Though many Buddhist teachings may not actually have been directly taught by the Buddha,
Sangharakshita has nonetheless drawn unfailing personal inspiration from the Buddha’s life. That life,
as recounted in the Pali Canon, is a source of example and guidance for him in his own life and work.

The Unity of Buddhism Page 7
Extracted from Sangharakshita: A New Voice in the Buddhist Tradition by Dharmachari Subhuti


He sees that ultimately Buddhism springs from the Buddha’s experience of Enlightenment. The Buddhais therefore the basis of the historical unity of Buddhism, since all schools descend from him in unbroken
historical continuity. The Buddha must therefore be the starting point for a consideration of the Buddhisttradition as a whole.

It is now almost impossible to say with any certainty exactly what words the Buddha spoke - we do noteven know precisely which language he used. Nonetheless there is found in the scriptures of all schools,
and therefore predating their division from each other, a core of common material about the Buddha’slife and teaching. This common core contains what Sangharakshita calls, borrowing a phrase fromChristmas Humphreys, ‘Basic Buddhism’: all the classic formulae of Buddhist doctrine such asconditioned co-production, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and the Three Characteristics.
These are the basic teachings of Buddhism, contained in the oldest texts of all schools and accepted byall Buddhists. On them

rest, as on an unshakeable foundation, the loftiest superstructures and dizziest pinnacles of later Buddhist

Doctrine and Method.25

They are the necessary starting point for any serious study of Buddhism, for

without a previous knowledge of the earlier formulations of the Buddha’s Teaching as preserved in either

the Hinayana or the Mahayana collections of canonical literature, understanding of the later and often more

elaborate formulations is impossible.26

Basic Buddhism then provides the doctrinal unity of Buddhism.

Basic Buddhism, as recognised by all schools, is as near as we can get to the original teaching of theBuddha. However, even within the earliest scriptures some evolution can be discerned. Textual analysisreveals that some portions are earlier than others, and behind them we can sense what Sangharakshitahas called ‘pre-Buddhist Buddhism’: Buddhism, in the period immediately following the Buddha’sEnlightenment, before he had developed the doctrines and institutions later identified as Buddhism.
Behind the formalisms of the texts we catch a glimpse of the Buddha himself, struggling to communicatehis experience to others, without the framework of language and thought that became Basic Buddhism.
Sangharakshita regards this glimpse as very important. It reveals a picture of the Buddha that, no doubt,
strikes a resonance in one who himself is trying to communicate those same truths in a new context.
However, its importance is more general. It ensures that we do not see the Buddha as a polishedchurchman, giving scholarly talks and issuing administrative orders. We see him, Sangharakshita says,
more like a wild shaman in the vast and lonely jungle, as yet with few words to convey his new and vitalmessage. This glimpse of the unselfconscious origins of Buddhism helps us to see that spiritual life issomething natural and immediate, not necessarily involving sophisticated superstructures of doctrine ororganisation.

However, gradually the Buddha did develop the teachings of Basic Buddhism and the institutions of hisnew movement. After his Enlightenment, the Buddha gradually evolved a body of teachings and aspiritual community that directly expressed his own Enlightened experience. This is Buddhism at itsmost unified and harmonious.

The equilibrium between its various aspects and elements was necessarily absolute, for it was the product

of an Enlightened and hence perfectly balanced mind.27
The authority of the Buddha’s person and the comprehensiveness of his teaching harmonised all thelatent divergences of a growing and disparate movement. Whatever their temperaments or personalinclinations, under his influence all his disciples felt themselves to be members of a single spiritualcommunity, following a single path to a single goal. Sangharakshita calls this period of harmony

‘Archaic Buddhism’.

I think one could regard Archaic Buddhism as lasting roughly one hundred years. That is to say, during the

Buddha’s teaching life and the lifetime of at least the third generation of disciples after him.28
Within this era of the Buddha’s immediate personal influence, elements of all the later developments inBuddhism are discernible. Out of tendencies present in the Buddha’s own teachings gradually emergednew teachings and practices. This is, argues Sangharakshita, a natural and healthy phenomenon. Spirituallife is rich and multifaceted and it is impossible to exhaust every dimension and aspect of it.
Comprehensive and profound as was his teaching, the Buddha touched on many themes whoseimplications he never worked out in detail. Different disciples and groups of disciples developed thesetendencies latent in the original teaching, elaborating them more fully and working out thoseimplications.