Section D: Buddhist Literature

A Presentation
by
Mahendra Ratna Shakya
April 4, 2018/ 21-12-2074
 Section D: Buddhist Literature
Unit 9. Introductory background
 9.1. Evolution of Buddha Vacana to Buddhist Literature

 9.2. Meaning of dharma as Buddha Vacana in the context of Tri-ratna

with special reference to eighty four thousand ‘Dharmaskandha’
 9.3. Introduction to Navānga (Nine Angas) and Dwādasānga (12 Angas)

Unit 10.Formation of Pāli literature

 10.1. Origin and development of Pāli Tipitaka

 10.2. Sutta

 10. 3. Vinaya

 10.3. Abhidhamma

Unit 11. Formation of Sanskrit Tripitaka

 11.1. Origin and development of Buddhist Sanskrit Literature

 .2. Āgama .3.Sūtra .4.Vinaya .5. Abhidharma .6.Tantra .7. Śāstra

9.1 Evolution of Buddhavacana to Buddhist Literature
 What is Buddhavacana ?
 Buddha Vacana means Buddha’s words or teachings. Buddha
Shakyamuni preached the dhamma for 45 years. All Buddhist
traditions recognize certain texts as buddhavacana.
 According to Theravada tradition the standard collection of
Buddhavacana is the Pāli Canon or Pāli Tipitaka. 
 In East Asian Buddhism, buddhavacana is collected in
the Chinese Buddhist Canon. The most common edition of
this is the Taisho Tripitaka. Similarly, in Tibetan Buddhism,
what is considered buddhavacana is collected in the Kangyur.
 Shingon Buddhism, Japan, developed a system that assigned
authorship of the early sutras to Gautama Buddha in his
physical manifestation or Rupakāya, of the Ekayana sutras to
the Buddhas as Sambhogakāya, and the Vajrayāna texts to
the Buddha as Dharmakāya.
Evolution of Buddhist Literature as Buddhavacana

 On the First Buddhist Council Mahakassapa Thero along with 500

arhat monks recited, collected and categorized Buddha’s entire
teaching into
 1. Two Sections
 2. Three Pitakas
 3. Five Nikāyas-
 4. Nine Angas- and
 5. Eighty four Thousand Dharmaskandhas.
 Two sections are– 1.Dhamma and 2.Vinaya (Rules).
 Three Pitakas are- 1.Sutta Pitaka, 2.Vinaya Pitaka and 3.Abhidhara
Pitaka
 Five Nikāyas are- 1.Digha Nikāya, 2.Majjhim Nikāya, 3.Samyutta
Nikāya, 4.Anguttara Nikāya, and 4.Khuddaka Nikāya.
 Similarly, Nine Angas are 9 parts or nine fold division of dharma.
 Buddhist texts were initially passed on orally by monks, but later
written down and composed as manuscripts in various Indo-Aryan
languages which were then translated into other local languages as
Buddhism spread.
9.2. Eighty four thousand Dharmaskandhas (units of text)
 Theragatha mentions that Venerable Ananda states that he has learned
‘Eighty Four Thousand Dharmas’. Among them eighty two thousand
dharmas from Buddha and two thousand from monk disciples.
 Thus the whole words of the Buddha is composed of eighty four thousand
Dharmaskhandhas (units of text).
 It is here clear that not only Buddha, but his disciples also preached the
dhamma according to the guidance of the Buddha. So, Sangha also
delivered the teachings of the Buddha. Sangha preserved the Dhamma.
 In Mahāparinirvāna Sutta Buddha says his teachings will play a role of
Buddha after his demise. Therefore in the context of Triratna, the
Buddhavacana is very important.
 Among the 84000 Dharmaskandhas, the sutta containing one theme
forms one dhammakhandha -Psfg';lGws ;'Q+ Psf] wDdSvGwf]_. Similarly
in verses (Gātha) each question forms one dhammakhandha and each
answer forms another. In this way Three pitakas contain 84 thousand
dharmaskandhas. It is believed that King Ashoka erected 84000
monasteries and stupas for the commemoration of 84000
dharmakhandhas.
9.3. Introduction to Navānga and Dvādasānga Buddhavacana

 According to Pāli tradition Navānga or nine fold divisions of Buddhavacana are

popular from the Buddha’s life time. Monks who are well trained or expert in
Dhamma are those who are expert in Navānga Buddhavacana and its practice.
(Appasutta sutta AN)

 What are Nine Angas (parts) of Buddhavacana?


They are -;'Q, u]øo, j]øofs/0f, ufyf, pbfg, Oltj'Qs, hfts, cAe'twDd,
j]bNn_
 1.Sutta- The words of the Buddha bearing the name of sutta should be regarded as
sutta such as Mangalsutta, Ratanasutta etc.
 2.Geyya- mixed prose and verse discourse or all the suttas with verses
 3.Veyyākarana-The entire Abhidhamma pitaka, other suttas not included in eight

parts should be understood as exposition (veyyakarana).

 4.Gāthā – It contains only verses like Dhammapada, Theragāthā, Therigāthā etc.
 5.Udāna –Suttas with expressions of joy or inspired speech of Buddha or suttas of

82 verses of joy and knowledge

 6.Itivuttaka – Collections of 110 suttas beginning with 'thus has the Bhagavan said'.

 7.Jātaka – past lives of Buddha

 8.Abbhutadhamma - Wonderful and amazing things told by Buddha.
 9.Vedalla –Teachings in question answer form such as Sakapannhasutta etc
Dvādasānga Buddavacana
In Mahāyāna literature three more angas were added to form
Twelvefold Buddhavacana (Dvādasānga)
1.Nidāna - Bodhisattvas several forms of activities like
Jatakanidanakatha
2. Avadāna – Several life stories of Bodhisattas and other
special disciples like Ashokavadāna, Avadānasataka etc.
3.Upadesh – Verious teachings of Buddha and Bodhisattvas
The term Vyākarana and Vaipullya are used in Dvādasānga
instead of Veyyākayrana and Vedalla (Abhisamayālankārāloka)
Therefore Dvādasānga Buddhavacana are:
Sutra, Geya, Vyākarana, Gāthā, Udāna, Avadāna, Itivrittaka,
Nidāna, Vaipullya, Jātaka, Upadesh, and Adbhutadharma.
;"q++ u]o+ Jofs/0f+ ufyf]jbfgsd\ .
Oltj[ts+ lgbfg+ j}k'No+ r ;hftsd\ ..
pkb]zfb\e"tf} wdf]{ åfbzfËldb jrM ..
Unit 10: Formation of Pāli Tipitaka
 As mentioned earlier Pāli Tipitaka was compiled during First Buddhist Council. But
some scholars argued that it was fully collected at Third Council.
 Acarya Buddhaghosh in his commentary on Dhammasangani states that in the first

Sangayana, vinayas were collected first and then suttas were collected.
Mahākassapa asked the questions about vinayas, the disciplines and Upāli
answered them. This way, 227 rules of Bhikkhu and 311 rules of Bhikkhunis were
collected and kept it under the text vinayapitaka, the book of discipline. The book
of discipline is a collective form of five different books that were orally transmitted
to 500 arhat monks.
 Then Suttas were recited. Mahākassapa asked questions about suttas to Ananda

and Ananda answered the entire suttas taught by the Buddha. So, each sutta
begins with the words “Thus I have heard, Once the Buddha was dwelling on
………”. The suttas were kept under suttapitaka that contains fives nikayas.
Among them, long discourses were collected under the text dighanikaya.
Similarly, middle length suttast short suttas, numerical suttas were collected under
majjhimanikaya, samyukta nikaya and anguttara nikaya respectively. The ones
that could not be put under any of above four were collected into khuddakanikaya.
 Finally, the important points of philosophical aspects of buddhavacana were

uttered by Mahakassapa himself and kept under the name of abhidhammapitaka.

The text Abhidhammapitaka is the collection of seven books.
 Thereafter, Pali Tipitaka was orally transmitted by monks until 1st century BC. It

was first written on palm leaves in Sri Lanka during Fourth Council. At present,
complete set of Tripitaka with its commentaries and Sub-commentaries are
available.
 Tipitaka (Tripitaka)
Sutta Piṭaka Vinaya Piṭaka Abhidhamma Piṭaka
1.Dighanikāya 1.Pārājikā 1.Dhammasangini
2.Majjhimanikāya 2.Pācittiya 2.Vibhanga
3.Sanyuttanikāya 3.Mahāvagga 3.Dhātukathā
4.Anguttaranikāya 4.Culavagga 4.Puggalapaññati
5.Khuddakanikāya 5.Parivāra 5.Kathāvatthu
6.Yamaka
7.Patthāna
(Khuddakanikāya is not a single text like other nikāyas. It is the common name for
the collection of a group of texts. It contains the following 15 texts-
Khuddakapātha, Dhammapada, Udāna, Itivuttaka, Suttanipāta, Vimānavatthu,
Petavatthu, Theragāthā, Therigāthā, Jātaka, Niddesa, Patisambhidāmagga, Apadāna,
Buddhavansa, Cariyāpitaka)
But some scholars argue that the complete set of Tipitaka was compiled during
Third Council. Because Kathāvatthu text was written by Moggaliputtatissa Thero in
Third Council
Note- Sixth Sangāyana added following three texts into Khuddakanikāya-
1. Nettipakarana 2. Petakopadesa, 3.Milindapaņha
Now we have total 18 texts in Khuddakanikāya
 Unit 11 Formation of Sanskrit Tripitaka
 Sanskrit Buddhist literature refers to Buddhist literature composed in Sanskrit. 
 Buddha delivered discourses in Māgadhi language during his life time. Later it was
known as Pāli. Buddha prohibited to translate his discourses in Sanskrit language
(Chandas) when requested by Yemelu and Tekuta monk brothers. This shows that
during Buddha’s life time, his teachings were not translated in Sanskrit.
 100 yrs after Buddha’s Mahaparinirvana, Buddhist Sangha was split into two sects-
Sathavirvada and Mahasanghika. Thereafter more than18 Nikayas were divided.
 Buddhist Sangha Second Buddhist Council

 Theravāda (Sthaviravāda) Mahāsānghika

 Mahisāsaka Vrijiputraka Gokulika Ekabyabahārika Caityavādi

 Sarvastivāda Dharmagupta Bahusrutika Prajnaptivādi

 Kāshapiya Sankrantika Dharmotariya

(Sautranantic) Sutravadi Bhadrayanika



Channagarika
Sammitiya

Sanskrit Buddhist Literature
 It is said that these all Nikāyas have their own Tripitaka literature.
Theravadin’s Tripitaka is in Pāli. Other Nikāyas have Tripitaka in
Sanskrit, but most of them were lost.
 Tripitaka is translated into Chinese, Tibetan, Mongolian and other

languages. Bunyiu Nanjio records as many as 1662 books in Chinese

which are classified into four divisions: 1Sutrapitaka, 2Vinayapitaka,
3Abhidharapitaka and 4Miscellaneous. This Tripitaka is called Taisho
Tripitaka.
 Sarvastivada Nikaya has their own Tripitaka in Sanskrit. Kushana King

Kaniska had patronize Fourth Buddhist Council held at Kashmira. On

that occasion Three commentaries on Sarvastivadi Tripitaka were
written in Sanskrit . They were 1.Upadeshsāstra on Sutrapitaka,
2.Vinaya Vibhāsa on Vinaya Pitaka and 3. Abhidharma Mahavibhāsa on
Abhidharma pitaka. These three texts contain 100000 verses each.
 Similarly, Mahayana and Tantra literatures are also in Sanskrit

language. Some of them are in hybrid or mixed Sanskrit and some are
in pure Sanskrit.
 Agam cfud
 Sarvāstivādins used the word ‘Agama’ for Nikāyas.
 Sarvastivadins Sutrapitaka contaings five agams. In Sutrapitaka they use the term
 Dirghāgam for Dighanikāya,
 Majjhimāgam for Majjhimanikāya
 Samyuttāgam for Samyuttanikāya
 Ekottarāgam for Anguttaranikāya, and
 Kshudrakāgam for Khuddakanikāya (Kshudrakanikaya)

 Sarvāstivādins Vinayapitaka contains five books and Abhidharmapitaka contains

seven books
 Vinayapitaka-
 1. Vinaya vastu 2. Prātimoksha sutra 3. Vinaya vibhāga

4.Vinaya Ksudraka vastu 5. Vinaya Uttara grantha

Abhidharmapitaka- 1.Gyanprasthān Sāstra 2.Sangitiparyāya 3.Prakaranavāda
4.Vigyānkāya 5.Dhātukāya 6.Dharmaskandha 7.Pragyapti Sāstra
These texts were written by Kātyāyaniputra, Mahākausthila, Vasumitra, Devasarmā,
Yasomitra, Sāriputra, and Acārya Maudgalyāyana respectively.
Tantra and Sāstra Literature

 Tantra is a set of practice of Mantras. Tantra literature

are divided into Four parts:
1.Kriyā Tantra
2.Caryā Tantra
3.Yoga Tantra
4. Anuttara Yoga Tantra
Sāstras are the commentary literature written by various
scholars. It can be written on Tripitaka such as
‘Abhidhamma Mahāvibhāsā Sāstra’ was written on
Abhidharma Pitaka of Sarvāstivādins. The entire Pāli and
Sanskrit Tripitaka contains commentary literature and
sub-commentary literature.
Tibetan Kanjur
 In Tibetan Buddhavacana is collected in Kanjur and its
commentary is called Tanjur.
 Kanjur contains the following texts:
 Vinaya, Prajññāpāramitā, Avatansaka, Ratnakuta, Sutra and
Tantra

 Sutra includes various sutras like Trikāyasutra,

Samādirajsutra, Akāsagarbhasutra etc.
 In Nepal Nine Vaipulya Sutras are popular. They are:
 1.Astasāhasrikā Prajññāpāramitā Sūtra 2.Gandhabhuha Sūtra
3.Dasabhumika Sūtra 4.Samādhirāj Sūtra 5.Lankāvatāra
Sūtra 6.Sadharmapundarika Sūtra 7. Guhyasamāja Tantra
8.Lalitavistara Sūtra 9. Suvarnaprābhāsa Sūtra