Anguttara Nikaya

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The Anguttara Nikaya (aṅguttaranikāya; literally "Increased by One Collection," also translated "Gradual Collection" or "Numerical Discourses") is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. This nikaya consists of several thousand discourses ascribed to the Buddha and his chief disciples arranged in eleven nipatas, or books, according to the number of dhamma items referenced in them.

Theravada branch of Buddhism

Theravāda is the most ancient branch of extant Buddhism today, and the one that preserved their version of the teachings of Gautama Buddha in the Pāli Canon. The Pāli Canon is the only complete Buddhist canon which survives in a classical Indian language, Pāli, which serves as both sacred language and lingua franca of Theravāda Buddhism. For more than a millennium, Theravāda has focused on preserving the dhamma as preserved in its texts, and it tends to be very conservative with regard to matters of doctrine and monastic discipline. Since the 19th century, meditation practice has been re-introduced, and has become popular with a lay audience, both in traditional Theravada countries and in the west.

Gautama Buddha the founder of Buddhism

Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama in Sanskrit or Siddhattha Gotama in Pali, ShakyamuniBuddha, or simply the Buddha, after the title of Buddha, was a monk (śramaṇa), mendicant, sage, philosopher and teacher on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in the northeastern part of ancient India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE.

Contents

The Anguttara Nikaya corresponds to the Ekottara Āgama ("Increased by One Discourses") found in the Sutra Pitikas of various Sanskritic early Buddhists schools, fragments of which survive in Sanskrit. A complete version survives in Chinese translation by the name Zēngyī Ahánjīng (增一阿含經); it is thought to be from either the Mahāsāṃghika or Sarvāstivādin recensions. 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." [1]

Ekottara Agama

The Ekottara Āgama is an early Indian Buddhist text, of which currently only a Chinese translation is extant. The title Ekottara Āgama literally means "Numbered Discourses," referring to its organizational principle. It is one of the four Āgamas of the Sanskritic Sūtra Piṭaka located in the Chinese Buddhist Canon.

Mahāsāṃghika

The Mahāsāṃghika was one of the early Buddhist schools. Interest in the origins of the Mahāsāṃghika school lies in the fact that their Vinaya recension appears in several ways to represent an older redaction overall. Many scholars also look to the Mahāsāṃghika branch for the initial development of Mahayana Buddhism.

Sarvastivada Early school of Buddhism

The Sarvāstivāda were an early school of Buddhism established around the reign of Asoka. It was particularly known as an Abhidharma tradition, with a unique set of seven Abhidharma works.

Translations

Full translation

F. L. Woodward

Frank Lee Woodward (1871–1952) was an English educationist, Pali scholar, author and theosophist. Woodward studied and researched on Theravada Buddhism and wrote numerous work based on them. He is admired among the Pali scholars for compiling the vast concordance of Pali canon by translating eighteen of the forty-two volumes of the Pali texts into English. He also served as the principal of Buddhist school Mahinda College, Galle in Ceylon for 16 years from 1903 to 1919. Woodward lived his latter stage of life in Rowella, Tasmania, mainly spending his time on studies and translation work.

The Pali Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts".

Bhikkhu Bodhi American Buddhist monk and scholar

Bhikkhu Bodhi, born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk, ordained in Sri Lanka and currently teaching in the New York and New Jersey area. He was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publication Society and has edited and authored several publications grounded in the Theravada Buddhist tradition.

Selections

Edmund Rowland Gooneratne

Edmund Rowland Jayathilake Gooneratne, Gate Mudaliyar, JP, was a Ceylonese British colonial-era administrator and a literary figure. He was also a scholar, intellectual, social worker, planter and a Buddhist revivalist. A resident of Atapattu Walawwa in Galle, E. R. Gooneratne served as the Atapattu Mudaliyar of Galle and as the Mudaliyar of the Governor’s Gate Later he was appointed as the acting Maha Mudaliyar. E. R. Gooneratne was the most influential native official of Southern Ceylon during the British colonial rule in the country.

Divisions

The nipatas in this nikaya are:

Appreciation

Translator Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote: "In Anguttara Nikaya, persons are as a rule not reduced to mere collections of aggregates, elements, and sense-bases, but are treated as real centers of living experience engaged in a heartfelt quest for happiness and freedom from suffering." (from Intro to Samyutta Nikaya)

See also

Buddhist texts Holy texts

Buddhist texts were initially passed on orally by monks, but were later written down and composed as manuscripts in various Indo-Aryan languages which were then translated into other local languages as Buddhism spread. They can be categorized in a number of ways. The Western terms "scripture" and "canonical" are applied to Buddhism in inconsistent ways by Western scholars: for example, one authority refers to "scriptures and other canonical texts", while another says that scriptures can be categorized into canonical, commentarial and pseudo-canonical. Buddhist traditions have generally divided these texts with their own categories and divisions, such as that between buddhavacana "word of the Buddha," many of which are known as "sutras," and other texts, such as shastras (treatises) or Abhidharma.

Khuddaka Nikaya the last of the 5 nikayas in the Pāli Sutta Pitaka; consists of between 15 and 18 parts (depending on edition)

The Khuddaka Nikāya is the last of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka, the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. This nikaya consists of fifteen (Thailand), seventeen, or eighteen books (Burma) in different editions on various topics attributed to the Buddha and his chief disciples.

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Pratyekabuddha in Buddhism, one of the three types of enlightened beings (along with arhats and buddhas); one who achieves enlightenment on his or her own (unlike arhats), but does not propagate it to others (unlike buddhas)

A pratyekabuddha or paccekabuddha, literally "a lone buddha", "a buddha on their own", "a private buddha", or "a silent buddha", is one of three types of enlightened beings according to some schools of Buddhism. The other two buddha types are the arhat and the sammāsambuddha.

Nikāya Pāḷi word meaning "volume." commonly used in reference to the Sutta Piṭaka but also refer to the monastic divisions of Theravāda Buddhism.

Nikāya is a Pāli word meaning "volume". It is often used like the Sanskrit word āgama to mean "collection", "assemblage", "class" or "group" in both Pāḷi and Sanskrit. It is most commonly used in reference to the Buddhist texts of the Sutta Piṭaka but can also refer to the monastic divisions of Theravāda Buddhism.

Satipatthana

Satipaṭṭhāna is the establishment or arousing of mindfulness, as part of the Buddhist practices leading to detachment and liberation.

The Sutta Pitaka is the second of the three divisions of the Tripitaka or Pali Canon, the Pali collection of Buddhist writings of Theravada Buddhism. The Sutta Pitaka contains more than 10,000 suttas (teachings) attributed to the Buddha or his close companions.

Śrāvaka (Sanskrit) or Sāvaka (Pali) means "hearer" or, more generally, "disciple". This term is used in Buddhism and Jainism. In Jainism, a śrāvaka is any lay Jain so the term śrāvaka has been used for the Jain community itself.

Seven Factors of Awakening

In Buddhism, the Seven Factors of Awakening are:

Āgama (Buddhism) Buddhist scriptures

In Buddhism, an āgama is used as "sacred scriptures". "Sacred work", as it is mistakenly used by Monier and Williams, is too narrow a meaning. In the Pali Canon of the Theravada, the term nikāya is used. The word āgama does not occur in this collection. Monier and Williams, as well as Rhys Davids and Stede, borrowed āgama from the earlier Russian and French Sanskritists who studied the Mahāyāna Scriptures such as the Lotus Sutra that indeed has the word āgama. The five āgamas together comprise the Sutra Collection of the early Mahayanistic Buddhist schools primarily in China and the Himalayas.

Dīgha Nikāya Buddhist scripture, a nikaya in the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Tipitaka; consists of 34 discourses, broken into 3 groups: Silakkhandha-vagga (suttas 1–13), Maha-vagga (suttas 14–23), and Patika-vagga (suttas 24–34)

The Digha Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the first of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of (Theravada) Buddhism. Some of the most commonly referenced suttas from the Digha Nikaya include the Maha-parinibbana Sutta, which described the final days and death of the Buddha, the Sigalovada Sutta in which the Buddha discusses ethics and practices for lay followers, and the Samaññaphala, Brahmajala Sutta which describes and compares the point of view of Buddha and other ascetics in India about the universe and time ; and the Poṭṭhapāda Suttas, which describe the benefits and practice of samatha meditation.

Majjhima Nikaya Buddhist scripture, a nikaya in the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Tipitaka, consisting of 152 sutras of intermediate length

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Saṃyutta Nikāya Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas in the Sutta Pitaka; consists of Sagatha-vagga, Nidana-vagga, Khandha-vagga, Salayatana-vagga, and Maha-vagga

The Samyutta Nikaya is a Buddhist scripture, the third of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. Because of the abbreviated way parts of the text are written, the total number of suttas is unclear. The editor of the Pali Text Society edition of the text made it 2889, Bodhi in his translation has 2904, while the commentaries give 7762. A study by Rupert Gethin gives the totals for the Burmese and Sinhalese editions as 2854 and 7656, respectively, and his own calculation as 6696; he also says the total in the Thai edition is unclear. The suttas are grouped into five vaggas, or sections. Each vagga is further divided into samyuttas, or chapters, each of which in turn contains a group of suttas on a related topic.

Brahmavihara Four virtues In Buddhist ethics and meditation practice

The brahmavihāras are a series of four Buddhist virtues and the meditation practices made to cultivate them. They are also known as the four immeasurables. The Brahma-viharas are:

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  4. equanimity (upekkha)
Sutta Nipata section of the Khuddaka Nikaya

The Sutta Nipata is a Buddhist scripture, a sutta collection in the Khuddaka Nikaya, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. All its suttas, thought to originate from before the Buddha's parinibbana, consist largely of verse, though some also contain some prose. It is divided into five sections:

Khujjuttarā was one of the Buddha's foremost female lay disciples.

In English translations of Buddhist texts, householder denotes a variety of terms. Most broadly, it refers to any layperson, and most narrowly, to a wealthy and prestigious familial patriarch. In contemporary Buddhist communities, householder is often used synonymously with laity, or non-monastics.

In Buddhism, bodhipakkhiyā dhammā are qualities (dhammā) conducive or related to (pakkhiya) awakening (bodhi).

The Four Right Exertions are an integral part of the Buddhist path to Enlightenment. Built on the insightful recognition of the arising and non-arising of various mental qualities over time and of our ability to mindfully intervene in these ephemeral qualities, the Four Right Exertions encourage the relinquishment of harmful mental qualities and the nurturing of beneficial mental qualities.

Pāli Canon Buddhist scriptures preserved in the Pāli language by the Theravada tradition

The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon.

Early Buddhist Texts The parallel texts shared by the Early Buddhist Schools

Early Buddhist Texts (EBTs) or Early Buddhist Literature refers to the parallel texts shared by the Early Buddhist schools, including the first four Pali Nikayas, some Vinaya material like the Patimokkhas of the different Buddhist schools as well as the Chinese Āgama literature. Besides the large collections in Pali and Chinese, there are also fragmentary collections of EBT materials in Sanskrit, Khotanese, Tibetan and Gāndhārī. The modern study of early pre-sectarian Buddhism often relies on comparative scholarship using these various early Buddhist sources.

References

  1. ↑ A Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keown, Oxford University Press: 2004
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