The Niddesa (abbrev., "Nidd") is a Buddhist scripture, part of the

Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

Theravada ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dharma (Buddhi ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. It is included in the

Sutta Pitaka Sutta may refer to: *The Pali version of the Sanskrit term Sutra **In Buddhism, a discourse of the Buddha: see Sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indi ...

's Khuddaka Nikaya. It is in the form of a commentary on parts of the

Suttanipata The ' () is a Buddhist scripture, a sutta collection in the Khuddaka Nikaya, part of the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. ''Sutta Nipata'' is a collection of discourses of Buddha. It is part of an early corpus of Buddh ...

. The tradition ascribes it to the Buddha's disciple Sariputta. It is divided into two parts: * Maha Niddesa (mahā-) (abbrev., "Nidd I" or "Nd1"), commenting on the ''Atthaka Vagga'' ("Octet Chapter," Sn 4); * Culla or Cula Niddesa () (abbrev., "Nidd II" or "Nd2"), commenting on the ''Parayana Vagga'' ("Way to the Far Shore Chapter,"Sn 5) and ''Khaggavisana Sutta'' ("Rhinoceros Horn Discourse," Sn 1.3). This text is believed to have been most likely composed no later than the 1st century BC.Hinüber (2000), p. 59, para. 118, writes: :The age of Nidd has been discussed at great length by S.Lévi 1925, who arrives at a date in the 2nd century AD, arguing from the geographical horizon of the text. This date has been disputed recently by Norman 1983: 84,86, who argues in favour of a much earlier date at the time of

Aśoka Ashoka, also known as Asoka or Aśoka ( ; , ; – 232 BCE), and popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was Emperor of Magadha from until his death in 232 BCE, and the third ruler from the Mauryan dynasty. His empire covered a large pa ...

. The question needs reexamination. It is, however, certain that Nidd does not belong to the old canonical texts and that also a date after Aśoka does not seem likely. In a related footnote (n. 204), Hinüber writes: :But "cannot be later than the date of the fixing of the canon", Norman:Sn-trsl II, p. XXVI: This means not later than the 1st century BC.

References

Sources

* Hinüber, Oskar von (2000). ''A Handbook of Pāli Literature''. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. . * De la Vallee Poussin, L., Thomas, E.J., ed. (1916)
"Niddesa I, Mahaniddesa", Vol. 1
The Pali Text Society, London, Oxford University Press. (Pali edition) * De la Vallee Poussin, L., Thomas, E.J., ed. (1917)
"Niddesa I, Mahaniddesa", Vol. 2
The Pali Text Society, London, Oxford University Press. (Pali edition) * De la Vallee Poussin, L., Thomas, E.J., ed. (1916)
"Niddesa II, Cullaniddesa", Vol. 3
The Pali Text Society, London, Oxford University Press. (Pali edition)

External links

* Link to a small excerpt from the Niddesa that has been translated into Englis

* Link to full English-language translation

References

Sources

External links

See also