Subcategories

Khuddaka Nikaya
The Khuddaka
Nikaya, or “Collection of Little Texts” (Pali khudda = “smaller;
lesser”), the fifth division of the Sutta Pitaka, is a wide-ranging
collection of fifteen books (eighteen in the Burmese Tipitaka)
containing complete suttas, verses, and smaller fragments of Dhamma
teachings. While many of these have been treasured and memorized by
devout Buddhists around the world for centuries, others have never left
the private domain of Pali scholars; some have yet to be translated into
English.

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122
Khuddakapatha (The Short Passages)
The
Khuddakapatha is a collection of nine short passages that may have been
designed as a primer for novice monks and nuns. It includes several
essential texts that are still chanted daily by laypeople and monastics
around the world of Theravada Buddhism.

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1
Dhammapada
The
Dhammapada, an anthology of verses attributed to the Buddha, has long
been recognized as one of the masterpieces of early Buddhist literature.
Only more recently have scholars realized that it is also one of the
early masterpieces in the Indian tradition of kavya, or belles lettres.

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26
Udana
The
Udana, the third book of the Khuddaka Nikaya, offers a rich collection
of short suttas, each of which culminates in a short verse uttered by
the Buddha. Altogether there are eighty suttas, arranged in eight
vaggas, or chapters.

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80
Itivuttaka
The
Itivuttaka, a collection of 112 short discourses, takes its name from
the statement at the beginning of each of its discourses: this (iti) was
said (vuttam) by the Blessed One. The collection as a whole is
attributed to a laywoman named Khujjuttara, who worked in the palace of
King Udena of Kosambi as a servant to one of his queens, Samavati.
Because the Queen could not leave the palace to hear the Buddha’s
discourses, Khujjuttara went in her place, memorized what the Buddha
said, and then returned to the palace to teach the Queen and her 500
ladies-in-waiting. For her efforts, the Buddha cited Khujjuttara as the
foremost of his laywomen disciples in terms of her learning. She was
also an effective teacher: when the inner apartments of the palace later
burned down, killing the Queen and her entourage, the Buddha commented
(in Udana VII.10) that all of the women had reached at least the first
stage of Awakening.

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4
Sutta Nipata
The
Sutta Nipata (”The Sutta Collection”), the fifth book of the Khuddaka
Nikaya, consists of 71 short suttas divided into five vaggas (chapters).

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11
Vimanavatthu
The
Vimanavatthu of the Khuddaka Nikaya is a collection of 83 stories in
verse describing the vimana [vimaana] — a kind of personal heavenly
mansion — inhabited by beings reborn as gods or goddesses (devata
[devataa]) as a reward for meritorious deeds performed by them as human
beings. All the stories follow a similar pattern. They begin with an
introductory verse (or verses) in which the god or goddess is asked
about the cause for his or her rebirth within that particular mansion.
The deva thereupon relates his or her previous good deeds.

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Petavatthu
The
Petavatthu contains 51 poems, each explaining how unwholesome deeds led
to the rebirth of a being into the miserable realm of the “hungry
ghosts” (peta).

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Theragatha
The
Theragatha, the eighth book of the Khuddaka Nikaya, consists of 264
poems — 1,291 stanzas in all — in which the early monks (bhikkhus)
recount their struggles and accomplishments along the road to
arahantship. Their stories are told with often heart-breaking honesty
and beauty, revealing the deeply human side of these extraordinary men,
and thus serve as inspiring reminders of our own potential to follow in
their footsteps.

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Therigatha
The
Therigatha, the ninth book of the Khuddaka Nikaya, consists of 73 poems —
522 stanzas in all — in which the early nuns (bhikkhunis) recount their
struggles and accomplishments along the road to arahantship. Their
stories are told with often heart-breaking honesty and beauty, revealing
the deeply human side of these extraordinary women, and thus serve as
inspiring reminders of our own potential to follow in their footsteps.

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Jataka
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Niddesa
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Patisambhidamagga
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Apadana
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Buddhavamsa
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Cariyapitaka
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Petakopadesa
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Milindapañha
The
Milindapañha, the eighteenth book of the Khuddaka Nikaya (according to
the Burmese version of the Pali canon), consists of 7 parts as shown
below. The conclusion to the Milindapañha states that it contains 262
questions, though in the editions available today only 236 can be found.
Although not included as a canonical text in the traditions of all the
Theravadin countries, this work is much revered throughout and is one of
the most popular and authoritative works of Pali Buddhism.

The other two collections are the Vinaya Pitaka and the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

Origins   
Edit
This
scripture describes the first Buddhist council. It was held shortly
after the Buddha’s death, and collected the set of rules (Vinaya) and
five sets of Dhamma. Tradition holds that little was added to the Canon
after this. Scholars are more skeptical, but differ in their degrees of
skepticism. Richard Gombrich thinks most of the first four nikayas (see
below) go back to the Buddha, in content but not in form.[1] The late
Professor Hirakawa Akira says[2] that the First Council collected only
short prose passages or verses expressing important doctrines, and that
these were expanded into full length suttas over the next century.

Contents   
Edit
Further information: List of suttas
There are five nikayas (collections) of suttas:

Digha Nikāya (dīghanikāya), the “long” discourses.
Majjhima Nikāya, the “middle-length” discourses.
Saṁyutta Nikāya (saṃyutta-), the “connected” discourses.
Anguttara Nikāya (aṅguttara-), the “numerical” discourses.
Khuddaka Nikāya, the “minor collection”.
Digha Nikāya   
Edit
Main article: Digha Nikāya
This
includes The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, The
Fruits of the Contemplative Life, and The Buddha’s Last Days. There are
34 long suttas in this nikaya.

Majjhima Nikāya   
Edit
Main article: Majjhima Nikāya
This
includes Shorter Exposition of Kamma, Mindfulness of Breathing, and
Mindfulness of the Body. There are 152 medium-length suttas in this
nikaya.

Samyutta Nikaya   
Edit
Main article: Saṁyutta Nikāya
There are, according to one reckoning, 2,889, but according to the commentary 7,762, shorter suttas in this Nikaya.

Anguttara Nikāya   
Edit
Main article: Anguttara Nikāya
These
teachings are arranged numerically. It includes, according to the
commentary’s reckoning, 9,565 short suttas grouped by number from ones
to elevens. According to Keown, “there is considerable disparity between
the Pāli and the Sarvāstivādin versions, with more than two-thirds of
the sūtras found in one but not the other compilation, which suggests
that much of this portion of the Sūtra Piṭaka was not formed until a
fairly late date.”[3]

Khuddaka Nikāya   
Edit
Main article: Khuddaka Nikāya
This
is a heterogeneous mix of sermons, doctrines, and poetry attributed to
the Buddha and his disciples. The contents vary somewhat between
editions. The Thai edition includes 1-15 below, the Sinhalese edition
1-17 and the Burmese edition 1-18.

Khuddakapatha
Dhammapada
Udana
Itivuttaka
Suttanipata
Vimanavatthu
Petavatthu
Theragatha
Therigatha
Jataka
Niddesa
Patisambhidamagga
Apadana
Buddhavamsa
Cariyapitaka
Nettipakarana or Netti
Petakopadesa
Milinda Panha
For more on these editions also see Pali Canon

Translations   
Edit
The
first four nikayas and more than half of the fifth have been translated
by the Pali Text Society[1]. The first four have also been translated
in the Teachings of the Buddha series by Wisdom Publications.

Selections (including material from at least two nikayas):

1. Digha Nikaya (“Long Collection”;
Sanskrit Dirghagama), 34 long suttas including doctrinal expositions,
legends, and moral rules. The first, the Brahmajala Sutta (“Discourse on
the Divine Net”), renowned and much quoted, deals with fundamental
Buddhist doctrines and with rival philosophies and tells much about
everyday life and religious practices of the period. The Ambattha Sutta
(“Discourse of Ambattha”) denounces the principles of caste and the
pretensions of Brahmins. The Mahanidana Sutta (“Discourse on the Great
Origin”) gives the fullest canonical treatment of the doctrine of
dependent origination, or the chain of causation. The famous
Mahaparinibbana Sutta (“Discourse on the Great Final Extinction”—i.e.,
the Buddha’s release from the round of rebirths), one of the oldest
texts in the canon (though containing later interpolations), narrates
the activities and teachings of the Buddha’s last year and describes his
death. The Sigalovada Sutta (“Discourse of Sigalovada”), the only one
of these discourses directly addressed to laymen, is a comprehensive
treatment of domestic and social ethics.

2. Majjhima Nikaya
(“Medium [Length] Collection”; Sanskrit Madhyamagama), 152 suttas, some
of them attributed to disciples, covering nearly all aspects of
Buddhism. Included are texts dealing with monastic life, the excesses of
asceticism, the evils of caste, Buddha’s debates with the Jains, and
meditation, together with basic doctrinal and ethical teachings and many
legends and stories.

3. Samyutta Nikaya (“Cluster Collection”;
Sanskrit Samyuktagama), a total of 7,762 individual suttas, some quite
brief, arranged more or less by subject matter into 56 samyuttas, or
“clusters.” The best known of these is the Dhammacakkappavattana-sutta
(“Discourse on the Turning of the Wheel of the Law”), which contains the
Buddha’s first sermon.