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Nikāya (निकाय) is aPāli word meaning "volume". It is often used like theSanskrit wordāgama (आगम) to mean "collection", "assemblage", "class" or "group" in both Pāḷi and Sanskrit.[1] It is most commonly used in reference to the PaliBuddhist texts of theTripitaka namely those found in theSutta Piṭaka. It is also used to refer to monastic lineages, where it is sometimes translated as a 'monastic fraternity'.
The termNikāya Buddhism is sometimes used in contemporary scholarship to refer to the Buddhism of theearly Buddhist schools.
In thePāli Canon, particularly, the "Discourse Basket" orSutta Piṭaka, the meaning ofnikāya is roughly equivalent to the Englishcollection and is used to describe groupings of discourses according to theme, length, or other categories. For example, theSutta Piṭaka is broken up into five nikāyas:
In the other early Buddhist schools the alternate termāgama was used instead of nikāya to describe theirSutra Piṭakas. Thus the non-Mahāyāna portion of the Sanskrit-languageSutra Piṭaka is referred to as "the Āgamas" by Mahāyāna Buddhists. The Āgamas survive for the most part only inClassical Tibetan andChinese translation. They correspond closely with the Pāḷi nikāyas.[2]
Among the Theravāda nations of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka,nikāya is also used as the term for a monastic division or lineage; these groupings are also sometimes called "monastic fraternities" or "frateries". Nikāyas may emerge among monastic groupings as a result of royal or government patronage (such as theDhammayuttika Nikāya of Thailand), due to the national origin of their ordination lineage (theSiam Nikāya ofSri Lanka), because of differences in the interpretation of the monastic code, or due to other factors (such as theAmarapura Nikāya in Sri Lanka, which emerged as a reaction to caste restrictions within the Siam Nikāya). These divisions do not rise to the level of forming separate sects within the Theravāda tradition, because they do not typically follow different doctrines or monastic codes, nor do these divisions extend to the laity.
In Myanmar, all the monastic orders are called gaing (ဂိုဏ်း) orgaṇa (ဂဏ) instead of nikāya, although some orders include Nikāya (နိကာယ) in addition to Gaing in their names. No new gaings have been allowed other than thenine legally recognized gaings under the 1990 Law Concerning Sangha Organizations.[4] The largest of these is theThudhamma Gaing, which was founded in the 1800s during theKonbaung dynasty.
The term Nikāya Buddhism was coined byMasatoshi Nagatomifake as a non-derogatory substitute forHinayana, meaning theearly Buddhist schools.[5] Examples of these groups arepre-sectarian Buddhism and the early Buddhist schools. Some scholars exclude pre-sectarian Buddhism when using the term. The termTheravada refers to Buddhist practices based on these early teachings, as preserved in thePāli Canon.
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