The Quintessence of Nikaya Sutta
Nikaya Sutta was orally handed down in the first period of hundreds of years. After the Buddha passed away, the First Collection of Suttas was held in the cave Sattapanna, Vebhara Mountain, Rajagaha City, Magadha country1. About one hundred years later, the Elder Yasa2 Assembled the Suttas for the second time. One hundred years after the Second Collection, King Ashoka held a meeting of the Collection of Suttas for the third time. Until the time of King Ashoka, the Suttas were written in Pali. The long-term transmission by word of mouth must have missed something. It was natural. However, the errors in the Suttas were insignificant. A sociologist once proved some missed transmission by his experiment. He told a short story in the first person. Then, he observed that his story was told repeatedly to many people. When it came to the fiftieth, it was completely different from his first telling...
SKU: The_Quintessence_of_Nikaya_Sutta
Nikaya Sutta was orally handed down in the first period of hundreds of years. After the Buddha passed away, the First Collection of Suttas was held in the cave Sattapanna, Vebhara Mountain, Rajagaha City, Magadha country1. About one hundred years later, the Elder Yasa2 Assembled the Suttas for the second time. One hundred years after the Second Collection, King Ashoka held a meeting of the Collection of Suttas for the third time. Until the time of King Ashoka, the Suttas were written in Pali.
The long-term transmission by word of mouth must have missed something. It was natural. However, the errors in the Suttas were insignificant.
A sociologist once proved some missed transmission by his experiment. He told a short story in the first person. Then, he observed that his story was told repeatedly to many people. When it came to the fiftieth, it was completely different from his first telling.
In the Buddha’s time, His teachings were orally transmitted from one person to another person, from one generation to the next generations. Some differences must have happened. However, it was not too much different; Nikaya Suttas had more precise teachings of the Buddha than other Mahayana Suttas.
Historians have conducted research showing that some Mahayana Suttas did not originate from the Buddha’s teachings. This is true, and we should accept it.
Buddhism is a religion that is real and seen as it is. The truth must be admitted. With today’s elucidated research of historians and scientists, we must receive the value of truth and speak up about what is not right in the history of Buddhism, even though that can hurt us.
Psychologically, we have believed too much in what we were told and have respectfully worshipped them for a long time; however, when it turned out not to be the truth, we were so painful.
Therefore, when researching and writing this book, we have tried to describe the Sutta in as many details as possible so that our Buddhists can fully understand it and avoid misleading the truth. We are not sure if this book does not miss some information. One more thing: We most often use the Pali version of the names of the Suttas instead of Sanskrit.
We are still looking forward to supplements from readers and the Senior Venerables.
May this labor
Bless all of Dharmadhatu,
Buddhists and humans
With attaining Enlightenment
Namo Master Shakyamuni Buddha
