The Sutta-pitaka is one of the most important collections of scripture in Buddhism. It is the second section of the Tipitaka, which is a collection of the earliest Buddhist texts. The Sutta-pitaka, or "basket of sutras," contains what are believed to be the actual sermons of the historical Buddha and his chief disciples.
But before you run out and buy a copy, be advised: It is a huge text, with more than 10,000 separate suttas (sutras), or sermons. And the way it is organized could drive you bonkers.
The first Buddhist monks and nuns were mostly illiterate. Instead of writing the sermons down, they memorized and chanted them. And the way the sermons are organized seems to be more about memorizing than reading. Instead of being organized chronologically, or by topic, it is largely organized by length. The long sermons are clumped together in one nikaya, or collection. The middle-length sermons and very short texts are in other nikayas.
If you were a new monk, you might have started with the short verses and worked up to longer things later. But if you want to read through the Buddha's sermons in any kind of logical order, good luck with that.
For example, let's consider the Buddha's first sermon, the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. This is an enormously important sermon in which the Buddha explained the foundation of his teaching, the Four Noble Truths. Everything else he taught for the rest of his life flows from that. But this first sermon is not at the beginning of the first collection. It is in the third collection, the Samyutta Nikaya, or "collection of connected discourses." This nikaya makes a stab at grouping texts by subject, so that's a help.
But the first sermon is not even at the beginning of the Samyutta Nikaya. It is grouped with other texts about the all-important Four Noble Truths in the 56th section of the Samyutta Nikaya.
Partly for this reason, it's not a good idea to try to learn about Buddhism by reading the Sutta-pitaka on your own. Most of us need a master teacher to guide us. The Buddha's teachings actually have a wonderful internal logic, and after a time you see that every teaching connects to and is supported by the other teachings. But it's hard to see that by reading through the Sutta-pitaka as it is organized.
That said, here's a brief overview to how the Sutta-pitaka is organized.
Digha Nikaya: "Collection of Long Discourses"
The Digha Nikaya contains 34 suttas grouped into three vaggas, or "divisions." These vaggas are:
- The Silakkhandha-vagga, containing long discourses on morality.
- The Maha-vagga, or "large division."
- The Patika-vagga. (Several sources helpfully translate this as "the Patika division." The Pali word patika may refer to a flag or banner, or to something royal or majestic.)
Majjhima Nikaya: "Collection of Middle-Length Discourses"
The Majjhima Nikaya contains 152 suttas that touch on all aspects of the Buddha's teachings. Historical note: After the Buddha's death, the disciples of Sariputra were entrusted with preserving the Majjhima Nikaya.
Samyutta Nikaya: "Collection of Connected Discourses"
The Samyutta Nikaya contains somewhere between 2,889 to 7,762 individual suttas. The number varies according to the translators; there appears to be some ambiguity about which texts are to be counted as "individual."
This nikaya is divided into five vaggas and subdivided into 56 samyuttas. Each samyutta contains texts on a related topic.
The five vaggas in the Samyutta Nikaya, and the numbered samyuttas they contain, are:
- Sagatha-vagga: The Division of Verses (1-11)
- Nidana-vagga: The Division on Causation (12-21)
- Khandha-vagga: The Division on the Aggregates (22-34)
- Salayatana-vagga:The Division on the Six Sense Bases (35-44)
- Maha-vagga: The Great Division (45-56)
Anguttara Nikaya: "Collection of Further-Factored Discourses"
This nikaya contains several thousand suttas. Scholars seem reluctant to commit to a fixed number. These suttas are sorted into eleven books, or nipatas, arranged according to the number of things the sutta talks about.
For example, the first book is "The Book of Ones," and it begins with a list of things of singular importance. "The Book of Twos" contains suttas explaining the difference between a foolish and wise person and the two qualities that keep one from harm. "The Book of Threes" includes the famous Kalama Sutta, which doesn't strike me as being about three of anything, but I suppose I could look at it again.
Khuddaka Nikaya: "Collection of Little Texts"
This appears to be a catch-all nikaya for short texts that didn't go anywhere else. Some of these texts, such as the Dhammapada and many of the Jataka Tales, are very well known. The beloved Metta Sutta is tucked into a section of the Khuddaka Nikaya called the Sutta Nipata, or "book of suttas." Other texts from this nikaya have yet to be translated into English.
Recognizing Citations
The standard way to site texts from the first four nikayas is by simple abbreviation of the nikaya -- DN, MN, SN, or AN, followed by a number. Going back to the the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta, the standard citation for it is SN 56.11. This tells us it is the 11th sutta in the 56th samyutta of the Samyutta Nikaya.
Texts from the Khuddaka Nikaya are cited somewhat differently. For example, the abbreviation for the Metta Sutta is Sn 1.8. The lower-case "n" tells us this is the Sutta Nipata of the Khuddaka Nikaya and not the Samyutta Nikaya, or SN.
There is a older system of citation that is not much used any more, but you might find it in older books. If you are looking for a particular sutta and the citation in a footnote makes no sense, I suggest doing a search on Access to Insight. And good luck.
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