(Sanskrit, MAHAPARINIRVANA-SUTRA; Great Discourse
on the Nirvana), the longest text in the canon and the
first lengthy literary composition in ancient India.
The second part of the Suttapitaka,the Majjhimanik-
aya(Group of Middle Length Discourses), comprises 152
texts in which different aspects of Buddhist teaching
are explained in the form of dialogues. The last two
groups (nikaya), the Samyuttanikaya(Connected Dis-
courses) and the An ̇guttaranikaya(Discourses Increasing
by One), are structurally unique; the mostly short texts
(according to the tradition about 7,500 in the Samyut-
tanikayaand almost 10,000 in the An ̇guttaranikaya) are
the first attempts to present the teaching in a more
systematic form. Topics in the An ̇guttaranikayaare
arranged by number: The first book contains items
existing only once, the last one items existing eleven
times. (The last two suttantasof the Dlghanikayafol-
low a similar method for arranging texts.) The first part
of the Samyuttanikaya,the Sagathavagga(Section Con-
taining Verses), stands apart, containing some old
views that are occasionally close to Vedic concepts.
The Khuddakanikaya(Group of Small Texts), is an
unsystematic collection of partly very old, partly very
young texts. The Khuddakanikaya’s famous DHAMMA-
PADA(Words of the Doctrine), a collection of 423 verses,
is one of the most popular texts with Buddhist monks
and laypersons. The Khuddakanikayaalso includes one
of the oldest parts of the canon, the Suttanipata(Group
of Discourses), a collection of small independent texts,
mostly in verse. It seems likely that some titles quoted
in an inscription of As ́oka are in fact referring to texts
of this collection. If correct, this is the oldest Indian
epigraphical evidence for extant Buddhist texts.
Another collection mentioned in early inscriptions
are the JATAKAstories. Some of the 547 stories, which
describe the former lives of the Buddha as BO-
DHISATTVA(Pali, Bodhisatta), are illustrated and pro-
vided with titles in the bas-reliefs of Bharhut in India.
Only the jataka verses are part of the Tipitaka. The
collection of prose stories, called Jattakatthavannana
(Explanation of the Birth Stories), is regarded as a com-
mentary and was composed in its present form about
a millennium later than the verses, which, for the most
part, are not specifically Buddhist. The best known is
the 547th, the Vessantara jataka(Sanskrit, VIS ́VAN-
TARA), which describes the last birth of the Bod-
hisattva, before he ascends to the Tusita heaven, from
where he is reborn on earth to reach enlightenment.
Among the other collections in the Khuddakanik-
ayaare the Verses of the Elders(Thera- and Therlgatha),
which are supposed to have been spoken by disciples
of the Buddha. Those ascribed to “elder nuns”
(Therlgatha) are the oldest literature known from an-
cient India supposed to have been composed by
women. As such they are unique in Middle Indic as
well as in Sanskrit literature. Some texts of the Khud-
dakanikayaare early commentaries, with one text, the
Patisambhidamagga(Path of Discrimination), which
would fit better into the third part of the canon, the
Abhidhammapitaka.Abhidhammapitaka (Basket Concerning the
Teaching).The title Abhidhammais interpreted later
by Buddhists as “Higher Teaching.” The seven texts of
this final part of the canon comprise the Kathavatthu
(Text Dealing with Disputes), where conflicting opin-
ions on different points of the Buddhist teaching are
discussed. According to tradition, this text was com-
posed during the reign of As ́oka by Moggalliputta Tissa.
Therefore, this is the only text in the canon with an
author and a date. The other texts of the Abhidhamma-
pitaka mostly contain enumerations of different
dhammas elaborated by unfolding a summary
(matika), which appears at the beginning of the re-
spective text. as the frame of an Abhidhammatext.
Parts of the Vinayapitaka,and particularly the Samyut-
tanikaya,can be similarly condensed and are handed
down as “skeleton texts” to be unfolded in recitation.
The last Abhidhammatext, the Patthana(Conditional
Relations), can be expanded in such a way that it be-
comes infinite, as the commentary says.Commentaries and subcommentaries
The Tipitaka was the object of explanatory commen-
taries at an early date. According to tradition, both
Tipitaka and commentary, the Atthakatha (Explana-
tion of the Meaning), were brought to Sri Lanka by
Mahinda during the time of As ́oka (third century C.E.).
The commentary actually preserved is a revision of an
earlier, now lost, explanation of the Tipitaka composed
in old Sinhalese Prakrit.
During the fifth century C.E., BUDDHAGHOSAcom-
posed his still valid handbook of Theravada orthodoxy
for the Mahavihara in Anuradhapura. This Visud-
dhimagga(Path to Purification) is the centerpiece of
Buddhaghosa’s commentaries on the first four nikayas.
As stated in the respective introductions, each of the
four commentaries comprises a full explanation of
the Buddha’s teaching in combination with the Visud-
dhimagga.Contrary to the claims of the Theravada tra-
dition, Buddhaghosa wrote, or supervised the writing,PALI, BUDDHISTLITERATURE IN