutions of study existed at that time.
The Taxila university in ancient India is the oldest known university on earth, and was a HIndu and Buddhist centre of learning from the 6th century BCE to the 5th century CE,and it attracted students from all over the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxila
Many of the best intellectuals in Indian society at that time became Buddha's disciples. And hence his teachings indeed were written down at that time, in order to spread them as he had exhorted his followers in India.
Ashoka ( 304--232 BC ), born two centuries after Buddha, himself built many pillars and edicts showing inscriptions of Buddha and Buddhism. He had also spoken about the constant understanding of Buddhas teachings at that time through the study of the Dhamma texts by both the monks and the laymen.
"These Dhamma texts -- Extracts from the Discipline, the Noble Way of Life, the Fears to Come, the Poem on the Silent Sage, the Discourse on the Pure Life, Upatisa's Questions, and the Advice to Rahula which was spoken by the Buddha concerning false speech -- these Dhamma texts, reverend sirs, I desire that all the monks and nuns may constantly listen to and remember. Likewise the laymen and laywomen." Minor Rock Edict Nb3 (S. Dhammika)