The second collection of the Sūtra Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon. It contains 152 suttas including some of the best known ones in the canon such as the Alagaddūpama Sutta (see raft parable), Aṇgulimāla Sutta (see Aṇgulimāla) and Mahāsīhanāda Sutta. At the First Council (see Council of Rājagṛha), held shortly after the Buddha's death, the duty of learning and preserving the Majjhima Nikāya was entrusted to Śāriputra's disciples. A commentary to the Majjhima Nikāya by the title of Papañcasūdanī was composed by Buddhaghoṣa in the 5th century ce, and Sāriputta of Sri Lanka later compiled its subcommentary.
Majjhima Nikaya
| Buddhism Dictionary: Majjhima Nikāya |
| Wikipedia: Majjhima Nikaya |
|
Major figures |
|
Dharma or |
|
Four Noble Truths |
|
Practices and attainment |
|
Buddhahood · Bodhisattva |
|
|
The Majjhima Nikaya (-nikāya; "Collection of Middle-length Discourses") is a Buddhist scripture, the second of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. This nikaya consists of 152 discourses attributed to the Buddha and his chief disciples.
The Majjhima Nikaya corresponds to the Madhyama Āgama found in the Sutra Pitikas of various Sanskritic early Buddhists schools, fragments of which survive in Sanskrit and in Tibetan translation. A complete Chinese translation from the Sarvāstivādin recension appears in the Chinese Buddhist canon, where it is known as the Zhōng Ahánjīng (中阿含經). The Madhyama Āgama of the Sarvāstivāda school contains 222 sūtras, in contrast to the 152 suttas in the Pāli Majjhima Nikāya.[1]
Contents |
Translations
- Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan had translated Majjhima Nikaya from Prakrit to Hindi.[2]
- Lord Chalmers (trans.), Further Dialogues of the Buddha, 1926-7, 2 volumes, Ann Arbor: Books on Demand, University of Michigan.
- I.B. Horner (trans.), The Book of Middle Length Sayings, 1954-9, 3 volumes, Bristol: Pali Text Society.
- David W. Evans (trans.), Discourses of Gotama Buddha: Middle Collection, 1991, Janus Pubns. "Translation in an abridged form ... just about one third the size of Horner's translation, but with well over 90% of the significant content"
- Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.), The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, 1995, Somerville: Wisdom Publications ISBN 0-86171-072-X. The Pali Text Society also issues a private edition of this for members only, which is its preferred translation.
In a review of this most recent translation, L. S. Cousins (before getting down to details) makes various general criticisms:
- the translation does not make clear what Pali text it is translating
- being largely the work of Nanamoli, who died in 1960, it does not take much account of recent scholarship
- in order to fit in one volume it cuts a lot of repetitions, thus altering the emphases of the text
- it tends to follow traditional commentarial interpretations too uncritically
- Bodhi has undone improvements Nanamoli was trying to make before he died, to restore "standard" translations of terminology. Cousins says that these translations (or some) are "quite unacceptable" and "promulgate widespread misunderstandings", and that Nanamoli understood this. Cousins says that "what is needed is much more creativity and variety" in translation to try better to convey early Buddhist concepts
Nevertheless, Cousins judges the translation a valuable contribution.
Selections
- A Treasury of the Buddha's Words, tr Nanamoli, revised Khantipalo, Bangkok; later revised & expanded to give MLDB above
- Twenty-Five Suttas from Mula-Pannasa, Burma Pitaka Association, Rangoon, 1986?; reprinted Sri Satguru, Delhi
- Twenty-Five Suttas from Majjhima-Pannasa, Myanmar Pitaka Association, Rangoon, 1987; reprinted Sri Satguru, DElhi
- Twenty-Five Suttas from Upari-Pannasa, Myanmar Pitaka Association, Rangoon, 1988?; reprinted Sri Satguru, Delhi
See also
- Anguttara Nikaya
- Buddhist texts
- Digha Nikaya
- Khuddaka Nikaya
- List of Majjhima Nikaya suttas
- Samyutta Nikaya
External links
- Majjhima Nikaya in English at Metta.lk
- Majjhima Nikaya in English at accesstoinsight.org
- Majjhima Nikaya lectures taught by Bhikkhu Bodhi
- MAJJHIMA NIKAAYA III, II. 3.5.Maagandiyasutta.m, III. 2. 5.Bahudhaatukasutta.m-, (115) The Discourse on Many Elements
References
- ^ A Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keown, Oxford University Press: 2004
- ^ Sharma, R.S. (2009). Rethinking India's Past. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195697872.
- Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, entry on Mādhyamāgama
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
This Buddhism-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Learn More
 | MN |
| Ekottara Agama |
| Nanamoli Bhikkhu |
Help us answer these
 | What are the Samyutta Nikaya? |
| Jevanika in Anguttara Nikaya? |
Post a question - any question - to the WikiAnswers community:
Copyrights:
 |
 | Buddhism Dictionary. A Dictionary of Buddhism. Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Majjhima Nikaya". Read more |
