| Revision as of 01:07, 27 October 2015 editSujato (talk | contribs)141 edits →External links← Previous edit | Revision as of 01:13, 27 October 2015 edit undoSujato (talk | contribs)141 edits →External links: remove dead links, add suttacentralNext edit → | ||
| Line 84: | Line 84: | ||
| * | * | ||
| * - Alexander Wynne, St John's College, Oxford University, 2003. | * - Alexander Wynne, St John's College, Oxford University, 2003. | ||
| * | * | ||
| {{Buddhism topics}} | {{Buddhism topics}} | ||
Revision as of 01:13, 27 October 2015
| Pāli Canon |
|---|
_showing_the_events_Wellcome_L0031774.jpg) |
| Theravāda Buddhism |
| 1. Vinaya Piṭaka |
| 2. Sutta Piṭaka 5. Khuddaka Nikāya |
| 3. Abhidhamma Piṭaka |
The Sutta Pitaka (suttapiṭaka; or Suttanta Pitaka; cf Sanskrit सूत्र पिटक Sūtra Piṭaka) is the first of the three divisions of the Tripitaka or Pali Canon, the 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.
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. The late Professor Hirakawa Akira says 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
List of suttas
There are five nikayas (collections) of suttas:
- Digha Nikaya (dīghanikāya), the "long" discourses.
- Majjhima Nikaya, the "middle-length" discourses.
- Samyutta Nikaya (saṃyutta-), the "connected" discourses.
- Anguttara Nikaya (aṅguttara-), the "numerical" discourses.
- Khuddaka Nikaya, the "minor collection".
Digha Nikaya
Main article: Digha NikayaThis 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 NikayaThis 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 NikayaThere are, according to one reckoning, 2,889, but according to the commentary 7,762, shorter suttas in this Nikaya.
Anguttara Nikaya
Main article: Anguttara NikayaThese 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."
Khuddaka Nikaya
Main article: Khuddaka NikayaThis 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.
- Khuddakapatha
- Dhammapada
- Udana
- Itivuttaka
- Suttanipata
- Vimanavatthu
- Petavatthu
- Theragatha
- Therigatha
- Jataka
- Niddesa
- Patisambhidamagga
- Apadana
- Buddhavamsa
- Cariyapitaka
- Nettipakarana or Netti
- Petakopadesa
- 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):
- 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
- Sayings of the Buddha, ed & tr Rupert Gethin, Oxford University Press, 2008
- Basic Teachings of the Buddha, ed & tr Glenn Wallis, New York: Random House, 2007
See also
Notes
- Theravada Buddhism, 2nd edn, Routledge, London, 2006, pages 20f
- Hirakawa, History of Indian Buddhism, volume 1, 1974, English translation University of Hawai'i Press, pages 69f
- A Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keown, Oxford University Press: 2004
External links
- Access to Insight translations of Pali Suttas
- How old is the Sutta Pitaka? - Alexander Wynne, St John's College, Oxford University, 2003.
- Dīgha Nikāya on SuttaCentral: Pali texts, full translation, and parallels in Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan.
 Topics in Buddhism  | |
|---|---|
| Foundations | |
| The Buddha | |
| Bodhisattvas | |
| Disciples | |
| Key concepts |
|
| Cosmology | |
| Branches | |
| Practices | |
| Nirvana | |
| Monasticism | |
| Major figures |
|
| Texts | |
| Countries | |
| History |
|
| Philosophy | |
| Culture | |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Comparison | |
| Lists | |
.svg){kind=small}