| Buddhism Dictionary: Nikāya |
(Sanskrit; Pāli, assembly). 1. The five collections of texts that constitute the Sūtra Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon, namely: (i) Dīgha Nikāya (Collection of Long Discourses); (ii) Majjhima Nikāya (Collection of Medium Discourses); (iii) Saṃyutta Nikāya (Collection of Connected Discourses); (iv) Aṇguttara Nikāya (Collection of Incremental Discourses); (v) Khuddaka Nikāya (Collection of Lesser Discourses). See also Āgama.
2. A group of monks or a monastic order.
| Wikipedia: Nikāya |
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Nikāya is a word of meaning "collection", "assemblage", "class" or "group" in both Pali and Sanskrit.[1] It is most commonly used in reference to the Buddhist texts of the Sutta Pitaka, but can also refer to the monastic divisions of Theravada Buddhism.
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In the Theravada canon (in particular, the "Discourse Basket" or Sutta Pitaka) the meaning of nikaya is roughly equivalent to the English collection, and is used to describe groupings of discourses according to theme, length, or other categories. For example, the Sutta Pitaka is broken up into five nikayas:
In the other early Buddhist schools the alternate term āgama was used instead of nikaya to describe their Sutra Pitikas. Thus the non-Mahayana portion of the Sanskrit-language Sutra Pitaka is referred to as "the Agamas" by Mahayana Buddhists. The Agamas survive for the most part only in Tibetan and Chinese translation. They correspond closely with the Pali nikayas.
Among the Theravada nations of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, nikaya is also used as the term for a monastic division or lineage; these groupings are also sometimes called "monastic fraternities" or "frateries". Nikayas may emerge among monastic groupings as a result of royal or government patronage (such as the Dhammayuttika Nikaya of Thailand, due to the national origin of their ordination lineage (the Siyam Nikaya of Sri Lanka), because of differences in the interpretation of the monastic code, or due to other factors (such as the Amarapura Nikaya in Sri Lanka, which emerged as a reaction to caste restrictions within the Siyam Nikaya). These divisions do not rise to the level of forming separate sects within the Theravada tradition, because they do not typically follow different doctrines or monastic codes, nor do these divisions extend to the laity.
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