Pieters (May 23, 1996)
Some say that the Lotus Sutra does not contain the true words of the Buddha, and that the Mahayana sutras were compiled by others later than the Buddha. What do you think about it?

Murano (June 6, 1996)
Theravada Buddhists say that the true words of the Buddha are contained in their canon only. This shows that they ignore the history of Buddhism. After the Parinirvana of the Buddha, his disciples met and compiled the words of the Buddha into sutras. The sutras were transmitted orally. Soon afterwards, heated controversies were raised as to the accuracy of some words of the Buddha. Buddhism split into twenty sects. About 400 years after the Parinirvana of the Buddha, these twenty sects were rearranged into two divisions: Theravada and Mahasanghika. Theravada Buddhism sticked to formalism. Mahasanghika Buddhism developed spiritually, and established Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism promoted philosophical interpretations of the words of the Buddha. If Buddhism ceased to develop and confined itself in Theravada formalism, Buddhism would have died out long time ago, leaving only a historical record that there was once a local religion in India called Buddhism. Buddhism became a universal religion, thanks to the great Mahayana philosophers such as Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, and so on.