TheUdāna is aBuddhist scripture, part of thePali Canon ofTheravada Buddhism. It is included in theSutta Pitaka'sKhuddaka Nikaya. The title might be translated "inspired utterances". The book comprises 80 such utterances, most in verse, each preceded by a narrative giving the context in which the Buddha uttered it.

The famous story of theBlind men and an elephant appears in Udana, underTittha Sutta (Ud. 6.4).^[1]

The Udana is composed of eight chapters (vagga) of ten discourses each. The chapter titles are:

1. Bodhivagga (Awakening chapter)
2. Mucalindavagga (King Mucalinda chapter)
3. Nandavagga (Ven. Nanda chapter)
4. Meghiyavagga (Ven. Meghiya chapter)
5. Soṇavagga (Lay Follower Sona chapter)
6. Jaccandhavagga (Blind From Birth chapter)
7. Cullavagga (Minor chapter)
8. Pāṭaligāmiyavagga (Pataligamiya chapter)

Each discourse includes a prose portion followed by a verse. At the end of each prose section, as prelude to the verse, the following formulaic text is included:

It is from such "exclamations" (udāna) that the collection derives its name.

This is one of theearlier Buddhist scriptures,^[4] A recent analysis concludes that the text of the Pali discourses, including the Udāna, was largely fixed in its current form, with only small differences from the modern text, by the first century B.C.E.^[5]

Hinüber identifies this type of discourse (although not necessarily the existing collection itself) as being part of the pre-canonicalnavaṅga (Pali for "nine-fold") which classified discourses according to their form and style, such asgeyya (mixed prose and verse),gāthā (four-lined couplets),udāna (utterances) andjātaka (birth story).^[6]

Within Buddhist literature, about a fourth of the Udana's prose sections correspond to text elsewhere in the Pali Canon, particularly in theVinaya. In addition, in regards toTibetan Buddhist literature, von Hinüber suggests that the Udana formed the original core of the SanskritUdānavarga, to which verses from theDhammapada were added.^[7]

In terms of non-Buddhist texts, some Udana concepts can be found in theVedanticUpanishads and inJain texts.^[8]

• Tr Major-General D. M. Strong, 1902
• "Verses of uplift", inMinor Anthologies of the Pali Canon, volume II, tr F. L. Woodward, 1935,Pali Text Society[2], Bristol
• Tr John D. Ireland, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1990; later reprinted in 1 volume with his translation of theItivuttaka
• Tr Peter Masefield, 1994, Pali Text Society, Bristol; the PTS's preferred translation; its declared aim is to translate in accordance with the commentary's interpretation
• Bilingual Pali-English study edition, 2010Theravada Tipitaka Press[3]
• Tr Ānandajoti Bhikkhu,Udāna. Exalted Utterances[4]; Last revised version 2008
• Tr Bhikkhu Mahinda (Anagarika Mahendra), Udāna: Book of Inspired Utterances, Bilingual Pali-English First Edition 2022, Dhamma Publishers, Roslindale MA;ISBN 9780999078181[5].

• Udāna translated by Sāmaṇera Mahinda.
• The Udâna Translated from the Pali by Dawsonne Melanchthon Strong
• Udana at Access to Insight; selections from translations by Ireland andThanissaro.
• Udana. Pali - English a new version of the Udana in a bi-lingual edition.(Link to commercial bookseller order page)

• Khuddaka Nikaya