Note 223 — Chapter VII · GANDHARA MONASTERIES.

I believe it is generally admitted that the rédaction of the ‘Mahawanso,’ and other Ceylonese scriptures made in Buddhaghosha’s time, A.D. 408-420, is the oldest authentic Buddhist work we now possess. They, like the ‘Lalita Vistara,’ and other works, are founded on older works of course, but the earlier forms have been lost, and what we have is what the writers of the 5th and subsequent centuries thought they ought to be.