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Concept
Sutta Piṭaka
Summary
The Sutta Piṭaka (also referred to as Sūtra Piṭaka or Suttanta Piṭaka; English: Basket of Discourse) is the second of the three divisions of the Tripiṭaka, the definitive canonical collection of scripture of Theravada Buddhism. The other two parts of the Tripiṭaka are the Vinaya Piṭaka and the Abhidhamma Piṭaka. The Sutta Pitaka contains more than 10,000 suttas (teachings) attributed to the Buddha or his close companions.
What was later to become the written scripture of the Sutta Pitaka was first orally rehearsed by Buddha’s cousin Ananda at the first Buddhist council that was held shortly after the Buddha's death. The first council also defined the set of rules (Vinaya) 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. 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 "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.
Saṁyutta Nikāya
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.
Official source
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