Discourses (Sutta Pitaka)

Introduction

The Sutta Pitaka, the “basket of discourses”, is one of the three parts of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. It gathers thousands of sermons and conversations of the Buddha and his disciples in five collections (nikayas), from the long discourses of the Digha Nikaya to the verse collections of the Khuddaka Nikaya, among them the Dhammapada. The texts were handed down orally and, according to Sri Lankan tradition, first written down in the first century BCE; parallel versions survive in Chinese translation. They include the first sermon on the Four Noble Truths and many dialogues in which the Buddha argues with Brahmins and ascetics.

Connections

Criticizes

• Brihadaranyaka Upanishadc. 700 BCE · Yajnavalkya

Taken up in

• Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way (Mulamadhyamakakarika)c. 200 · Nagarjuna