The Dialogues of the Buddha, constituting, in the Pali text, the Digha and Majjhima Nikayas, contain a full exposition of what the early Buddhists considered the teaching of the Buddha to have been. Incidentally they contain a large number of references to the social, political, and religious condition of India at the time when they were put together. Who do not know for certain what that time exactly was. But every day is adding to the number of facts on which an approximate estimate of the date may be based. And the ascertained facts are already sufficient to give us a fair working hypothesis. When talk of Pali books, they are not books in the modern sense. They are memorial sentences intended to be learnt by heart; and the whole style, and method of arrangement is entirely subordinated to this primary necessity. The leading ideas in any one of our Suttantas, for instance, are expressed in short phrases not intended to convey to a European reader the argument underlying them. These are often repeated with slight variations. But neither the repetitions nor the variations introduced, and necessarily introduced, as aids to memory help the modern reader very much. That of course was not their object. For the object they were intended to serve they are singularly well chosen, and aptly introduced. Here is a reprint of T. W. Rhys Davids' translation of the Digha Nikaya, first published in in three parts in 1899, 1910 and 1921 respectively. The Digha Nikaya or