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A year or so ago an ex-New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) German Tibetan Buddhist living in a monastery in Italy referred me to an article online for $35 that (he claimed) proved that the Pali Canon was invented by Western Orientalists. Since I didn't have $35 to spend at the time I didn't order the article, and now I've lost track of it. Anybody know the article and its location that I am referring to or have any information about this somewhat dubious claim?

Just to clarify, I am asking whether you know the title, author, or location of the article. There is no doubt about the article's existence - I saw it (I just didnt buy it). I believe it was located on one of those academic websites where you have to pay for articles, if that helps. Secondarily, I am also interested in what the article's author's argument might be.

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    Controversy is an effective tool to sell merchandise. There are many such time wasting trash available all over the internet. – Sankha Kulathantille Aug 25 '16 at 14:48
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    Without genralizing westerners I can that many academic scholars in the west try to beat down non-western culture and religion. A huge battle is already goin on between Hindu insiders(practitioners) vs scholars of Hinduism who are outsiders(non-practitioners). They try to force fit Indian history into biblical cronology, use Marxist theory to see who oppressed whom in the scriptures, etc(try to instigate fight between Hindus & Buddhits). Would be interesting to know what menance this author was up to. – Bharat Aug 25 '16 at 15:14
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    if it were true scholastic or research paper, it would have been available for brutal no-mercy peer review. Just saying. –  Aug 25 '16 at 15:55
  • Everyone: if you're able to answer this question, please post an answer not a comment. – ChrisW Aug 25 '16 at 17:03
  • Related Evidence of Pali Canon's Origin – Louis Aug 25 '16 at 18:58
  • @ChrisW Countless times I've seen you say "that doesn't answer the post" but this is the first time I ever saw you delete a post. Are you going to delete all the others that don't answer the question? – Lowbrow Sep 05 '16 at 09:06
  • @Uilium My understanding/policy based on this topic is that I delete questions that are "not an answer", if-and-only-if other users flag and/or downvote the 'answer'. But other users usually don't flag or downvote, and so I don't delete: instead I post a comment, in case the author will to revise it to make it a closer answer to the question. OTOH I deleted this answer, not just because it wasn't an answer but because of this policy. – ChrisW Sep 05 '16 at 09:28
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    @ChrisW I see. The actual deleting might be easily automated if conditions are "not an answer"(as determined by moderator) and it's been flagged and downvoted X amount of times. I'm surprised people flagged it. I don't think UrsulRosu was implying the OP was doubting the Pali Canon. – Lowbrow Sep 05 '16 at 15:09

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I have found an article that may be the article I asked for. It certainly seems to approximate to what I remember about the person who made the statement to me that "Western Orientalists invented the Pali Canon" and the academic article I found online (except that I article I saw was not free). It is "The Buddhist Canon and the Canon of Buddhist Studies" by Oliver Freiberger and is published by the Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies at https://journals.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/index.php/jiabs/article/view/8951.

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    I think it's important to plainly state that the author of this article is not saying that Westerners wrote the Pali canon or even that they were responsible for it's current canonical organization. All he's saying is that Buddhism as it is studied academically - specifically the practice-based emphasis found in most university programs - is largely a Western construct. It's very much Marxist critique on current academic study. I'd even go so far as to say that it's a valid one. –  Nov 02 '16 at 17:27
  • My question is about the identity of the article referenced by the individual with whom I was communicating, and is not a statement about what the author of the article did or did not say. –  Nov 08 '16 at 05:10
  • Gotcha. I just think your original question comes off as looking for an article that states that Westerners invented the Pali canon whereas this article proposes something vastly different. –  Nov 08 '16 at 13:21
  • Remember that this was the interpretation of a third party, and not necessarily accurate. Also, this may not be the actual article either. Any other suggestions are welcome. Incidentally, it was Tenzin Peljor. If anyone knows this individual's work and beliefs, maybe they can come up with an alternative suggestion. –  Nov 11 '16 at 16:33
  • "I will argue that the image of the canon as being consistent, one-dimensional, and purely normative—an image that underlies the current rejection of canonical texts—is to a large extent the product of a ‘canonization’ carried out by earlier generations of scholars...A considerable number of scholars have become critical of the traditional, historical-philological paradigm...In the course of this trend, the role of the Pali canon in Buddhist Studies has been subject to critical examination....The Pali canon appears as one among many representations of Buddhism, but as a rather unexciting one." –  Nov 11 '16 at 16:42