The ''Sutta Piṭaka'' (also referred to as ''Sūtra Piṭaka'' or ''Suttanta Piṭaka''; English: ''Basket of Discourse'') is the second of the three division of the Pali Tripitaka, the definitive canonical collection of

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...

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 ...

. The other two parts of the Tripiṭaka are the Vinaya Piṭaka (''Basket of Discipline'') and the Abhidhamma Piṭaka (''Basket of Higher Doctrine''). The Sutta Pitaka contains more than 10,000

suttas Buddhist texts are religious texts that belong to, or are associated with, Buddhism and Schools of Buddhism, its traditions. There is no single textual collection for all of Buddhism. Instead, there are three main Buddhist Canons: the Pāli C ...

(teachings) attributed to

the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist lege ...

or his close companions.

Origins

What was later to become the written scripture of the ''Sutta Pitaka'' was first orally rehearsed by Buddha’s cousin Ānanda at the First Buddhist Council that was held shortly after the Buddha's death. The first council also defined the set of rules (

Vinaya The Vinaya (Pali and Sanskrit: विनय) refers to numerous monastic rules and ethical precepts for fully ordained monks and nuns of Buddhist Sanghas (community of like-minded ''sramanas''). These sets of ethical rules and guidelines devel ...

) that governed the life of monks and nuns within the monastic community. Tradition holds that little was added to the Canon after this. Scholars are more skeptical, but differ in their degrees of

skepticism Skepticism ( US) or scepticism ( UK) is a questioning attitude or doubt toward knowledge claims that are seen as mere belief or dogma. For example, if a person is skeptical about claims made by their government about an ongoing war then the p ...

. Richard Gombrich thinks most of the first four nikayas (see below) go back to the Buddha, in content but not in form. The late Professor Hirakawa Akira says that the First Council collected only short prose passages or verses expressing important doctrines, and that these were expanded into full length suttas over the next century.

There are five nikayas (collections) of suttas: # Digha Nikāya (), the "long" discourses. # Majjhima Nikāya, the "middle-length" discourses. # Saṁyutta Nikāya (), the "connected" discourses. # Anguttara Nikāya (), the "numerical" discourses. #

Khuddaka Nikāya The ''Khuddaka Nikāya'' () is the last of the five Nikāyas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka, the sacred scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. This nikaya consists of fifte ...

, the "minor collection".

Digha Nikāya

This includes '' 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.

Majjhima Nikāya

This includes ''Shorter Exposition of Kamma'', ''Mindfulness of Breathing'', and ''Mindfulness of the Body''. There are 152 medium-length suttas in this nikaya.

Samyutta Nikaya

There are, according to one reckoning, 2,889, but according to the commentary 7,762, shorter suttas in this Nikaya.

Anguttara Nikāya

These teachings are arranged numerically. It includes, according to the commentary's reckoning, 9,565 short suttas grouped by number from ones to elevens. According to Keown, "there is considerable disparity between the Pāli and the Sarvāstivādin versions, with more than two-thirds of the sūtras found in one but not the other compilation, which suggests that much of this portion of the Sūtra Piṭaka was not formed until a fairly late date."A Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keown, Oxford University Press: 2004

Khuddaka Nikāya

This is a heterogeneous mix of sermons, doctrines, and poetry attributed to the Buddha and his disciples. The contents vary somewhat between editions. The Thai edition includes 1-15 below, the Sinhalese edition 1-17 and the Burmese edition 1-18. # Khuddakapatha # Dhammapada # Udana #

Itivuttaka The ''Itivuttaka'' (Pali for "as it was said") is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (a ...

# Suttanipata # Vimanavatthu # Petavatthu # Theragatha # Therigatha #

Jataka The ''Jātaka'' (Sanskrit for "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories we ...

Niddesa The Niddesa (abbrev., "Nidd") is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pr ...

# Patisambhidamagga #

Apadana Apadana (, or ) is a large hypostyle hall in Persepolis, Iran. It belongs to the oldest building phase of the city of Persepolis, in the first half of the 5th century BC, as part of the original design by Darius I, Darius the Great. Its cons ...

# Buddhavamsa # Cariyapitaka # Nettipakarana or Netti # Petakopadesa # Milinda Panha For more on these editions also see

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 ...

Translations

* The first four nikayas and more than half of the fifth have been translated by the Pali Text Society

* The first four have also been translated in the Teachings of the Buddha series by Wisdom Publications. * The first four nikayas, as well as six books from the Khuddaka Nikāya, have been translated from the Pali by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu and released under a Creative Commons license, and are available a
dhammatalks.org
Selections (including material from at least two nikayas): * ''Buddhist Suttas'', ed & tr T. W. Rhys Davids, ''

Sacred Books of the East The ''Sacred Books of the East'' is a monumental 50-volume set of English translations of Asian religious texts, edited by Max Müller and published by the Oxford University Press between 1879 and 1910. It incorporates the essential sacred texts ...

'', volume XI, Clarendon/Oxford, 1881; reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi (& ?Dover, New York) * ''The Word of the Buddha'', ed & tr Nyanatiloka, 1935 * ''Early Buddhist Poetry'', ed I. B. Horner, Ananda Semage, Colombo, 1963 * ''The Book of Protection'', tr Piyadassi, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1981; translation of the paritta * ''In the Buddha's Words'', ed & tr Bodhi, Wisdom Pubns, 2005 * ''Early Buddhist Discourses'', ed & tr John J. Holder, 2006 * ''Sayings of the Buddha'', ed & tr Rupert Gethin, Oxford University Press, 2008 * ''Basic Teachings of the Buddha'', ed & tr Glenn Wallis, New York: Random House, 2007

Notes

External links

SuttaCentral

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

translations in multiple languages from the Pali

Tipitaka There are several Buddhist canons, which refers to the various scriptural collections of Buddhist texts, Buddhist sacred scriptures or the various Buddhist Scriptural canon, scriptural canons.

as well as other collections, focusing on Early Buddhist Texts.
Access to Insight translations of Pali Suttas

- Alexander Wynne, St John's College, Oxford University, 2003. {{Buddhism topics Theravada Buddhist texts