The Niddesa (abbrev., "Nidd") is a Buddhist scripture, part of the

Pali Canon The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During th ...

Theravada ''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' ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. It is included there in the

Sutta Pitaka Sutta may refer to: *Sutta Nipata, is a Buddhist scripture *Sutta Piṭaka, The second of the three divisions of the Tripitaka or Pali Canon *Sutta Pazham, is a 2008 Indian Tamil language adult comedy thriller film *Sutta Kadhai, 2013 Indian Tamil ...

's Khuddaka Nikaya. It is in the form of a commentary on parts of the

Suttanipata The ' () is a Buddhist scripture, a sutta collection in the Khuddaka Nikaya, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. Sections The ''Sutta Nipāta'' is divided into five sections: Uraga Vagga ("The Chapter on the Serpent") Cūla Vagg ...

. The tradition ascribes it to the Buddha's disciple Sariputta. It is divided into two parts: * Maha Niddesa (mahā-) (abbrev., "Nidd I" or "Nd1"), commenting on the ''Atthaka Vagga'' ("Octet Chapter," Sn 4); * Culla or Cula Niddesa () (abbrev., "Nidd II" or "Nd2"), commenting on the ''Parayana Vagga'' ("Way to the Far Shore Chapter,"Sn 5) and ''Khaggavisana Sutta'' ("Rhinoceros Horn Discourse," Sn 1.3). This text is believed to have been most likely composed no later than the 1st century BC.Hinüber (2000), p. 59, para. 118, writes: :The age of Nidd has been discussed at great length by S.Lévi 1925, who arrives at a date in the 2nd century AD, arguing from the geographical horizon of the text. This date has been disputed recently by Norman 1983: 84,86, who argues in favour of a much earlier date at the time of

Aśoka Ashoka (, ; also ''Asoka''; 304 – 232 BCE), popularly known as Ashoka the Great, was the third emperor of the Maurya Empire of Indian subcontinent during to 232 BCE. His empire covered a large part of the Indian subcontinent, ...

. The question needs reexamination. It is, however, certain that Nidd does not belong to the old canonical texts and that also a date after Aśoka does not seem likely. In a related footnote (n. 204), Hinüber writes: :But "cannot be later than the date of the fixing of the canon", Norman:Sn-trsl II, p. XXVI: This means not later than the 1st century BC.

References

Sources

* Hinüber, Oskar von (2000). ''A Handbook of Pāli Literature''. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. . * De la Vallee Poussin, L., Thomas, E.J., ed. (1916)
"Niddesa I, Mahaniddesa", Vol. 1
The Pali Text Society, London, Oxford University Press. (Pali edition) * De la Vallee Poussin, L., Thomas, E.J., ed. (1917)
"Niddesa I, Mahaniddesa", Vol. 2
The Pali Text Society, London, Oxford University Press. (Pali edition) * De la Vallee Poussin, L., Thomas, E.J., ed. (1916)
"Niddesa II, Cullaniddesa", Vol. 3
The Pali Text Society, London, Oxford University Press. (Pali edition)

External links

* Link to a small excerpt from the Niddesa that has been translated into Englis

* Link to full English-language translation

References

Sources

External links

See also