The title of this chapter refers to the term used in the Pali canon to enumerate the eighteen-stage path of practice said to have been followed by the Buddha to attain liberation. Comparison of this Pali sequence with parallel accounts in other schools preserved in Chinese enables certain discrepancies to be identified, and a discussion follows as to how these might have arisen. The chapter then notes the existence of two shorter paths in which the number of steps is reduced to thirteen by omitting five supernormal knowledges or to eleven by further omitting the first two of the three knowledges that the Buddha gained on the night of his enlightenment. By comparing all three lists and taking account of the Buddha’s own description of what he experienced that night, it is concluded that the thirteen-stage path is in all probability the earliest version.

Buddhist origins and discussion of the Buddha’s teachings are amongst the most controversial and contested areas in the field. This bold and authoritative book tackles head-on some of the key questions regarding early Buddhism and its primary canon of precepts. Noting that the earliest texts in Pali, Sanskrit, and Chinese belong to different Buddhist schools, Roderick S. Bucknell addresses the development of these writings during the period of oral transmission between the Buddha’s death and their initial redaction in the first century bce. A meticulous comparative analysis reveals the likely original path of meditative practice applied and taught by Gotama. Fresh perspectives now emerge on both the Buddha himself and his enlightenment. Drawing on his own years of meditative experience as a Buddhist monk, the author offers here remarkable new interpretations of advanced practices of meditation, as well as of Buddhism itself. It is a landmark work in Buddhist studies.