For knowing what is real corruption of the Buddha-dhamma/dharma, one first needs to know historically which EBTs represents the situation with regard to the compilation of the Buddhist teachings shortly after the death of the Buddha. According to Ven. YinShun, SA/SN is an early compilation, whose structure had its origin in the first Buddhist council. Although the extant SA and SN are sectarian texts, one can seek an understanding of early Buddhist teachings by studying them comparatively.
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