Sutta Pitaka
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The Sutta Pitaka (suttapiṭaka; or Suttanta Pitaka; cf Sanskrit सूत्र पिटक Sutra Pitaka) is the second of the three divisions of the Tipitaka or Pali Canon, the great Pali collection of Buddhist writings, the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. The Sutta Pitaka contains more than 10,000 suttas (teachings) attributed to the Buddha or his close companions.

Contents

Origins

The scriptures tell how the First Council held shortly after the Buddha's death collected together the discipline (vinaya), and the dhamma in five collections. Tradition holds that little was added to the Canon after this. Scholars are more skeptical, but differ in their degrees of scepticism. Dr Richard Gombrich, Academic Director of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, former Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University and former President of the Pali Text Society, thinks most of the first four nikayas (see below) go back to the Buddha, in content but not in form.[1] The late Professor Hirakawa Akira says[2] that the First Council collected only short prose passages or verses expressing important doctrines, and that these were expanded into full length suttas over the next century. L. S. Cousins, former lecturer in the Department of Comparative Religion at Manchester University and former President of the Pali Text Society, holds[3] that in early times sutta was a pattern of teaching rather than a body of literature. Dr Gregory Schopen, Lecturer in Sanskrit, Tibetan, and Buddhist Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, says[4] that it is not until the fifth to sixth centuries C.E. that we can know anything definite about the contents of the Pali Canon.

Contents

Pali Canon
    Vinaya Pitaka    
   
                                       
Sutta-
vibhanga		 Khandhaka Pari-
vara
               
   
    Sutta Pitaka    
   
                                                      
Digha
Nikaya		 Majjhima
Nikaya		 Samyutta
Nikaya
                     
   
   
                                                                     
Anguttara
Nikaya		 Khuddaka
Nikaya
                           
   
    Abhidhamma Pitaka    
   
                                                           
Dhs. Vbh. Dhk.
Pug.		 Kvu. Yamaka Patthana
                       
   
         
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There are five nikayas (collections) of suttas:

  1. Digha Nikaya (dīghanikāya), the "long" discourses.
  2. Majjhima Nikaya, the "medium-length" discourses.
  3. Samyutta Nikaya (saṃyutta-), the "clustered" discourses.
  4. Anguttara Nikaya (aṅguttara-), the "gradual collection".
  5. Khuddaka Nikaya, the "minor collection".

Digha Nikaya

This includes The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, The Fruits of the Contemplative Life, and The Buddha's Last Days. There are 34 long suttas in this nikaya.

Majjhima Nikaya

This includes Shorter Exposition of Kamma, Mindfulness of Breathing, and Mindfulness of the Body. There are 152 medium-length suttas in this nikaya.

Samyutta Nikaya

There are, according to one reckoning, 2,889 shorter suttas clustered together by subject.

Anguttara Nikaya

These teachings are arranged numerically. It includes, according to the commentary's reckoning, 9,557 short suttas grouped by number, from ones to elevens.

Khuddaka Nikaya

This is a heterogeneous mix of sermons, doctrines, and poetry attributed to the Buddha and his disciples. The contents vary somewhat between editions. The Thai edition includes 1-15 below, the Sinhalese edition 1-17 and the Burmese edition 1-18. (For details of these editions see Pali Canon.)

  1. Khuddakapatha
  2. Dhammapada
  3. Udana
  4. Itivuttaka
  5. Suttanipata
  6. Vimanavatthu
  7. Petavatthu
  8. Theragatha
  9. Therigatha
  10. Jataka
  11. Niddesa
  12. Patisambhidamagga
  13. Apadana
  14. Buddhavamsa
  15. Cariyapitaka
  16. Nettipakarana or Netti
  17. Petakopadesa
  18. Milindapanha

Translations

The first four nikayas and more than half of the fifth have been translated by the Pali Text Society[1]. The first three have also been translated in the Teachings of the Buddha series by Wisdom Publications, with a translation of the fourth in preparation.

Selections (including material from at least two nikayas):

  • Buddhist Suttas, ed & tr T. W. Rhys Davids, Sacred Books of the East, volume XI, Clarendon/Oxford, 1881; reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi (& ?Dover, New York)
  • The Word of the Buddha, ed & tr Nyanatiloka, 1935
  • Early Buddhist Poetry, ed I. B. Horner, Ananda Semage, Colombo, 1963
  • The Book of Protection, tr Piyadassi, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1981; translation of the paritta
  • In the Buddha's Words, ed & tr Bodhi, Wisdom Pubns, 2005
  • Early Buddhist Discourses, ed & tr John J. Holder, 2006

Notes

  1. ^ Theravada Buddhism, 2nd edn, Routledge, London, 2006, pages 20f
  2. ^ Hirakawa, History of Indian Buddhism, volume 1, 1974, English translation University of Hawai'i Press, pages 69f
  3. ^ "Pali oral literature", in Buddhist Studies, ed Denwood and Piatigorski, Curzon, London, 1982/3, page 3
  4. ^ Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks, University of Hawai'i Press, 1997, page 24

See also

External links
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