The Saṃyukta Nikāya/Samyutta Nikaya (''Saṃyukta'' ''Nikāya/'' SN, "Connected Discourses" or "Kindred Sayings") is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of '' Theravāda'' Buddh ...

Tipitaka 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 Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas/sūtras is unclear. The editor of the Pali Text Society edition of the text made it 2889, Bodhi in his translation has 2904, while the commentaries give 7762. A study by

Rupert Gethin Rupert Mark Lovell Gethin (born 1957, in Edinburgh) is Professor of Buddhist Studies in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and codirector of the Centre for Buddhist Studies at the University of Bristol, and (since 2003) president of ...

gives the totals for the Burmese and Sinhalese editions as 2854 and 7656, respectively, and his own calculation as 6696; he also says the total in the Thai edition is unclear. The suttas/sūtras are grouped into five ''vargas/vaggas'', or sections. Each ''varga/vagga'' is further divided into samyuttas/saṃyuktas, or chapters, each of which in turn contains a group of suttas/sūtras on a related topic.

Correspondence with the Saṃyukta Āgama

The Samyutta Nikaya corresponds to the ''Saṃyukta Āgama'' found in the Sutra Pitikas of various Sanskritic early Buddhists schools, fragments of which survive in Sanskrit and in Tibetan translation. A complete Chinese translation from the Sarvāstivādin recension appears in the Chinese Buddhist canon, where it is known as the ''Zá Āhánjīng'' (雜阿含經); meaning "the mixed agama". A comparison of the Sarvāstivādin, Kāśyapīya, and Theravadin texts reveals a considerable consistency of content, although each recension contains sutras/suttas not found in the others. The Collation and Annotation of Saṃyuktāgama (《<雜阿含經>校釋》,Chinese version) makes further comparison.

Dating

Bhante Sujato Bhante Sujato, known as Ajahn Sujato or Bhikkhu Sujato (born Anthony Best), is an Australian Theravada Buddhist monk ordained into the Thai forest lineage of Ajahn Chah. Life Bhante Sujato identifies as an anarchist. A former musician with ...

, a contemporary scholar monk, argues that the remarkable congruence of the various recensions suggests that the Samyutta Nikaya/Saṃyukta Āgama was the only collection to be finalized in terms of both structure and content in the pre-sectarian period.

Translations

Full translations

*''The Book of the Kindred Sayings'', tr C. A. F. Rhys Davids & F. L. Woodward, 1917–30, 5 volumes, Bristol:

Pali Text Society The Pali Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts". Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The ...

*''The Connected Discourses of the Buddha'', tr

Bhikkhu Bodhi Bhikkhu Bodhi (born December 10, 1944), born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York and New Jersey area. He was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publ ...

, 2000, Wisdom Publications, Somerville, MA, ; the Pali Text Society also issues a private edition of this for members only, which is its preferred translation * Bhikkhu Sujato (trans.), ''The “Linked” or “Connected” Discourses'', 2018
published online at SuttaCentral
and released into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

Selections

* anthology published by

Buddhist Publication Society The Buddhist Publication Society (BPS) is a publishing house with charitable status whose objective is to disseminate the teaching of Gautama Buddha. It was founded in Kandy, Sri Lanka in 1958 by two Sri Lankan lay Buddhists, A.S. Karunaratna and ...

, Kandy, Sri Lanka * ''Nidana Samyutta'', published in Burma; reprinted Sri Satguru, Delhi

Divisions

The vaggas contained in this nikaya are (the numbering of chapters 'samyuttas''here refers to the PTS and Burmese editions; the SinhaleseWhile the PTS Samyutta Nikaya has 56 ''sayuttas'' (connected collections), the Sinhala Buddha Jayanti Tripitaka Series (BJT) print edition has 54 ''sayuttas'' and, based on the BJT edition, the softcopy Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project (SLTP) edition has 55 ''sayuttas''. The reason for these differences are that: :* the BJT and SLTP ''sayutta'' 12 (''Abhisamaya-sayutta'') combines the PTS ''sayuttas'' 12 (''Nidana-sayutta'') and 13 (''Abhisamaya-sayutta''), representing the latter ''sayutta'' as a final ''vaggo'' (chapter) in the former ''sayutta''. :* the BJT ''sayutta'' 34 (''Vedanā-sayutta'') combines the PTS ''sayuttas'' 35 (''Salāyatana-sayutta'') and 36 (''Vedanā-sayutta''). and Thai editions divide the text up somewhat differently):

Notes

Bibliography

(trans.) (2000). The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṃyutta Nikāya. Boston: Wisdom Publications. .
Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
entry on Zá Ahánjīng * The Collation and Annotation of Saṃyuktāgama《<雜阿含經>校釋》,(Chinese version). Wang Jianwei and Jin Hui, East China Normal University Press, 2014.

External links

Saṃyutta Nikāya at suttacentral.net

* ttp://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/index.html Samyutta Nikaya selected suttas in English at "Access to Insight" {{Buddhism topics Theravada Buddhist texts Pali Buddhist texts