Sutta Pitaka

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The Sutta Pitaka (or Sutra Pitaka) is the second of three divisions of the Tipitaka or Pali Canon, the great Pali collection of Buddhist writings. The Sutta Pitaka contains more than 10,000 suttas (teachings) attributed to the Buddha or his close companions.

There are five nikayas (collections) of suttas:

1. Digha Nikaya, the "long" discourses. These include 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.
2. Majjhima Nikaya, the "medium-length" discourses. These include Shorter Exposition of Kamma, Mindfulness of Breathing, and Mindfulness of the Body. There are 152 medium-length suttas in this nikaya.
3. Samyutta Nikaya, the "clustered" discourses. There are 2,889 shorter suttas clustered together by subject.
4. Anguttara Nikaya, the "gradual collection". These teachings are arranged for mnemonic purposes. It includes 9,557 very short sutras grouped by number.
5. Khuddaka Nikaya, the "minor collection". This is a heterogeneous mix of sermons, doctrines, and poetry attributed to the Buddha and his disciples. The well-known Dhammapada is in this section.

Corresponding Chinese Translation of Sanskrit Sutra Pitaka exists and are known as Agama Sutra (阿含経)or Four Agama (四阿含).

There are four division of sutra:

1. 長阿含 - The long agama
2. 中阿含 - The medium agama
3. 雑阿含 - The clustered agama
4. 増一阿含 - The "One Increament" agama

The form of composition, despite in four collection, are almost identical to Pali version. However, these are composed from different hinayana (nikaya) sects. The long agama (長阿含) is from Dharmaguptaka (法蔵部), the medium and the clustered agama are from Sarvastivadin.

Among Pali composition, Dharmapadda and most of 4th and 5th chapter of Sutta Nipata and corresponding Sanskrit version are not only cited by the rest of sutra/sutta, it is cross cited by in all language version of sutra, that is Sanskrit, Pali, Chinese and Tibettan. Moreover, these section seems to follow language usage is much similar to Magdhi dailect, Eastern dialect which was used by Gautama while the Pali is a Western dialect. Moreover, the there are two commentaries, Maha Nidessa (large commentary) and Cula Nidessa (small commentary), which is common to all language version and both make citation to fourth and fifth chapter except 836th verse in fourth chapter and 976th to 1031th verse in fith chapter.

Modern philology consider these part to be the oldest and most likely to be the possible actual words of Gautama Buddha if he existed. The rest is considered to be a latter addition. Obviously, this view is not universally accepted by much of Buddhist schools.

See also

• Abhidhamma Pitaka
• Vinaya Pitaka

 

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