[Adimos]

To your first question.

As i understand a divine being as Buddha was after he become enlightened he only needed to say the words for his disciples/ followers to understand and to become more enlightened them too. so yes he could have asked Ananda to have written it down, but did Ananda know how to write? I dont know the answer to that question, but i guess he could not write.

As far as i know the teachings of Buddha was only written down some generations after he was here giving his teachings. So the words that was spoken of Buddha can of course have been a bit changed in the time that has passed, also when translated into other languages some of the words can be misunderstood, all this i am aware of but in general Buddhas words are still our teaching and this is what we have to try to become enlighten from too.

Your question about mind completely free from knowledge : this i am not agree about. When you cultivate Buddhism the heavenly knowledge will be more and more opened for us when we read and study the text that we have today. and you dont need to get rid of it as you say, as i understand it, it is the attachment to all that we have to get rid of. you have to let your mind become totally free.

Your third question: -no i have not noticed that the Asian Buddha statues missing the ears and so i dont know why they do it.

best regards, The thinker