The ''Majjhima Nikāya'' ("Collection of Middle-length Discourses") is a Buddhist scripture collection, the second 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 Buddhis ...

s, or collections, in the

Sutta Piṭaka The ''Sutta Piṭaka'' (also referred to as ''Sūtra Piṭaka'' or ''Suttanta Piṭaka''; English: ''Basket of Discourse'') is the second of the three division of the Pali Tripitaka, the definitive canonical collection of scripture of Therava ...

, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka (lit. "Three Baskets") of

Theravada Buddhism ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' ( anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or '' Dhamma'' in ...

. It was composed between 3rd century BCE and 2nd century CE. This nikaya consists of 152 discourses attributed to the Buddha and his chief disciples.A version of the

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

original is available in

Overview

Bhikkhu Bodhi in the introduction to his translation describes the collection as follows:

If the Majjhima Nikāya were to be characterised by a single phrase to distinguish it from among the other books of the Pali Canon, this might be done by describing it as the collection that combines the richest variety of contextual settings with the deepest and most comprehensive assortment of teachings.

The 152 discourses come in three parts each with five divisions. All divisions save the penultimate contain 10 discourses.

Parallel

The Majjhima Nikaya corresponds to the '' Madhyama Āgama'' found in the Sutra Piṭakas of various Sanskritic early Buddhist schools, fragments of which survive in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

and in Tibetan translation. A complete Chinese translation from the Sarvāstivādin recension appears in the

Chinese Buddhist canon The Chinese Buddhist canon refers to a traditional collection of Chinese language Buddhist texts which are the central canonical works of East Asian Buddhism. The traditional term for the canon is Great Storage of Scriptures ().Jiang Wu, "The ...

, where it is known as the ''Zhōng Ahánjīng'' (中阿含經). The Madhyama Āgama of the Sarvāstivāda school contains 222 sūtras, in contrast to the 152 suttas in the Pāli Majjhima Nikāya.

Translations

Full translations

*. * Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan translated Majjhima Nikaya from

Prakrit Prakrit ( ) is a group of vernacular classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages that were used in the Indian subcontinent from around the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. The term Prakrit is usually applied to the middle period of Middle Ind ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

. * Lord Chalmers, trans. (1898–1926), ''Further Dialogues of the Buddha'', 1926–7, vol.1, vol. 2, London: Pali Text Society. Reprint: Ann Arbor: Books on Demand, University of Michigan. *

I.B. Horner Isaline Blew Horner Order of the British Empire, OBE (30 March 1896 – 25 April 1981), usually cited as I. B. Horner, was an English Indologist, a leading scholar of Pali literature and late president of the Pali Text Society (1959–1981). Lif ...

(trans.), ''The Book of Middle Length Sayings'', 1954–9, 3 volumes, Bristol: Pali Text Society. * David W. Evans (trans.), ''Discourses of Gotama Buddha: Middle Collection'', 1991, Janus Pubns. "Translation in an abridged form ... just about one third the size of Horner's translation, but with well over 90% of the significant content" *Bhikkhu Sujato (trans.), ''The Middle Discourses'', 2018
published online at SuttaCentral
and released into the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

Selections

* ''A Treasury of the Buddha's Words'', tr Nanamoli, revised Khantipalo, Bangkok; later revised and expanded to produce the ''Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha'' * ''Twenty-Five Suttas from Mula-Pannasa'', Burma Pitaka Association, Rangoon, 1986?; reprinted Sri Satguru, Delhi * ''Twenty-Five Suttas from Majjhima-Pannasa'', Myanmar Pitaka Association, Rangoon, 1987; reprinted Sri Satguru, Delhi * ''Twenty-Five Suttas from Upari-Pannasa'', Myanmar Pitaka Association, Rangoon, 1988?; reprinted Sri Satguru, Delhi

References

External links

Majjhima Nikāya in English (& 30+ other languages) together with Madhyama Āgama parallels
at suttacentral.net

at Metta.lk

at accesstoinsight.org

taught by

Bhikkhu Bodhi Bhikkhu Bodhi (born December 10, 1944) () born Jeffrey Block, is an American Theravada Buddhist monk ordained in Sri Lanka. He teaches in the New York and New Jersey area. He was appointed the second president of the Buddhist Publication Soci ...

Majjhima Nikaaya III, II. 3.5.Maagandiyasutta.m, III. 2. 5.Bahudhaatukasutta.m-, (115) The Discourse on Many Elements
at budsas.org
Entry for Mādhyamāgama
''Digital Dictionary of Buddhism'' at buddhism-dict.net
Selected Suttas of the Majjhima Nikaya
transl. by

, Wisdom Publications
Seven Games of India in the 6th Century B.C.
{{Buddhism topics Theravada Buddhist texts