Early Monastic Buddhism v2.c35.s3.t4.4

v2.c35.s3.t4.4

SŪTRAS: The Sūtra-Piṭaka of the Sarvāstivādins was divided into Āgamas corresponding to Nikāyas of the Pāli school. There were four Āgamas called Dīrgha, Madhyama, Saṃyukta and Ekottara. In the Kośa there are references to the Kṣudraka implying thereby the existence of a Kṣudrakāgama too. Prof. Akanuma has compared the Āgamas in Chinese with the Pāli Nikāyas' in detail and has come to the following conclusions: The Dīrghāgama contains 30 Sūtras as against 34 of the Dīgha Nikāya. Of the 13 suttas in the first volume of the Pāli Dīgha Nikāya, 3 only are omitted in the Dīrghāgama viz., Mahāli (no. 6), Jāliya (no. 7) and Subba (no. 10). All the suttas of the other two volumes are contained in this Āgama with a few in the Madhyamāgama. The order of arrangement of the sūtras in the Āgamas and Nikāyas differs widely, e.g., Mahāpadāna is the first sutta in the Āgama in place of Brahmajāla of the Nikāya. In the Āgama the order of sūtras is as follows: Mahāpadāna, Mahāparinibbāna, Mahāgovinda, Janavasabha, Aggañña, Cakkavatti, Sīhanāda, Pāyāsi, Udumbarika-Sīhanāda, Saṅgīti, Dasuttara, Mahānidāna, Sakka-pañha, Pāṭika, Siṅgālovāda, Pāsādika, Sampasādanīya, Mahāsamaya, Ambaṭṭha, Brahmajāla, Sonadaṇḍa, Kūṭadanta, Kevaṭṭa, Kassapa-sīhanāda, Tevijja, Sāmaññaphala, Poṭṭhapāda, Lohicca. The Āgama contains two other suttas.