The Digha Nikaya (dīghanikāya; "Collection of Long Discourses") is a Buddhist scriptures collection, the first of the five

Nikāya ''Nikāya'' () is a Pāli word meaning "volume". It is often used like the Sanskrit word '' āgama'' () to mean "collection", "assemblage", "class" or "group" in both Pāḷi and Sanskrit. It is most commonly used in reference to the Pali Buddhist ...

s, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka of

Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...

. Some of the most commonly referenced

suttas Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...

from the Digha Nikaya include the ''

Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta The ''Mahāparinibbāṇa Sutta'' is Sutta 16 in the ''Digha Nikaya'', a scripture belonging to the Sutta Pitaka of Theravada Buddhism. It concerns the end of Gautama Buddha's life - his parinibbana - and is the longest sutta of the Pāli Ca ...

'' (DN 16), which described the final days and passing of the

Lord Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...

, the ''

Sigālovāda Sutta Sigalovada Sutta is the 31st Sutta described in the Digha Nikaya ("Long Discourses of Buddha"). It is also known as the Sīgāla Sutta, the Sīgālaka Sutta, the Sigālovāda Sutta, and the Sigālovāda Suttanta ("The Sigāla Homily"). Buddhagh ...

'' (DN 31) in which the Buddha discusses

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concerns m ...

and practices for lay followers, and the ''

Samaññaphala Sutta The Samaññaphala Sutta, "The Fruit of Contemplative Life," is the second discourse (Pali, ''sutta''; Skt., ''sutra'') of the Digha Nikaya. In terms of narrative, this discourse tells the story of King Ajātasattu, son and successor of King Bi ...

'' (DN 2), ''

Brahmajāla Sutta The Brahmajāla Sutta is the first of 34 suttas in the Dīgha Nikāya (the Long Discourses of the Buddha). The name means Net (jāla - net, netting, entanglement) of Brahmā. The sutta is also called 'Atthajala' (Net of Essence), Dhammajala, ...

'' (DN 1) which describes and compares the point of view of Lord Buddha and other ascetics in India about the universe and time (past, present, and future); and the '' Poṭṭhapāda'' (DN 9) Suttas, which describe the benefits and practice of

Samatha ''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...

meditation.

Structure and contents

The Digha Nikaya consists of 34 discourses, broken into three groups: *Silakkhandha-vagga—The Division Concerning Morality (suttas 1-13); named after a tract on monks' morality that occurs in each of its suttas (in theory; in practice it is not written out in full in all of them); in most of them it leads on to the

jhāna In the oldest texts of Buddhism, ''dhyāna'' () or ''jhāna'' () is a component of the training of the mind ('' bhavana''), commonly translated as meditation, to withdraw the mind from the automatic responses to sense-impressions, "burn up" th ...

s (the main attainments of

samatha ''Samatha'' (Pāli; sa, शमथ ''śamatha''; ), "calm," "serenity," "tranquillity of awareness," and ''vipassanā'' (Pāli; Sanskrit ''vipaśyanā''), literally "special, super (''vi-''), seeing (''-passanā'')", are two qualities of the ...

meditation), the cultivation of psychic powers and attaining the fruit of an

Arahant In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated ...

. *Maha-vagga—The Great Division (suttas 14-23) *Patika-vagga—The Patika Division (suttas 24-34)

Suttas of the Digha Nikaya

Correspondence with the Dīrgha Āgama

The Digha Nikaya corresponds to the '' Dīrgha Āgama'' found in the Sutta Pitikas of various Sanskritic early Buddhists schools, fragments of which survive in Sanskrit. A complete version of the Dīrgha Āgama of the Dharmagupta school survives in Chinese translation by the name Cháng Ahánjīng ( :ch:長阿含經). It contains 30 sūtras in contrast to the 34 suttas of the Theravadin Dīgha Nikāya. In addition, portions of the Sarvāstivādin school's Dīrgha Āgama survive in Sanskrit and in Tibetan translation.A Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keown, Oxford University Press: 2004

Translations

Complete Translations: *
Dīgha Nikāya , The Long Collection
' by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu * ''Dialogues of the Buddha'', tr T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids, 1899–1921, 3 volumes,

Pali Text Society The Pali Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts". Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The Pā ...

Vol. 1Vol. 2Vol. 3
* ''Thus Have I Heard: the Long Discourses of the Buddha'', tr Maurice Walshe, Wisdom Pubs, 1987; later reissued under the original subtitle; *''The Long Discourses,'' tr Bhikkhu Sujato, 2018
published online at SuttaCentral
and released into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

. Selections: * ''The Buddha's Philosophy of Man'', Rhys Davids tr, rev Trevor Ling, Everyman, out of print; 10 suttas including 2, 16, 22, 31 * ''Long Discourses of the Buddha'', tr Mrs A. A. G. Bennett, Bombay, 1964; 1-16 * ''Ten Suttas from Digha Nikaya'', Burma Pitaka Association, Rangoon, 1984; 1, 2, 9, 15, 16, 22, 26, 28-9, 31

Notes

External links