Sutta Pitaka

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

Origins

The scriptures tell how the First Council held shortly after the Buddha's death collected together the discipline (vinaya), and the dharma in five collections. Tradition holds that little was added to the Canon after this. Scholars are more skeptical, but differ in their degrees of skepticism. Richard Gombrich 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.

Contents

Further information: List of suttas

There are five nikayas (collections) of suttas:

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

Digha Nikaya

Main article: 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

Main article: 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

Main article: Samyutta Nikaya

There are, according to one reckoning, 2,889, but according to the commentary 7,762, shorter suttas in this Nikaya.

Anguttara Nikaya

Main article: Anguttara Nikaya

These teachings are arranged numerically. It includes, according to the commentary's reckoning, 9,565 short suttas grouped by number from ones to elevens. According to Keown, "there is considerable disparity between the Pāli and the Sarvāstivādin versions, with more than two-thirds of the sūtras found in one but not the other compilation, which suggests that much of this portion of the Sūtra Piṭaka was not formed until a fairly late date."[3]

Khuddaka Nikaya

Main article: 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.

  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. Milinda Panha

For more on these editions also see Pali Canon

Translations

The first four nikayas and more than half of the fifth have been translated by the Pali Text Society. The first four have also been translated in the Teachings of the Buddha series by Wisdom Publications.

Selections (including material from at least two nikayas):

See also

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. ↑ A Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keown, Oxford University Press: 2004

External links

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