Earliest Buddhist Teaching?

[xmp333]

Hi,


I am interested in the earliest exposition of Buddhist philosophy/religion in general.  That is, what have scholars dated as the earliest text that exposits Buddhism as a whole, as opposed to a handling of a specific circumstance (like death)?

I'm interested in a single teaching and not a corpus.  It need not go into detail either.

If no such thing exists (due to fragmentary texts), are there any proposed reconstructions?

Links to the (English) texts would be greatly appreciated.

I have done some web searches, but am unsure if the results are correct, especially given the more
recent Gandharan finds.


Thanks in Advance!

[santamonicacj]

I have done some web searches, but am unsure if the results are correct, especially given the more
recent Gandharan finds.

To the best of my knowledge the Gandharan texts are the oldest copies we have of Buddhist scripture. However they are not reliable as they have anachronisms in them, such as the Buddha speaking to local kings that were centuries removed.

Historians generally consider the Pali Canon as the standard accurate Teachings.

[t]

Historians generally consider the Pali Canon as the standard accurate Teachings.

Not forgetting their close cousin the Agamas...

[Lobster]

Hi,

I am interested in the earliest exposition of Buddhist philosophy/religion in general.

Ask this guy he studies it for a living
and has a forum of other Buddhist scholars somewhere.
Say a little Lobster sent you . . .
http://dayamati.blogspot.com/