Sangitiparyaya (,

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: Sangītiparyāya) or Samgiti-paryaya-sastra (, "recitation together") is one of the seven Sarvastivada Abhidharma

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

scriptures. It was composed by Mahakausthila (according to the

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

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ), or Greater Tibet, is a region in the western part of East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are other ethnic groups s ...

an sources) or Sariputra (according to the Chinese sources). The Chinese recension was translated by

Xuanzang Xuanzang (; ; 6 April 6025 February 664), born Chen Hui or Chen Yi (), also known by his Sanskrit Dharma name Mokṣadeva, was a 7th-century Chinese Bhikkhu, Buddhist monk, scholar, traveller, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making ...

: T26, No. 1536, 阿毘達磨集異門足論, 尊者舍利子說, 三藏法師玄奘奉　詔譯, in 20 fascicles. Structurally, the Samgiti-paryaya is similar to the Dharma-skandha, though earlier, as the latter is mentioned in the former. It is basically a matrka on the early teachings, arranged in groups of

dharma Dharma (; , ) is a key concept in various Indian religions. The term ''dharma'' does not have a single, clear Untranslatability, translation and conveys a multifaceted idea. Etymologically, it comes from the Sanskrit ''dhr-'', meaning ''to hold ...

s by number, similar to the Ekottarikagama. This text, as the name implies, is essentially a commentary on the Samgiti-sutra (T 9, Digha-nikaya no. 33). This also indicates that the contents are more a gathering together and assemblage of the

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 legends, he was ...

's Dharma, than any new theory or discussion. The background to the first recital of the Samgiti-sutra, as the Jains fell into disarray after the death of the

Mahavir Mahavira (Devanagari: महावीर, ), also known as Vardhamana (Devanagari: वर्धमान, ), was the 24th ''Tirthankara'' (Supreme Preacher and Ford Maker) of Jainism. Although the dates and most historical details of his lif ...

, and the Buddhist Samgha gathered together to recite the core teachings of the Dharma to prevent such a split in their own religion, perhaps indicates the fear of present or impending schism arising in the Samgha on the part of those who compiled this

Abhidharma The Abhidharma are a collection of Buddhist texts dating from the 3rd century BCE onwards, which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the canonical Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. It also refers t ...

work, some time later. The Samgiti-sutra is also the basis of a commentarial work, in the later Yogacara-bhumi-sastra, some several hundred years later. Yin Shun notes it being mentioned in the , indicating its early inclusion in the

Sarvastivada The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (; ;) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (third century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy in the First Millennium CE, 2018, p. 60. It was particular ...

canon. As this text has some 14 references to the Dhatu-skandha, "as the Dhatu-skandha states", it is also clear that this is post-Dhatu-skandha in composition. The Chinese Taisho reverses the order of the two. Obviously they are very closely related"...the collated dharmas of the Dharma-skandha..." in Mulasarvastivada Vinaya-vyakhya: T24n1451_p0408b11 as indicated by Yin Shun: Study of the Abhidharma, Texts and Commentators of the

, (說一切有部為主的論書與論師之研究), Zhengwen Publishing, 1968. pg. 134.

References

{{Buddhism topics Abhidharma