Buddhist texts: Encyclopedia II - Buddhist texts - Texts of the Nikaya Schools

Buddhist texts - Texts of the Nikaya Schools

There is some dispute over what to call the more conservative stratum of Buddhist schools and the texts associated with them. The most widely used term is Hinayana, but this is often seen as unsatisfactory for several reasons (see Hinayana). This article will use the phrase "Nikaya schools", which refers to the class of sutras they consider to be canonical. These sutras are sometimes referred to by members of other schools as nikayas or agamas.

Although many versions of the Nikaya school texts were written in Sanskrit, the only complete canon to survive in its original language is that of the Theravadin school, which preserved the texts in the Pali language. The Pali literature divides into roughly three periods. The early, or classical period begins with the Tipitika and ends with the Milindha-pañha about 1BCE. After a period of decline Pali underwent a renaissance in the 4th century with the help of Buddhaghosa, which lasted until the 12th Century. The third period coincides with major political changes in Burma and lasted for several centuries in Sri Lanka, and much longer in Burma.

Buddhist texts - Vinaya

The vinaya literature is primarily concerned with aspects of the monastic discipline. However vinaya as a term is also contrasted with Dharma where the pair mean something like doctrine and method. The vinaya literature in fact contains a considerable range of texts. There are of course those which discuss the monastic rules, how they came about, how they developed, and how they were applied. But the vinaya also contains doctrinal expositions, ritual and liturgical texts, biographical stories, and the "Jatakas" or birth stories.

Paradoxically the text most closely associated with the vinaya, and the most frequently used portion of it, the Pratimoksha, is not in fact a canonical text at all.

Seven vinayas survive:

• Theravada written in Pali
• Mahāsānghika, Sarvāstivāda, and Mula-Sarvāstivāda written in Sanskrit
• Mahīshāsika, Kāshyapīya, and Dharmagupta, originally were in Sanskrit, but only survive in Chinese translation.

The Mahāvastu compiled by the Lokottaravadin sub-school of the Mahāsānghika was originally the preamble to their vinaya that became detached, hence, rather than dealing with the rules themselves, it takes the form of an extended biography of the Buddha which it describes in terms of his progression through ten bhumis, or stages. This doctrine was later taken up by the Mahayana in a modified form as Vasubandu's Ten Stages Sutra.

Buddhist texts - Sutta

The Suttas (in Sanskrit, Sutra) are mostly discourses delivered by the Buddha or one of his close disciples. They are all, even those not actually spoken by him, to be 'Buddhavacana' or the word of the Buddha. The Buddha's discourses were originally organised according to the style in which they were delivered: there were twelve of these:

• Sūtra: prose discourse
• Geya: mixed prose and verse discourse
• Vyākarana: explanation, analysis
• Gāthā: verse
• Udāna: inspired speech
• Ityukta: beginning with 'thus has the Bhagavan said'
• Jātaka: story of previous life
• Abhutadharma: concerning wonders and miraculous events
• Vaipulya either 'extended discourses' or 'those giving joy' (cf Mahayana Texts)
• Nidāna: in which the teachings are set within their circumstances of origin
• Avadāna: tales of exploits
• Upadesha: defined and considered instructions

This scheme was adopted by all the non-Mahayana schools, although the Theravadins leave off the last three. The scheme is also found in Mahayana canons. However sometime later a new scheme of organisation was imposed on the canon, and it this scheme which most people are familiar with. The scheme organises the suttas into:

These range in length up to 95 pages. The Pali Digha Nikaya contains 34 texts including the Mahāparinibbāna Sutta and the Brahmajāla Sutta. The Dīrghāgama of the Dharmagupta also survives in Chinese translation and contains 30 sutras.

This contains the rest of the suttas of any length, and the Pali Majjhima Nikaya has 152 suttas. The Madhyamāgama of the Sarvāstivada containing 222 sutras survives in Chinese translation.

This grouping consists of many short texts connected by theme, setting, or interlocutor. The Pali Samyutta Nikaya contains more than 2,800 suttas. The Samyuktāgama of the Sarvāstivada containing only 1300 sutras survives in Chinese translation.

Suttas which have the same number of doctrinal items containing over 2,300 suttas in the Pali Anguttara Nikaya. The Chinese canon contains a Ekottarāgana which is thought to belong to the Mahāsanghika school originally.

Not all schools had this category, but the Pali Khuddaka Nikaya has several well known and loved texts, including:

• the Dhammapada: which is a collection of sayings and aphorisms.
• The Udana : a collection of inspired sayings in verse usually with a prose introduction which sets a context of sorts of the saying.
• The Sutta nipatta: along with the Dhammapada and the Udana the Suttanipatta is thought to represent the earliest strata of the written canon. Many of the features of later texts, such as numbered lists of teachings, or complex doctrinal categories, are not present.
• Theragāthā and Therīgāthā two collections of biographical verse related to the disciples of the Buddha (male and female respectively).
• Jataka: the so-called 'birth stories' which recount former lives of the Buddha. These remain popular in many forms of Buddhism.

Many of these texts are available in translation as well as the original language. The Dhammapada for instance has a Pali version, three Chinese versions, a Tibetan version, and a Khotanese version.

Buddhist texts - Abhidharma

Abhidharma (in Pali, Abhidhamma) means further Dharma and is concerned with the analysis of phenomena. It grew initially out of various lists of teachings such as the 37 Bodhipaksika-dharmas or the 37 Factors leading to Awakening. Although canonical, and regarded as the word of the Buddha, modern scholarship has shown that it developed much later, and most of the literature is the product of the two centuries after Ashoka (1st Century CE).

The Theravada Abhidhamma survives in the Pali Canon. A Sarvastivada Abhidharma composed in Sanskrit, survives in Chinese and Tibetan traditions.

The Abhidharma literature is chiefly concerned with the analysis of phenomena and the relationships between them. Outside of the Theravada monasteries the Pali Abhidharma texts are not well known.

Not all schools accepted the Abhidharma as canonical. The Sautrāntika, for instance, held that the canon stopped with the vinaya and sutras. The rejection of some schools that dharmas (i.e. phenomena) are ultimately real, which the Theravada Abhidhamma, for instance, insists, is thought to be an important factor in the origin of the Mahayana.

Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts

The first important, non-canonical text is probably the Milinda pañha (literally The Questions of Milinda). This text is in the form of a dialogue between Nagasena, and the Indo-Greek King Menander (Pali: Milinda). It is a compendium of doctrine, and covers a range of subjects.

The Pali texts have an extensive commentarial literature which remains largely untranslated. These are largely attributed to Buddhaghosa. There are also sub-commentaries or commentaries on the commentaries.

Buddhagosa was also the author of the Visuddhimagga, or Path of Purification, which is a manual of doctrine and practice according to the Theravada school.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Texts of the Nikaya Schools", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki