Talk:Third Buddhist council

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This section was taken from the excerpt at the beginning of the Sixth Great Buddhist Council. Approved by all the venerable monks from the entire world. What is more authentic than this?

"bogus monks who held heretical views" and "In this way the Bhikkhu Sangha was purged of heretics and bogus bhikkhus" and more..., this is not language for wikipedia and your argument is not NPOV. Please, feel free to change it.Tdudkowski 23:06, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

This account presents Theravadin sources as fact. If this council actually ocurred, most modern scholars believe that it was a rather limited, local affair. Note that it is mentioned nowhere in any Buddhist source outside of the Theravadin tradition. Even the Theravadin account is very late, some 600 or 700 years after the claimed event.--Stephen Hodge 01:44, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I agree with both the above comments. The account should present, in an objective way, the information found in the Samantapasadika and other Theravadin sources, not as established fact, but as the POV of the Theravadin school. This information is of great historical interest, but this needs to be differentiated from Theravadin propaganda. In the main article on the Councils i have mentioned several different councils that could all be regarded as the third Council. I wonder whether we need to expand the articles on all these, and if so, should this be on one page or a separate page for each? Sujato

[edit] Third Council Known to Other Schools ?

I have restored the statement that the 3rd Council was unknown to other schools. As far as I know, it is not mentioned in any of the extant literature of the other schools. Please supply references if it is mentioned. --Stephen Hodge 23:47, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Influence in the West

The article mentions various possible influences of Buddhist missionaries to the West (whose very existence is a matter of dispute among scholars. I'd like to know whether any reputable scholar takes these suggestions seriously, or whether they're just amateur theorizing. Peter jackson (talk) 16:46, 12 February 2008 (UTC)