312 AN OVERVIEW OF THE BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES
- Anguttara-nikaya ("Collection of Item-More Discourses")-more
than 2,300 suttas grouped by the number of factors in their topics. - Khuddaka-nikaya ("Collection ofLittle Texts")
a. Khuddaka-pa{ha ("Little Readings")-a breviary.
b. Dhammapada ("Verses on Dharma")-423 verses in 26
chapters.
c. Udana ("Utterances")-80 exalted pronouncements of the
Buddha, with circumstantial tales.
d. Itivuttaka ("Thus-saids")-112 short suttas.
e. Sutta-nipata ("Collection ofSuttas")-short suttas, mostly in
verse of high poetic quality.
f. Vimana-vatthu ("Tales ofHeavenly Mansions")-gods tell the
deeds that earned them celestial rebirths.
g. Peta-vatthu ("Tales of Ghosts")-how various persons attained
that unfortunate rebirth.
h. Thera-gatha ("Verses of the Elders")--stanzas attributed to 264
early monks. - Theri-gatha ("Verses of the Eldresses")--stanzas attributed to 73
early nuns.
j. Jataka ("Lives")-tales ostensibly reporting the former lives of
Sakyamuni. The verses in each tale are supposed to have been
uttered by the Buddha, and so are considered canonical; but
the 547 tales themselves are extracanonical.
k. Niddesa ("Exposition")-verbal notes to part of the Sutta-
nipata. The Niddesa is second or third century C.E. - Pa{isambhida-magga ("The Way ofDiscrirnination")--scholastic
treatment of doctrinal topics.
m. Apadana ("Stories")-lives and former lives of the saints.
n. Buddhavalflsa ("Lineage of the Buddhas")-lives of 24 previous
Buddhas, of Sakyamuni, and of Maitreya, presented as being
told by Sakyamuni.
o. Cariya-pi{aka ("Basket of Conduct")-verse retellings of jatakas
illustrating the Bodhisattva's practice of the perfections.
III. Abhidhamma-pitaka ("Basket of Scholasticism") - Dhamma-sangini ("Enumeration ofDharmas")
- Vibhanga ("Analysis")-more on sets of dharmas.
- Dhatu-katha ("Discussion of Elements")
- Puggala-paiiiiatti ("Designation ofPersons")-classifies types of in-
dividuals according to their spiritual traits and stages. - Katha-vatthu ("Subjects ofDiscussion")-arguments about theses in
dispute among the Hinayana and early Mahayana schools. - Yamaka ("The Pairs")-arranged in pairs of questions; deals with
distinctions among basic sets of categories. - Patthana ("Conditional Relations")-24 kinds of causal relation
and their almost infinite permutations.