Sutta
Pitaka
The Sutta Pitaka is divided into five separate collections
known as Nikayas. They are Diha
Nikaya, Majjhima Nikaya, Samutta Nikaya, Ankuttara Nikaya and Khuddaka
Nikaya.
- Digha Nikaya : The Long Discourses
of the Buddha
- The "Long" Discourses
(Pali digha = "long"), which consists of 34 suttas,
including the well-known Maha-Satipatthana Sutta (The Greater
Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness), the Samaññaphala
Sutta (The Fruits of the Contemplative Life), the Maha-Parinibbana
Sutta (The Buddha's Last Days), and many others.
- Majjhima
Nikaya : The Middle Length Discourses of the
Buddha
- The "Middle-length"
Discourses (Pali majjhima = "middle"), which consists
of 152 suttas of varying length, including the Sabbasava Sutta
(All the Taints), Culakammavibhanga Sutta (Shorter Exposition
of Kamma), the Anapanasati Sutta (Mindfulness of Breathing),
Kayagatasati Sutta (Mindfulness of the Body), the Angulimala
Sutta (The Story of Angulimala), and many more.
- Samyutta
Nikaya : The Short Length Discourses of the
Buddha
- The "Grouped" Discourses
(Pali samyutta = "group" or "collection"),
which consists of 2,889 shorter suttas grouped together by theme
into 56 samyuttas.
- Anguttara Nikaya : The "Further-factored" Discourses
of the Buddha
- The "Further-factored"
Discourses (Pali anga = "factor" + uttara =
"beyond," "further"), which consists of
8,777 short suttas, grouped together into eleven nipatas according to the number of items of Dhamma covered
in each sutta. For example, the Eka-nipata ("Book of the Ones") contains
suttas about a single item of Dhamma; the Duka-nipata
("Book of the Twos") contains suttas dealing with
two items of Dhamma, and so on.
- Khuddaka
Nikaya : The "Division of Short Books"
- The "Division of Short
Books" (Pali khudda = "smaller," "lesser"),
consisting of 15 "books" (17 in the Thai edition;
18 in the Burmese), including the Dhammapada, Therigatha (Verses
of the Elder Nuns), Theragatha (Verses of the Elder Monks),
Sutta Nipata, Jataka stories, etc.
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