Sutta Pitaka :: Teachings

Sutta Pitaka (Unicode: Sutta Piṭaka, Velthuis: Sutta Pi.taka) is the collection of suttas, or discourses, attributed to the Buddha and a few of his closest disciples. The Sutta Pitaka is further divided in five Nikayas. The texts in each of the first four Nikayas are organised in a uniform manner, and are rather consistent in their literary forms. Each of the four main Nikayas has an accompanying commentary and subcommentary. The last Nikaya, Khuddaka Nikaya, is a collection of small texts of different forms or genres. The Khuddaka texts have only commentaries. This is illustrated in the following tables.

Evam me sutam (Unicode: evaṃ me sutaṃ, Velthuis: eva.m me suta.m) is the phrase which starts every sutta (in Digha and Majjhima) or set of suttas (in Samyutta and Anguttara). It is one of the most common phrases in the Nikayas. A search on the CSCD gives the following results:

• Digha Nikaya: "evam me sutam" appears 34 times
• Majjhima Nikaya: 152 times
• Samyutta Nikaya: 116 times
• Anguttara Nikaya: 56 times

Evam me sutam translated into different languages:

List of Nikayas (Collections)

1. Diigha Nikaya
2. Majjhima Nikaya
3. Sa.myutta Nikaya
4. A`nguttara Nikaya
5. Khuddaka Nikaya

External Links

• Beyond the Tipitaka
• List of Tipitaka and Corresponding Atthakatha Volumes

Revisions:
‣ 2: 2006/01/03 YPOng
‣ 1: 2005/12/30 YPOng
‣ 0: 2005/10/12 YPOng