"Early Buddhism" and the Spin Zone?

[sujato]

I’d like to contribute if I may by giving some more background on the Uttaravipatti Sutta, AN 8.8, cited in the OP. My comment here grew rather long, so I have made it into a separate post here:

On AN 8.8 Uttaravipatti

The Uttaravipatti Sutta, AN 8.8 is the only place in the Pali to support the thesis that “what is well spoken is the word of the Buddha”. Of course, saying that what is well-spoken is Dhamma is a rather different claim, a claim of principle rather than history. Here is my translation of the sutta, with a few remarks below. ##8 Uttara on Failure At one time Venerable Uttara was staying on the Saṅkheyyaka Mountain in the Mahisa region near Dhavajālikā. There Uttara addressed the mendicants: …

But the basic point is simple: AN 8.8 is the only sutta in the EBTs to claim that what is well spoken is spoken by the Buddha. But it is clearly a late sutta, and is not evidence that this idea is original, but that it was a late addition. Moreover, it is spoken by a narrator who may well be unreliable.