SuttaCentral
In the introduction to the book we define authenticity: the suttas themselves say that they originate from the Buddha and some of his most prominent disciples, and we argue that this is mostly true.
Here is a quote from the Abstract:
A sympathetic assessment of relevant evidence shows that it is very likely that the bulk of the sayings in the EBTs that are attributed to the Buddha were actually spoken by him. It is very unlikely that most of these sayings are inauthentic.
thank you, so you as well are talking of a degree of likelihood rather than of a proven fact
There is no such thing as proof in this area. It’s all just likelihood of one degree or another. Personally I cannot see any other explanation for the existence of the suttas.
Why not? Contemporary external independent evidence of Buddha Gotama’s existence as a spiritual teacher would have served as a sufficiently solid proof.
The doctrinal core of the Canon is certainly a product of a someone’s thought, but whether it was Buddha Gotama or some other person we as of yet cannot know.
Well, no matter whether the suttas are literally the word of the Buddha, or have been somewhat organised and edited at later times, the point I was trying to make above is that there are many suttas describing the sort of practices discussed in the OP,. It would seem to be inaccurate to refer to it as a “strange meditation technique”.
As far as I can see, there are a variety of approaches in the suttas, taught to different people at different stages of development. There is no “one true technique” for all practitioners at all times.
Thanks everyone for their views and healthy discussion and special thanks to Aj @Brahmali , I’ll be reading your research work on authenticity of early texts. Again and again, I find this community helpful in understanding teachings better and more clearly.
Much thanks and gratitude.