Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c35.s3.t4.17

v2.c35.s3.t4.17

A fifth Āgama was not recognised by the schools other than the Theravāda. In the *Divyāvadāna* (pp. 17, 331, 333) and elsewhere the Āgamas are referred to as *Āgamacatuṣṭayam*. In the Nāgārjunikoṇḍa inscriptions also, four Nikāyas are spoken of and not five. The Pāli *Khuddaka Nikāya* is really a collection not of discourses, short or long, but of a number of independent works which could not be included in one of the four Nikāyas. By *Khuddaka*, the Pālists probably meant "other works" or "miscellaneous works." Though the Sarvāstivādins did not have a fifth Nikāya, they had a few texts like the *Udānavarga*, *Suttanipāta* (*Aṭṭhaka* and *Pārāyaṇa* vaggas), *Sthavira-gāthā*, *Dharmapada*, *Vimānavastu*, and *Buddhavamsa*, which came later on to be collectively called *Kṣudrakāgama* (see above, p. 125).