吳老擇教授曾期待有人對梵文《長阿含經》寫卷多作介紹。
目前存世的「長阿含/長部」有三本，一是法藏部的《長阿含經》(也就是《大正藏》編號T1的《長阿含經》)，二是巴利文獻的《長部》(巴利五尼柯耶的次序是《長部》、《中部》、《相應部》、《增支部》、《小部》)，三是梵文說一切有部的《長阿含經》(不全)。Charles DiSimon 的 "A Brief Introduction to the Mūlasarvāstivāda Dīrghāgama Manuscript from Gilgit" (吉爾吉特發現的根本說一切有部《長阿含經》寫卷)：
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此一根本說一切有部《長阿含經》寫卷可能是在巴基斯坦和阿富汗邊境附近的某個地方發現的。然而，僅靠一些學者在倫敦一家珍本古書店鑑定出它。這份手稿的內容包含多部佛教經典，這些重要的教義主要在建立對佛教生起深信；但是，經過輾轉抄寫而來的此份手稿也存在許多訛誤，和未細心校讀。
為什麼如此重要的經本集未在應有的悉心之下抄寫？
當今的佛教通常被分為大乘(The Great Vehicle)或上座部(長老學派)傳統。雖然許多人經常將這兩種部派視為對立的教派，其中大乘佛教是較為保守的上座部佛教的自由派分支，但這種理解佛教的方式是不正確的。大乘佛教根本不能算是佛教的一個部派，而是應該看作「起源自傳統主流(即早期)佛教部派中的一種社會運動，而其中含有許多分支」。人們也普遍認為，上座部傳統是現今尚存的唯一的主流佛教部派。這也不完全正確。雖然他們誦讀的佛經不同，但當今東亞和喜馬拉雅地區的大乘比丘和比丘尼仍然分別遵循法藏部或根本說一切有部的戒律，這些與上座部傳統一樣，都是佛教的主流部派。雖然上座部、法藏部和根本說一切有部的戒律都還現存，但根本說一切有部的許多經典已經失踪了許多世紀。法藏部的一些經典存有漢譯本，但是原版的巴利文獻仍然保存著上座部的「經、律、論」佛典，這讓許多人不恰當地高估了巴利文獻的權威。
去了幾趟倫敦古董書店，怎樣改變了「巴利文獻至上」的舊思維呢？
The Mūlasarvāstivāda Dīrghāgama manuscript was probably found somewhere around the Pakistan and Afghanistan border area. However, it was only identified by scholars in a London rare book shop. The content of this manuscript consists of canonical discourses of the Buddha making the text very important for the Buddhist faith and yet, the manuscript was copied with many errors and a general lack of care. Why was such an important text collection copied without the expected care?] Buddhism as it is practiced today is often distinguished into either Mahāyāna (the Great Vehicle) or Theravāda (the School of the Elders) traditions. While many often view these two as rival schools where Mahāyāna is the liberal offshoot from the more conservative Theravāda, this way of understanding Buddhism is not correct. The Mahāyāna is not a school of Buddhism at all, but rather, its origins were as a sort of social movement within the traditional Mainstream (i.e., early) Buddhist schools, of which there were many. It is also commonly believed that the Theravāda tradition is the only remaining Mainstream Buddhist school that is still extant. This too, is not exactly correct. While their sūtras (discourses of the Buddha) are unique, Mahāyāna monks and nuns today in East Asia and the Himalayan region still follow the vinayas (monastic rules) of either the Dharmaguptaka or Mūlasarvāstivāda traditions respectively, which were, like the Theravāda tradition, Mainstream Buddhist schools. Although the vinayas of the Theravāda Dharmaguptaka, and Mūlasarvāstivāda traditions are all extant, much the sūtras of the Mūlasarvāstivāda had been missing for centuries. The Dharmaguptaka sūtras are preserved in Chinese translation and those of the Theravāda are still extant in their original Pali, giving them an undue air of authority in the eyes of many. How did a trip to an antique bookshop in London change all this?
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