Dhammapada is not "a teaching of the Buddha himself"? A &quot;moderator&quot; from certain sect, corrected a post (not sure why it came up there...), telling:

Dhammapada is not &quot;a teaching of the Buddha himself&quot;. Jains have a text which is 90% the same, so looks like it comes from before Buddha.

It would be interesting to read this pre-Buddha-Dhammapada, is such actually exist, to possible look then if it is &quot;the same&quot; or just as such assume-able, as:

...there are Jain anthologies that contain verses clearly related to some of those found in these Buddhist anthologies...

So the question here would be to react, either with support or with rejecing such claims (which have serious effects if wearing a mods hat), in ways that may provide things possible new to the Buddhas gathering.
Wishing inspired and concentrated googleing.
[Note that this isn't given for stacks, exchange, other world-binding trades, but for an escape from this wheel]
None of the teachings were from the Buddha &quot;himself&quot;.
Although, that is the &quot;truth&quot; I cannot explain why; and neither can anyone else that knows.
Experience for oneself the teachings as real... that's all to be grasped at, until &quot;beyond teaching&quot; occurs. Living Dhamma is basically the same thing Christians call the living word. However, expecting anyone else to &quot;save you&quot; is delusion the concept of Christ is the same as the Buddhist concept of: Anagamin (once returner) To hell with all that waiting and suffering those those poor people are bringing and doing to the world!
Arhat same thing as a Buddha. A Buddha is said to arise once every hundred years from any and all traditions from all walks of life...
Get to know the skandhas... that's my advice; those are the bridges built between the three poisons. See Jealousy trying to be a bridge between greed and hate; without jealousy greed and hate can't even form can't even link up... the entire mass known as house builder falls apart.