________________ 25 Sutra and Abhidharma "Therefore", concludes Buddhaghosa, "sutta' means the three pitakas; 'vinava' means all that is condusive to the subduing of passion... But those words which do not occur in the tradition of the suttas but appear only in the apocryphal Vessantara, Ummagga, and Vinaya and the Vedalla-pitakas, or in one of these...they are to be considered as not the words of the Teacher..." . One can see in these explanations an attempt to extend the meaning of these terms and particularly that of sutta. First it is held to mean only. single Vinaya text, viz., the Suttavibhanga, then a larger Vinaya text, the Ubhato-vibhanga, Next it is made to include not the Vinaya texts, but the entire Sutta-pitaka.' Then it is made to include both the Sutta and Abhidhamma Pitaka, and finally not only all the three Pitakas, but also anything that may be conducive to a holy life. The purpose of this extension evidently appears to include the Abhidharma (and also the Khuddaka-nikaya) which is not specifically mentioned in the passage dealing with the mahapadesas. The commentators are determined to include it and end in giving a very wide and general meaning to the term sutta, thereby making it comprehensive enough to include all good words. The Sarvastivadin version of the Mahaparinirvana-sutra also contains the mahapadesas. They are identical with the * Pali passage except for one more significant phrase "dharmatam cha vilomayanti." 3. The term dharmata is quite well known to the Pali Scriptures. It is, therefore, difficult to account for omission of this term in the Pali version. In the absence of any commentary on the Sanskrit Mahaparinirvana-sutra, we have no precise information on how the Sarvastivadins understood these terms. Fortunately, our VIitti gives some explanation of the term sutra. It says* : only that sutra is to be accepted 1 Digha A. II. pp. 565-6. 2 Mahaparinirvana-sutra, pp. 238-240. Vide Adv. pp. 99 and p. 197. 3 See Ang. V. p. 2; 66; Samyutta, I, p. 140; IV. p. 216. 4 Ado. p. 197.
