Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

P A LI, BUDDHIST L ITERATURE IN
(Sanskrit, MAHAPARINIRVAN A-SU TRA; Great Discourse
on the Nirvana), the longest text in the canon and the
first lengthy literary composition in ancient India.
The second part of the Suttapitaka, the Majjhimanikaya
(Group of Middle Length Discourses), comprises 152
texts in which different aspects of Buddhist teaching
are explained in the form of dialogues. The last two
groups (nikaya), the Sam yuttanikaya (Connected Discourses)
and the Aṅguttaranikaya (Discourses Increasing
by One), are structurally unique; the mostly short texts
(according to the tradition about 7,500 in the Sam yuttanikaya
and almost 10,000 in the Aṅguttaranikaya) are
the first attempts to present the teaching in a more
systematic form. Topics in the Aṅguttaranikaya are
arranged by number: The first book contains items
existing only once, the last one items existing eleven
times. (The last two suttantas of the Dlghanikaya follow
a similar method for arranging texts.) The first part
of the Sam yuttanikaya, the Sagathavagga (Section Containing
Verses), stands apart, containing some old
views that are occasionally close to Vedic concepts.
The Khuddakanikaya (Group of Small Texts), is an
unsystematic collection of partly very old, partly very
young texts. The Khuddakanikaya’s famous DHAMMA-
PADA (Words of the Doctrine), a collection of 423 verses,
is one of the most popular texts with Buddhist monks
and laypersons. The Khuddakanikaya also includes one
of the oldest parts of the canon, the Suttanipata (Group
of Discourses), a collection of small independent texts,
mostly in verse. It seems likely that some titles quoted
in an inscription of Aśoka are in fact referring to texts
of this collection. If correct, this is the oldest Indian
epigraphical evidence for extant Buddhist texts.
Another collection mentioned in early inscriptions
are the JATAKA stories. Some of the 547 stories, which
describe the former lives of the Buddha as BO-
DHISATTVA (Pali, Bodhisatta), are illustrated and provided
with titles in the bas-reliefs of Bharhut in India.
Only the jataka verses are part of the Tipitaka. The
collection of prose stories, called Jattakatthavannana
(Explanation of the Birth Stories), is regarded as a commentary
and was composed in its present form about
a millennium later than the verses, which, for the most
part, are not specifically Buddhist. The best known is
the 547th, the Vessantara jataka (Sanskrit, VIŚVAN-
TARA), which describes the last birth of the Bodhisattva,
before he ascends to the Tusita heaven, from
where he is reborn on earth to reach enlightenment.
Among the other collections in the Khuddakanikaya
are the Verses of the Elders (Thera- and Therlgatha),
which are supposed to have been spoken by disciples
of the Buddha. Those ascribed to “elder nuns”
(Therlgatha) are the oldest literature known from ancient
India supposed to have been composed by
women. As such they are unique in Middle Indic as
well as in Sanskrit literature. Some texts of the Khuddakanikaya
are early commentaries, with one text, the
Patisambhidamagga (Path of Discrimination), which
would fit better into the third part of the canon, the
Abhidhammapitaka.
Abhidhammapitaka (Basket Concerning the
Teaching). The title Abhidhamma is interpreted later
by Buddhists as “Higher Teaching.” The seven texts of
this final part of the canon comprise the Kathavatthu
(Text Dealing with Disputes), where conflicting opinions
on different points of the Buddhist teaching are
discussed. According to tradition, this text was composed
during the reign of Aśoka by Moggalliputta Tissa.
Therefore, this is the only text in the canon with an
author and a date. The other texts of the Abhidhammapitaka
mostly contain enumerations of different
dhammas elaborated by unfolding a summary
(matika), which appears at the beginning of the respective
text. as the frame of an Abhidhamma text.
Parts of the Vinayapitaka, and particularly the Sam yuttanikaya,
can be similarly condensed and are handed
down as “skeleton texts” to be unfolded in recitation.
The last Abhidhamma text, the Patthana (Conditional
Relations), can be expanded in such a way that it becomes
infinite, as the commentary says.
Commentaries and subcommentaries
The Tipitaka was the object of explanatory commentaries
at an early date. According to tradition, both
Tipitaka and commentary, the Atthakatha (Explanation
of the Meaning), were brought to Sri Lanka by
Mahinda during the time of Aśoka (third century C.E.).
The commentary actually preserved is a revision of an
earlier, now lost, explanation of the Tipitaka composed
in old Sinhalese Prakrit.
During the fifth century C.E., BUDDHAGHOSA composed
his still valid handbook of Theravada orthodoxy
for the Mahavihara in Anuradhapura. This Visuddhimagga
(Path to Purification) is the centerpiece of
Buddhaghosa’s commentaries on the first four nikayas.
As stated in the respective introductions, each of the
four commentaries comprises a full explanation of
the Buddha’s teaching in combination with the Visuddhimagga.
Contrary to the claims of the Theravada tradition,
Buddhaghosa wrote, or supervised the writing,
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