Sutta-Nipāta
The earliest layer of the Pāli canon — short suttas in verse and prose, arranged in five vaggas (Uragavagga, Cūlavagga, Mahāvagga, Aṭṭhakavagga, Pārāyanavagga). Khuddaka Nikāya of the Sutta Piṭaka. Fausböll's 1881 translation.
Source context· Indian stream · Ancient Indian cultural impulse
- Stream
- Indian
- Cultural impulse
- Ancient Indian (1st post-Atlantean cultural age)
- Composed
- c. 100 BCE
- Written down
- Greco-Latin (4th post-Atlantean cultural age) manuscript epoch
- 1Glossary — Fausböll's glossary of Pāli terms
V. Fausböll's prefatory glossary to his 1881 translation: principal Pāli terms (Buddha, Dhamma, Saṅgha, Nibbāna, Saṃsāra, the four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path) with English equivalents and contextual notes.
286 words - 2I. Uragavagga. — I. Uragavagga — the Snake-section
The opening Uragavagga (Sn 1.1–1.12). Twelve suttas including the great Uraga Sutta (the bhikkhu sheds craving as a snake sheds its skin), the Khaggavisāṇa Sutta (Rhinoceros — the solitary path), Metta Sutta (loving-kindness), Maṅgala Sutta (the great blessings), and Ratana Sutta (the three jewels).
9,132 words - 3II. Kûlavagga. — II. Cūlavagga — the Lesser Section
Fourteen suttas (Sn 2.1–2.14) on diverse practical themes — the practitioner's life (Āmagandha, Hiri, Maṅgala continued, Sūciloma), the parable of the boat, the right and wrong dhamma, the proper way of conduct in body, speech, and mind.
7,394 words - 4III. Mahâvagga. — III. Mahāvagga — the Greater Section
Twelve longer suttas (Sn 3.1–3.12) recording extended exchanges. Includes the Pabbajjā Sutta (the Buddha's renunciation), the Padhāna Sutta (the great striving against Māra), the Sundarikabhāradvāja Sutta (true Brahmin), Kokālika, and the Two Marks of the Great Man.
20,325 words - 5IV. Atthakavagga. — IV. Aṭṭhakavagga — the Group of Eights
Among the oldest strata of the Buddhist canon. Sixteen suttas (Sn 4.1–4.16) on the abandonment of views, attachments, and dogmatic positions. The Atthakavagga's anti-doctrinal teaching is older than the systematized later doctrine and is referenced by name in other canonical texts.
9,037 words - 6V. Pârâyanavagga. — V. Pārāyanavagga — the Way to the Far Shore
Closes the Sutta Nipāta. Sixteen suttas (Sn 5.1–5.18) — the prologue, the questions of the sixteen brahmin pupils of Bāvarī addressed to the Buddha, and the epilogue. With the Aṭṭhakavagga, the oldest core of the canon.
6,779 words
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