Peṭakopadesa
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The Petakopadesa () is a Buddhist scripture, sometimes included in the Khuddaka Nikaya of the
Pali Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During ...
of
Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school ...
Buddhism. The nature of this book is a matter of some disagreement among scholars. The translator, supported by Professor George Bond of Northwestern University, holds it is a guide to those who understand the teaching in presenting it to others. However, A. K. Warder, Professor Emeritus of Sanskrit in the University of Toronto, maintains that it covers all aspects of interpretation, not just that. The text is often connected to another para-canonical text, the Nettipakaraṇa.
Oskar von Hinüber Oskar von Hinüber (born 18 February 1939 in Hanover) is a German Indologist. He joined the German Navy after leaving high school, and holds the rank of Commander as a reservist. From 1960 to 1966 he studied at University of Tübingen, Universit ...
suggests that both of these texts originated from outside the
Theravada ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school ...
tradition as handbooks on the interpretation of the sutras. Warder, in his examination of the ''Paṭisambhidāmagga Gaṇṭhipada'' in the Introduction to the ''Path of Discrimination'', notes: “The ''Gaṇṭhipada'' (p. 106), however, provides the positive information that this ''Peṭaka'' is a book of the Mahiṃsāsakas, an ''aṭṭhakathā'' made for the purpose of the ''Suttantapiṭaka''. This implies that it was a work similar to the ''Peṭakopadesa'' … Thus both schools had a recension of this work, but differing in such details as this. …”. The passage in the Gaṇṭhipada is ''Suttante piṭakatthāya kataṭṭhakathā peṭakaṃ mahiṃsakānaṃ gantho.'' Stefano Zacchetti revealed that in the Chinese Canon there is a text called ''Yin chi rujing'', translated in the 3d century, which corresponds to most of the sixth chapter of the Pali ''Peṭakopadesa''. Then there is another Chinese text, the ''Da zhidu lun'', which mentions the ''Peṭaka'' as a text circulating in South India (presumably Kāñcipura and Sri Lanka) and that it is an abridged version of an originally larger text. It describes a few of the methods of the ''Peṭaka'' and gives examples which roughly correspond to passages in the ''Peṭaka''. Thus it appears that the ''Peṭakopadesa'' was circulating in different schools and in different versions. According to the chapter colophons, the book was composed by the Buddha's disciple Kaccana (or Kaccayana). Scholars do not take this literally, though the translator mentions that the methods may go back to him. This book was regarded as canonical by the head of the Burmese sangha about two centuries ago. It is included in the inscriptions of the Canon approved by the Burmese Fifth Council and in the printed edition of the Sixth Council text.''The Guide'', Pali Text Society There are 8 sections as follows: #Ariyasacca Pakasana (display of the Noble Truths) #Sãsana patthãna (pattern of the dispensation) #Suttãdhitthãna (terms of expression in the thread) #Suttavicaya (investigation of threads) #Hãravibhanga (modes of conveying in separate treatment) #Suttatthasamuccaya (compendium of the thread's meaning) #Hãrasampãta (modes of conveying in combined treatment) #Sutta vibhangiya (Analyses of Suttas) However, the translator says this last title is a mistake for "moulding of the guidelines", the title given at the end.


Translations

''Pitaka-Disclosure'', tr. Nanamoli Bhikkhu, 1964, Pali Text Society

Bristol


Notes


See also

*
Paracanonical texts (Theravada Buddhism) "Paracanonical texts" is used by Western scholars to refer to various texts on the fringes of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism (cf. Apocrypha), usually to refer to the following texts sometimes regarded as included in the Pali Canon's Khuddaka ...
* Nettipakarana {{Buddhism topics Khuddaka Nikaya