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The History of Buddhist Thought c28.s1: The Tipiṭaka

The History of Buddhist Thought c28.s1

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Contents

The Tipiṭaka

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Franke has stated “that the books of the Canon as a *whole* are not authentic; that the Canon was not composed and compiled in one and the same period of time . . . that even the first two Piṭakas (to say nothing of the Abhidhamma) cannot possibly have been presented as finished before either the ‘first’ or the ‘second’ Council, even if these events took place at the intervals assigned to them.”¹ This conclusion, in the sense that we do not possess a verbatim report of the discourses, is so obvious that it scarcely needed stating, but it is quite negative. We know that the Buddha-word—everything that Buddha was held to have given as a rule or taught as a doctrine—was preserved for centuries by memorizing. The statement in the Pāli Chronicles that the Scriptures were first written down in Ceylon in the reign of Vaṭṭagāmaṇi (29-17 B.C.) is of little significance. There may have then been such an official recension, but it is probable that much had been written down before. However that may be, the practice of learning it by heart was for long the only means of preserving it; there was thus no means of preserving a definite order, or even of being certain that any discourse was really the word of the Master.²

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¹ *JPTS.*, 1908, p. 2.

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² One of the earliest means of classifying them was to divide them into small groups (usually ten) and to record the titles of the suttas of each group in a verse called an *Uddāna*.

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The disciples felt these difficulties, for we find in the Scriptures a discourse attributed to Buddha giving four rules for determining the genuineness of any doubtful passage. We can accept the fact that the monks found these rules necessary and made use of them, without supposing that Buddha, forseeing the difficulties to come, actually formulated them. The rules are, (1) if a monk says that he has heard directly from the Lord anything as being the Dhamma, the Vinaya, or the teaching of the Master, it is to be compared with the Sutta or shown to exist in the Vinaya. If it does not correspond, it is not the word of the Lord, and is to be rejected. The same method is to be used (2) if a monk says he has received it from an assembly (*sangha*) of monks with a leader, or (3) from a number of learned elders who have acquired the Āgamas, and who know by heart the Dhamma, the Vinaya, and the Mātikā, or (4) from such a single learned elder.¹

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¹ Ang. ii, 167 ; Dīgha, ii, 123. This sutta is itself an example of how accretions could occur. The four rules at some period existed, and some pious monk, doubtless convinced that they were Buddha’s own rules, turned them into a sutta, which Buddha was supposed to have uttered a day or two before his death. Its unhistorical character is shown by the fact that it includes the Mātikā, and refers to the Āgamas. Āgama is the Sarvāstivāda term for the collections usually called Nikāyas in Pāli.

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The division of the Scriptures into two classes, discipline and doctrine, was inevitable. But in these rules we find a third division, the Mātikā, a term now applied to the lists of subjects discussed in the class of Abhidhamma, but also used as a synonym of Abhidhamma. This last class, though not recognized by some schools and evidently later than the others, now forms the third part of the Triple Basket, the Tipiṭaka (Skt. Tripitaka). The term piṭaka as a division of the Canon is not in the Scriptures, but must be as old as the third century B.C., for the term peṭaki, “ reciter of the Piṭaka ”, occurs in inscriptions of that date.² The term pañca-nekāyika, “ reciter of the five Nikāyas,” also occurs, showing that the division of the Suttas into Nikāyas or Āgamas already existed. The arrangement of the whole Tipiṭaka is as follows :—

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² This and other terms are discussed by Rhys Davids in Dial. i, p. xii. In Av. Śat. No. 84 tripiṭa as the name of a knower of the three Piṭakas occurs.

A. Vinaya-Piṭaka

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The rules of discipline, contained in two chief sections followed by a minor work.

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I. Sutta-vibhanga.³ Consisting of the Pātimokkha rules, each rule being followed (1) by a verbal commentary explaining each word of the rule, (2) an account of the incident which led to the promulgation of the rule, sometimes forming extensive legends, (3) special cases and exceptions. The portion of the Pātimokkha which deals with the summoning of the Uposatha is given in the Mahāvagga under the rules for holding Uposatha.

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³ The arrangement of this portion can be seen from the analysis of the Pātimokkha above, p. 15 ff.

II. The Khandhakas

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1. *Mahāvagga* (Great Series)

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(1) Rules for admission to the Order.
(2) Uposatha meeting and recital of the Pātimokkha.
(3) Residence during Retreat in the rainy season (*vassa*).
(4) The ceremony concluding Retreat (*pavāraṇā*).
(5) Rules for the use of leather for shoes, dress, and furniture.
(6) Medicine and food.
(7) The kaṭhina ceremonies for the annual making and distributing of robes.
(8) Material of robes, sleeping regulations, and rules for sick monks.
(9) The modes of executing official acts of the Order.
(10) Proceedings in case of dissensions.

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2. *Cullavagga* (Small Series)

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(1, 2) Rules for dealing with offences that come before the Order.
(3) Reinstatement of monks.
(4) Rules dealing with questions that arise.
(5) Miscellaneous rules for bathing, dress, etc.
(6) Dwellings, furniture, lodgings.
(7) Schism.
(8) Treatment of travelling monks, those living in the forest, etc., and the duties of teachers and novices.
(9) Exclusion from the Pātimokkha.
(10) The ordination and instruction of nuns.
(11) History of the first Council at Rājagaha.
(12) History of the second Council at Vesālī.

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III. *Parivāra*. A supplement containing summaries and classifications of the rules. It may be peculiar to the Theravādins, as the *Dīpavaṃsa* speaks of its rejection by the Mahāsanghikas, but other schools had a supplementary work.

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The Sarvāstivāda Vinaya follows the same general arrangement. The first portion, the *Vinaya-vibhaṅga*, corresponds to the *Sutta-vibhaṅga*; the second portion, the *Vinayavastu*, corresponds to the *Khandhakas*, and instead of the *Parivāra* it is followed by the *Vinayakshudraka*, “ minor Vinaya work,” and *Uttaragrantha*.¹ The last consists of a series of questions on Vinaya put to Buddha by Upāli.

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¹ This the order in *Mvyut*. 65. In the Tibetan the *Vinayavastu* comes first. It has seventeen divisions, which only partially correspond with the above. The two *Prātimokshas* and the *Bhikkhunī-vibhanga* are numbered separately.

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The *Vinayavastu* of the Mūla-Sarvāstivādins shows evident correspondences in arrangement and subject matter to the *Khandhakas* of the Pāli :—

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(1) *Pravrajyavastu* (admission to the Order).
(2) *Poshadhavastu* (Uposatha).
(3) *Varshavastu* (Retreat).
(4) *Pravāraṇavastu* (ceremony concluding Retreat).
(5) *Kaṭhinavastu* (material for robes).
(6) *Cīvaravastu* (rules for robes).
(7) *Carmavastu* (leather for shoes).
(8) *Bhaishajyavastu* (medicines).
(9) *Karmavastu* (official acts).
(10) *Pratikshayavastu* (possibly on dwellings and lodgings).
(11) *Kālākālasampadvastu* (on the right and wrong times).
(12) *Bhūmyantarasthacaraṇavastu* (rules for travelling monks).
(13) *Parikarmaṇavastu* (executing proceedings).
(14) *Karmabhedavastu* (probably corresponds to the Pāli section on different kinds of official acts, and the following section to different kinds of meetings).
(15) *Cakrabhedavastu*.
(16) *Adhikaraṇavastu* (rules dealing with cases that arise).
(17) *Śayanāsanavastu* (rules for beds).

B. Sutta-Piṭaka (Dhamma)

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The doctrinal portion, the Dhamma (Dharma), exists in four or five collections called in Pāli Nikāyas, in the other schools Āgamas. The separate discourses are usually known as suttas (sūtras) or suttantas (sūtrāntas), but an earlier term used in the suttas themselves is *dhammapariyāya*, “ section of doctrine.”² The separation of this portion into four or five collections is as early at least as the third century B.C., as the term *pañcanekāyika*, “knowing the five Nikāyas,” shows. This classification appears to have been a purely formal one due to convenience in committing to memory, the groupings being into (1) long suttas, (2) medium long, (3) grouped suttas, (4) suttas arranged on a numerical principle. It is not surprising that there should be other doctrinal works which did not fit into the fourfold scheme. The Theravādins formed them into a fifth Nikāya, but much of the material existed also in other schools, and among the Sarvāstivādins, a school with a long continuous growth in India, there was an enormous development, as will be seen in the discussion of the nine Angas. The Pāli order and arrangement is as follows :—

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² *Suttanta*, as has been shown by Mr. E. H. Johnston, is a collective term formed from *sutta*, but there is no real difference of meaning. The difference appears to be due to the usage of different classes of reciters of portions of the Scriptures. The term *sutta* (sūtra), lit. “ thread ”, refers in brahminical works to short aphoristic sentences intended to be committed to memory. With the Buddhists it is any part of this division of the Scriptures, which

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1. *Dīgha-Nikāya* (*Dīrghāgama*)

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The collection of long discourses, thirty-four suttas arranged in three *vaggas* or series.

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1–13. *Sīlakkhandha-vagga*.—Each of these has incorporated in it a list of moral rules known as the Silas. Most of the suttas describe the training of the monk in three stages, beginning with these moral rules, proceeding to the practice of concentration (*samādhi*), and ending with *paññā*, the full knowledge of the arahat. Several of them discuss the views of the brahmins on sacrifice and sacred knowledge, the doctrines of various religious schools, the value of caste and self-mortification, and expound leading doctrines.

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14–23. *Mahā-vagga*.—Most of these suttas are not properly discourses but legends. The most important is the *Mahā-parinibbāna-sutta*, an account of the last days and death of Buddha and the distribution of his relics. Two others are really portions or extensions of this, the *Mahāsudassana-sutta*, in which Buddha on his death-bed tells of his former existence as king Sudassana, and the *Janavasabha-sutta*, an extension of another discourse which Buddha delivered on his last

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may be a discourse or poem, but which is always given as a separate utterance of Buddha or a disciple. Its earlier sense is seen in the *Pātimokkha*, where it is applied to each Vinaya rule, and in the title *Sutta-vibhanga*. The term *dhammapariyāya* was used by Asoka in the form *dhammapaliyāya* in the edict in which he recommends portions of Scripture to the monks and nuns for study. *Inscriptions of Asoka*, ed. Hultzsch, p. 173. Dr. Walleser holds that *sutta* is from Skt. *sūkta*, “well spoken, a hymn,” and this certainly fits the discourses very well, but when the Canon was turned into Sanskrit nothing was known of this derivation, nor do the Jains recognize it.

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journey. Other legends are the *Mahāpadāna-sutta*, an account of the last seven Buddhas with the life of Vipassin Buddha down to the beginning of his preaching; *Mahā-govinda-sutta*, a previous life of Buddha as Mahā-govinda, recorded by a heavenly musician, who went up to the heaven of Brahmā to hear it; *Mahā-Samaya-sutta*, the “great Assembly” of gods who visit Buddha, and who are described by him in a long poem. The most important doctrinal discourses are the *Mahānidāna-sutta* on the Chain of Causation, the *Mahā-Satipaṭṭhāna-sutta*, on the four contemplations with commentary on the Four Truths, and *Pāyāsi-sutta* given by the elder Kumārakassapa, on the doctrine of a future life and reward of actions.

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24-34. *Pāṭika-vagga*.—This is the most miscellaneous section, and it indicates that definite doctrinal beliefs about the nature of a Buddha had become much developed by the time the collection was made. Two suttas show Buddha explaining the origin and development of the universe (after its periodical destruction) and the differentiation of castes. There is the legend of the universal king (*cakkavattin*), a prophecy about the next Buddha (Metteya or Maitreya), a discourse on the thirty-two bodily marks of a universal king (which are also the marks of a Buddha), and a spell to serve as protection against evil spirits, which was given to Buddha by the Four Great Kings. It became the Buddha-word when Buddha repeated it to the monks. The *Sigālovāda-sutta*, the one discourse addressed to a layman, is really a poem with a prose commentary. The last two, *Sangīti* and *Dasuttara*, are long lists of classified doctrinal terms, and are ascribed to Sāriputta.

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2. *Majjhima-Nikaya* (*Madhyamāgama*)

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The division of discourses of medium length, 152 suttas in fifteen vaggas. There is the same description as in the *Digha* of the life of the monk in the three stages of morality, concentration, and enlightenment. This in several suttas is brought into connection with the story of Buddha’s enlightenment and first preaching. There are several other legends of Buddha’s life, his descent from heaven and his birth (No. 123), his debates with the Jains (Nos. 35, 56, 58, 79, 101, 104), his foster-mother as a nun (No. 146), the schism of Devadatta (Nos. 29, 58), and several discussions on caste (Nos. 84, 93, 96). Some are in the form of commentaries, and several show a tendency to the Abhidhamma style of exposition with classified lists of terms. Twenty-one of them are attributed to disciples.

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3. *Saṃyutta-Nikāya* (*Saṃyuktāgama*)

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The division of “ connected ” suttas in five vaggas divided into groups (saṃyuttas) and these again into smaller vaggas of separate suttas. Many short poems and scraps of verse are collected in the first, called :—

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(1) *Sagātha-vagga*, “ series with verses.” They are grouped in saṃyuttas according to the characters appearing in them, the gods, the king of the Kosalas, Māra, etc.

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(2) *Nidāna-vagga*, this, like the following, does not indicate the subject of the whole, but only of the first ten saṃyuttas on the Nidānas, the twelve links of the Chain of Causation.

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(3) *Khandha-vagga*, beginning with suttas on the five khandhas.

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(4) *Saḷāyatana-vagga*, beginning with suttas on the six senses.

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(5) *Mahā-vagga*, “ the great series,” beginning with suttas on the Eightfold Path.

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4. *Aṅguttara-Nikāya* (*Ekottarikāgama*)

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*Aṅguttara* means “ (one) member beyond ”, and *ekottarika* “ having one (member) beyond ”. The division is purely numerical, beginning with suttas discussing lists of one thing, lists of two, three, etc., up to eleven. The first gives a list of the one sight, the one sound, the one scent, etc., which occupies the thought of a man or woman. The last is a list of the eleven good and eleven bad qualities of a herdsman, and the corresponding qualities of a monk. It is in eleven *nipātas* (groups), each divided into vaggas, which usually contain ten suttas.

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5. *Khuddaka-Nikāya*

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The division of minor works. The contents of this Nikāya have varied at different times. The following fifteen are at present recognized in Ceylon :—

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and the latter on the fifth vagga (*Pārāyaṇa*) and on the *Khaggavisāṇa-sutta* in the first vagga. They contain much Abhidhamma material.

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(12) *Paṭisambhidā-magga*. “The way of analysis,” an analysis of various concepts, knowledge, heresy, the practice of breathing while meditating, etc. In method and material it is really an Abhidhamma work.

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(13) *Apadāna*. Accounts in verse of the lives and previous lives of monks and nuns.

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(14) *Buddhavamsa*. “History of the Buddhas,” in which, in response to a question by Sāriputta, Buddha gives an account in verse of his first forming in the presence of Dīpankara Buddha the resolve to become a Buddha, with the life of Dīpankara and the succeeding twenty-four Buddhas, including an account of himself.

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(15) *Cariyā-piṭaka*. “The basket of conduct,” i.e. the conduct of the future Buddha in order to attain the ten Perfections (*pāramī*), forming thirty-five tales from the *Jātaka* versified. Only seven of the ten Perfections are illustrated.

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There has never been any general agreement even among the Theravādins about the number of works in this Piṭaka. The whole fifteen are mentioned in Buddhaghosa’s commentary on the Vinaya, but in the Chinese translation of this commentary No. 1 is omitted, showing that the original text of Buddhaghosa did not admit it.¹

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¹ No. 1, consisting of a series of short texts mostly from the suttas, was intended for novices. When they were once collected into a separate book it would be almost inevitable that it should be treated as Scripture.

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He also records two earlier traditions, one that the reciters of the Dīgha omitted the first and the last three, calling the rest the “Minor book” (*khuddaka-gantha*) which they placed in the Abhidhamma-piṭaka; the other that the reciters of the Majjhima included all but the first, and placed them in the Sutta-piṭaka. The Siam edition omits 6–10 as well as the last three.

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The four Āgamas of the Sarvāstivādins have been compared with the corresponding Nikāyas by Professor Anesaki,² and in more detail by Professor C. Akanuma.¹ The result is to show a close correspondence in the case of the Dīgha. The Chinese has thirty suttas, two of which are not found in the Pāli. Several of those in the Pāli Dīgha are in other books of the Chinese. The order of the suttas is different, but the same vaggas were known, for the ten in the Chinese which come last correspond to the Sīla-vagga. In the Majjhima there are 222 suttas as against 152 in the Pāli, and nineteen of them are not in the Chinese. The material also varies more than in the Dīgha, for many suttas of the Chinese Majjhima occur in the Pāli Saṃyutta and Anguttara, and *vice versa*. The differences are greatest in these two last. We may conclude that there was once a common stock of suttas learnt by heart. Probably differences in what was remembered had already begun between the two schools. The beginnings of the classification must have originated while the schools were in close connection, but it evidently went on and was completed in each independently.

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² *Some problems of the textual history of the Buddhist Scriptures*; and *The four Buddhist Āgamas in Chinese*. Trans. As. Soc. Japan, xxxv, parts 2, 3, 1908; *Le sagātha-vagga du Saṃyutta-nikaya et ses versions chinoises*. Muséon, 1905, pp. 23 ff.

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¹ The comparative catalogue of Chinese Āgamas and Pāli Nikāyas. (In Japanese.) Nagoya, Japan, 1929.

C. Abhidhamma-Piṭaka

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Unlike the two other Piṭakas the Abhidhamma of the Theravādins is quite distinct from that of the Sarvāstivādins. That of the Theravādins consists of seven independent works. The tradition is that they were thought out by Buddha in the fourth week after his enlightenment :—

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(1) *Dhammasaṅgaṇi*. “Enumeration of dhammas,” i.e. mental elements or processes.

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(2) *Vibhaṅga*. “Distinction or determination.” Further analysis of the matter of the foregoing.

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(3) *Dhātukathā*. “Discussion of elements.” On the mental elements and their relations to other categories.

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(4) *Puggalapaññatti*. “Description of individuals,” especially according to their stages along the Noble Path.

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(5) *Kathāvatthu*. “Subjects of discussion,” discussions and refutations of doctrines held by other schools.

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(6) *Yamaka*. “Book of pairs,” called by Geiger an applied logic. The subject matter is psychological, and the analysis is arranged in pairs of questions.

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(7) *Paṭṭhāna*. “Book of relations,” an analysis of the relations (causality, etc.) of things in twenty-four groups.

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The Abhidhamma of the Sarvāstivādins also consists of seven works,¹ one main work followed by six supplements, and unlike the Theravādin Abhidhamma they are not attributed directly to Buddha, but to seven disciples, four of whom are elders recognized by the Theravādins.

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¹ They now exist only in Chinese translations, and have been summarized and analysed by Professor Takakusu (*JPTS*. 1904–5, pp. 67 ff.). The Sanskrit names of six of the works omitting Vijñāna-kāya are given in *Mvyut*. 65. Bu-ston says that the Vaibhāshikas of Kashmir regard them as belonging to the word of Buddha (trans. by E. Obermiller, p. 49).

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(1) *Jñāna-prasthāna*, by Kātyāyanīputra. “The course of knowledge.” It is a long work, and discusses most of the philosophical concepts (bonds, karma, material elements, organs, concentration, views) involved in attaining knowledge.

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(2) *Saṅgīti-paryāya*, by Mahā-Kausṭhila or Śāriputra. “Section for recitation.” It consists of lists of doctrinal terms arranged numerically like the *Saṅgīti-sutta* in the *Dīgha*, on which Takakusu thinks it is modelled.

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(3) *Prakaraṇa-pāda*, by Vasumitra. “Work (on Abhidhamma).” A discussion on dhammas (doctrinal concepts). Vasumitra is the name of a well-known Sarvāstivādin author.

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(4) *Vijñāna-kāya*, by Devaśarman. “Group (of subjects) on consciousness.” Chinese tradition puts the author a century after Buddha’s death.

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(5) *Dhātu-kāya*, by Pūrṇa or Vasumitra. “Group (discussing) mental elements.”

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(6) *Dharma-skandha*, by Śāriputra or Maudgalyāyana. “Aggregate of dharmas,” discussing the chief philosophical concepts as in No. 1.

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(7) *Prajñapti-śāstra*, by Maudgalyāyana. “Book of instruction.” The instruction is on cosmological and secular matters, the qualities of a Bodhisattva and a Buddha, etc.

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Although there is some similarity in these titles to the Abhidhamma works of the Theravādins, the works are quite independent. When we consider that the other two Piṭakas have a common basis, it is possible to draw the important conclusion that the existing Abhidhamma works are much later than the contents of the first two Piṭakas, and arose when the two schools were definitely separated. Their sectarian character is also indicated by a description of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka quite different from these, which is given in the account of the first Council in the Dharmagupta Vinaya.¹ This account lets us know what the author of it imagined the primitive Abhidhamma to be, and he must have relied on his knowledge of the Dharmagupta Canon of his time. But although this school was a branch of the Sarvāstivādins, there is no recognition of the Abhidhamma as understood either by the Theravādins or Sarvāstivādins.

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¹ Quoted below, p. 278.

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The word abhidhamma is found in the suttas. It means “further dhamma” or “special dhamma”. In Majjh., i, 214, two monks are said to hold an abhidhamma discussion (abhidhammakathā). The same procedure is referred to in Ang., iv, 397, where a monk who duly knows the four Truths is asked a question about abhidhamma and abhivinaya, but leaves it alone and cannot expound it. Evidently an elaboration and analysis of the doctrinal principles is intended, just as abhivinaya would mean a casuistic discussion of the rules of discipline. There is no separate Abhivinaya, for the elaboration of the rules of discipline exists in the Vinaya itself. The codification of such principles requiring exposition would give rise to the mātikā (mātṛkā), the “lists”, which form the basis of the Abhidhamma books, and now form a kind of table of contents. The elaboration of these principles, their definition and their proof by adducing sutta passages would form Abhidhamma proper. This is in fact what we actually find in the two existing Abhidhamma collections. They are two sets of text-books compiled by two schools of teachers who independently undertook to expound the same subject matter.

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