| Khuddaka Nikāya | |
|---|---|
| Type | Canonical texts |
| Parent | Sutta Piṭaka |
| Contains | Khuddakapāṭha;Dhammapada;Udāna;Itivuttaka;Sutta Nipāta;Vimānavatthu;Petavatthu;Theragāthā;Therīgāthā;Apadāna;Buddhavaṁsa;Cariyāpiṭaka;Jātaka;Niddesa;Paṭisambhidāmagga;Nettipakaraṇa;Peṭakopadesa;Milindapañha |
| Abbreviation | KN |
| Pāli Canon |
|---|
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| Theravāda Buddhism |
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TheKhuddaka Nikāya (lit. 'Minor Collection') is the last of the fiveNikāyas, or collections, in theSutta Piṭaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose thePāli Tipiṭaka, the sacred scriptures ofTherevāda Buddhism. This nikāya consists of a various number of books, depending on the recension: fifteen in Thailand, fifteen in Sri Lanka (followingBuddhaghosa's list), or eighteen inBurma, covering a wide variety of topics. It is attributed tothe Buddha and his chiefdisciples.
The wordkhuddaka in the title means ‘small’ in Pāli andNikāya is ‘collection’. The equivalent collection in the Chinese and Tibetan canons is theKṣudraka Āgama, but there is substantial variation among the collections.
Hirakawa Akira has stated that the Khuddaka Nikāya represents a stage in the development of the Pāli Canon/Āgamas in which new material was not added any more to the rest of the Sutta Piṭaka, but was added to a 'Khuddaka Piṭaka' instead.[1] This Khuddaka Piṭaka was the repository for materials that were left out of the four Āgamas/Nikāyas (the Dīgha Nikāya, Majjhima Nikāya, Saṃyutta Nikāya and Aṅguttara Nikāya) and thus included both early and late texts. Some of the other schools that included a Khuddaka Piṭaka in their canons were theMahīśāsaka,Dharmaguptaka andMahāsāṃghika. The Khuddaka Nikāya of the Theravāda school is the only complete extant example of such a Khuddaka Piṭaka.[1] Some texts from the Dharmaguptaka Kṣudraka Āgama are preserved in Chinese and Tibetan translation, and fragments ofGandhari versions have also been discovered.[2]
On the dating of the various books in the Khuddaka Nikāya, Oliver Abeynayake notes that:
The Khuddaka Nikaya can easily be divided into two strata, one being early and the other late. The texts Sutta Nipata, Itivuttaka, Dhammapada, Therigatha (Theragatha), Udana and Jataka belong to the early stratum. The texts Khuddakapatha, Vimanavatthu, Petavatthu, Niddesa, Patisambhida, Apadana, Buddhavamsa and Cariyapitaka can be categorized in the later stratum.[3]
This nikaya contains some or all of the following texts:
The introduction to the Sumaṅgalavilāsinī, the commentary on theDīgha Nikāya compiled in the fourth or fifth century byBuddhaghosa on the basis of earlier commentaries that no longer survive, says that the reciters of the Dīgha listed 2-12 in this nikāya, while the reciters of theMajjhima Nikāya listed 2-15. Later, it gives a listing of the contents of the Canon also found in the introductions to the commentaries on theVinaya andAbhidhamma Piṭakas, which gives 1-15 for this nikāya, though it also includes an alternative classification in which the Vinaya and Abhidhamma are also included in this nikāya, so that the five nikāyas are a classification of the whole Canon, not just the Sutta Piṭaka. Scholars conclude on the basis of these lists that 13-15 were added later, and 1 later still.
Both surviving subcommentaries on the passage about reciters explain the apparent difference between the reciters as being, not a substantive disagreement on the contents of the Canon, but merely a nominal one on its classification. Thus they say for example that the Dīgha reciters did regard 15 as canonical but counted it as part of 10 instead of a separate book. Similarly, the more recent subcommentary, compiled by the head of the Burmese Saṅgha about two centuries ago, says that 16 and 17 were counted as part of 11 and/or 12.[4]
The full list of 18 books is included in the inscriptions approved by the BurmeseFifth Buddhist council and in the printed edition of the text recited at theSixth Council.
The following translations include material from at least two books of the Khuddaka Nikāya. For translations of individual books, see the separate articles.
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