On * Numbered Discourses 5.155 / 16. The True Teaching / # The Decline of the True Teaching (2nd) it is said “It’s when the mendicants memorize the teaching—statements, songs, discussions, verses, inspired exclamations, legends, stories of past lives, amazing stories, and classifications. This is the first thing that leads to the continuation, persistence, and enduring of the true teaching.”
DOES that mean Jathaka is part of Pali Cannon / EBT ? and we have to know all these things for " lead to the continuation, persistence, and enduring of the true teaching."
No, that only refers to the Buddha’s times when the dhamma was transmitted by memorization. Nowadays it is recorded in written form. It doesn’t refer to the individual’s understanding of the dhamma, which is described here:
“When, on observing that the monk is purified with regard to qualities based on delusion, he places conviction in him. With the arising of conviction, he visits him & grows close to him. Growing close to him, he lends ear. Lending ear, he hears the Dhamma. Hearing the Dhamma, he remembers it. Remembering it, he penetrates the meaning of those dhammas. Penetrating the meaning, he comes to an agreement through pondering those dhammas. There being an agreement through pondering those dhammas, desire arises. With the arising of desire, he becomes willing. Willing, he contemplates (lit: “weighs,” “compares”). Contemplating, he makes an exertion. Exerting himself, he both realizes the ultimate meaning of the truth with his body and sees by penetrating it with discernment.”—Majhima Nikaya 95
This means the student reads from a teacher who is relevant to his stage of progress, and compares that teaching with what they already know, gradually increasing the body of understanding through penetrating overall meaning. It only refers to suttas relevant to the student’s progress.
The four noble truths show logical development one to the next, and that is the quality the practitioner needs to look for in building sutta understanding:
" The essence of the Buddha’s teaching can be summed up in two principles: the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. The first covers the side of doctrine, and the primary response it elicits is understanding; the second covers the side of discipline, in the broadest sense of that word, and the primary response it calls for is practice. In the structure of the teaching these two principles lock together into an indivisible unity called the dhamma-vinaya, the doctrine-and-discipline, or, in brief, the Dhamma. The internal unity of the Dhamma is guaranteed by the fact that the last of the Four Noble Truths, the truth of the way, is the Noble Eightfold Path, while the first factor of the Noble Eightfold Path, right view, is the understanding of the Four Noble Truths. Thus the two principles penetrate and include one another, the formula of the Four Noble Truths containing the Eightfold Path and the Noble Eightfold Path containing the Four Truths.
Given this integral unity, it would be pointless to pose the question which of the two aspects of the Dhamma has greater value, the doctrine or the path. But if we did risk the pointless by asking that question, the answer would have to be the path. The path claims primacy because it is precisely this that brings the teaching to life. The path translates the Dhamma from a collection of abstract formulas into a continually unfolding disclosure of truth. It gives an outlet from the problem of suffering with which the teaching starts. And it makes the teaching’s goal, liberation from suffering, accessible to us in our own experience, where alone it takes on authentic meaning."—Bikkhu Bodhi
Ajahn Mun knew nothing about agamas or translations, but proved in application the efficacy of basic dhamma to individual practice.
