16 July, 2013

What is "sutta" (Pali) or "sutra" (Sanskrit). ?

About Sutta


The collected teachings of the Buddha are called "sutta" (Pali) or "sutra" (Sanskrit).
The compilation was first committed to a written form around 100BCE,which is called the Tipitaka (Pali) or "Tripitaka" (Sanskrit), or "3 Baskets".

These baskets consists of
(1) The Vinaya Pitaka - instructions for the sangha;
(2) The Sutta Pitaka - the collection of the Buddha's teachings, comprising five collections, or nikayas, and totalling some 5,505 suttas, plus further compilations of many of his other quotes, etc grouped as the "Collection of Small Texts" which includes amongst them, the more widely-known Dhammapada and Jataka Tales; and
(3) The Abhidharma Pitaka - the collection of the more profound philosophical texts.
 Collectively, the Tipitaka is said to be about eleven times the size of the Christian Bible.

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