I’ll just have to finish going over and annotating all the suttas, updating my translations, updating the introductory essays, and some other things, then I’ll be able to get right to it!
But seriously I would love to, but my main focus at the moment is identifying possible points of connection so we can start to paint a more meaningful picture. Just for example, we’re interested in the question of how samadhi evolved. Okay, fine. But how significant is that from the texts’ point of view? Like, how many references do we have to say, sacrifice? How many to brahmin privilege? How many to the Self? How many to popular worship? As far as I can see, we don’t really have any position at the moment to really get a perspective on what kinds of things are related to what, and what is most important.
As just an example, my research this morning led me down the background for the name of the town Devadaha—a place of some significance in Buddhism, as it is the home of Maya and Pajapati. It seems, and I’m summarizing a complex situation here, that the name means “burned by the god”, indicating that Agni worship was established there, i.e. it was Aryanized. This points to the role of Brahmanical culture in establishing kingship in the Sakyan region, something already indicated by the use of the Brahmanical name Gotama (taken from the high priest’s clan).
Point being, we might be into meditation, but the texts are also interested in the establishment of kingship. If we really want to understand what the texts are saying, we need a little less, “what do they tell me about this thing I’m interested in”, and a little more, “what are they interested in?”
Ha ha, if you insist!
BTW, just to let you know that it was reading your post for too long yesterday that made me miss my train and be late for my Dhamma talk! Just be a bit more considerate about writing compelling and interesting posts in future, okay?! 