Aṭṭhakathā
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Aṭṭhakathā
Aṭṭhakathā (Pali for explanation, commentary) refers to Pali-language Theravadin Buddhist commentaries to the canonical Theravadin Tipitaka. These commentaries give the traditional interpretations of the scriptures. The major commentaries were based on earlier ones, now lost, in Prakrit and Sinhala, which were written down at the same time as the Canon, in the last century BCE. Some material in the commentaries is found in canonical texts of other schools of Buddhism, suggesting an early common source. According to K.R. Norman: There is no direct evidence that any commentarial material was in fact recited at the first council, but there is clear evidence that some parts of the commentaries are very old, perhaps even going back to the time of the Buddha, because they afford parallels with texts which are regarded as canonical by other sects, and must therefore pre-date the schisms between the sects. As has already been noted, some canonical texts include commentarial pa ...
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Jataka Tales
The ''Jātaka'' (Sanskrit for "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories were depicted on the railings and torans of the stupas. According to Peter Skilling, this genre is "one of the oldest classes of Buddhist literature."Skilling, Peter (2010). ''Buddhism and Buddhist Literature of South-East Asia,'' pp. 161–162. Some of these texts are also considered great works of literature in their own right.Shaw, Sarah (2006). ''The Jatakas: Birth Stories of Bodhisatta'', p. xxii. Penguin UK. The various Indian Buddhist schools had different collections of jātakas. The largest known collection is the '' Jātakatthavaṇṇanā'' of the Theravada school, as a textual division of the Pāli Canon, included in the '' Khuddaka Nikaya'' of the ''Sutta Pitaka''. In these stories, the future Buddha may appear as a king, an o ...
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Atthasālinī
Atthasālinī (Pali), also known as Dhammasaṅgaṇī-aṭṭhakathā, is a Buddhist text composed by Buddhaghosa in the Theravada Abhidharma tradition. The title has been translated as "The Expositor"van Gorkom (2009)Preface or "Providing the Meaning". In the ''Atthasālinī'', Buddhaghosa explains the meaning of terms that occur in the Dhammasangani, a Buddhist text that is part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. Mental factors Within the ''Atthasālinī'', Buddhaghosa explains the meanings of the fifty-two mental factors (Pali: cetasikas) described in the Dhammasangani. Translations * Buddhaghosa, Maung Tin, et al. (1958), ''The Expositor'', Pali Text Society The Pāli 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 ... References Sources * * Aṭṭhakathā { ...
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Buddhaghosa
Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Sinhalese Theravādin Buddhist commentator, translator, and philosopher. He worked in the great monastery (''mahāvihāra'') at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajyavāda school and in the lineage of the Sinhalese ''mahāvihāra''. His best-known work is the ''Visuddhimagga'' ("Path of Purification"), a comprehensive summary of older Sinhala commentaries on the scriptural canon of the Theravāda school. According to Sarah Shaw, in Theravāda Buddhism this systematic work is "the principal text on the subject of meditation." The interpretations provided by Buddhaghosa have generally constituted the orthodox understanding of Theravādin scriptures since at least the 12th century CE. Buddhaghosa is generally recognized by both Western scholars and Theravādin Buddhists as the most important philosopher and commentator of the Theravāda school. Name The name ''Buddhaghosa'' means "Voice of the Buddha" (''Budd ...
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Samantapasadika
Samantapāsādikā refers to a collection of Pali commentaries on the Theravada Tipitaka Vinaya. It was a translation of Sinhala commentaries into Pali by Buddhaghosa Buddhaghosa was a 5th-century Sinhalese Theravādin Buddhist commentator, translator, and philosopher. He worked in the great monastery (''mahāvihāra'') at Anurādhapura, Sri Lanka and saw himself as being part of the Vibhajyavāda schoo ... in the 5th century. Many of the verses used in Samantapāsādikā are from the older Dípavamsa (est. 3rd - 4th Century CE). Samantapasadika is made of two words, samanta and pasadika. Here 'samanta' indicates 'all' or 'entire', and 'pāsādika' means 'lovely' or 'pleasing'. References 5th-century books Aṭṭhakathā {{buddhism-book-stub ...
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Abhidhamma Pitaka
The Theravada Abhidhamma tradition, also known as the Abhidhamma Method, refers to a scholastic systematization of the Theravada, Theravāda school's understanding of the highest Buddhist teachings (Abhidharma, Abhidhamma). These teachings are traditionally believed to have been taught by the Gautama Buddha, Buddha, though modern scholars date the texts of the ''Abhidhamma Piṭaka'' to the 3rd century BCE. Theravāda traditionally sees itself as the Vibhajyavāda, ''vibhajjavāda'' ("the teaching of analysis"), which reflects the analytical (''vibhajjati'') method used by the Buddha and early Buddhists to investigate the nature of the person and other phenomena. According to Bhikkhu Bodhi, a modern Theravāda scholar, the Abhidhamma Pitaka, Abhidhamma is "simultaneously a philosophy, a psychology and an ethics, all integrated into the framework of a program for liberation."Bodhi (2000), p. 3. There are different textual layers of Abhidhamma literature. The earliest Abhidhamma w ...
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Sutta Nipata
The ' () is a Buddhist scripture, a sutta collection in the Khuddaka Nikaya, part of the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. ''Sutta Nipata'' is a collection of discourses of Buddha. It is part of an early corpus of Buddhist literature. Robert Chalmers explains that ''sutta'' means a consecutive thread of teaching and Hermann Oldenberg explained that ''nipata'' denotes a small collection. Antiquity Chalmers says that the materials of the ''Sutta Nipata'' are not of equal antiquity but it contains some of the oldest Buddhist compositions. Bharat Singh Upadhyaya, Maurice Winternitz, and Hajime Nakamura are other prominent Buddhist scholars who regard its poetry to have originated in the beginnings of Buddhism. A commentary on ''Sutta Nipata'', called ''Niddesa'', is included in the canon itself which points to the antiquity of the text. Bhabru Rock Edicts or Bairat Temple inscription of Ashoka also mentions many texts from this scripture. Sections T ...
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Dhammapada
The ''Dhammapada'' (; ) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures.See, for instance, Buswell (2003): "rank among the best known Buddhist texts" (p. 11); and, "one of the most popular texts with Buddhist monks and laypersons" (p. 627). Harvey (2007), p. 322, writes: "Its popularity is reflected in the many times it has been translated into Western languages"; Brough (2001), p. xvii, writes: "The collection of Pali ethical verses entitled "Dhammapada" is one of the most widely known of early Buddhist texts." The original version of the Dhammapada is in the Khuddaka Nikaya, a division of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. The Buddhist scholar and commentator Buddhaghosa explains that each saying recorded in the collection was made on a different occasion in response to a unique situation that had arisen in the life of the Buddha and his monastic community. His translation of the commentary, the ...
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