________________ 32 Introduction It is the burden of a large number of suttas in the Digha and Majjhima Nikayas. It constitutes one of his last preachings to the congregation, following the declaration of his intention of entering into parinirvana'. The Milindapanha almost makes a generalisation by saying that all Tathagatas, when they preach, preach these thirty-seven (bodhipakkhiya) dhammas." It is said in the Saddharma-pundarika that the career of a bodhisattva is completed by practising these dharmas.3 Almost all major works on Buddhism, both Hinayana and Mahayana, contain this list. This, therefore, was the supreme dharma, acceptable to all. It marks the beginning of the Abhidharma. The term 'bodhipakkhiya dhamma' appears only in a few places in the older Nikayas. In the Ang. N. it is irentioned without indication of the scope of the term. In the Samyutta N. it is applied to the five indriyas (saddha .......panna).. The term occurs in the Aganna sutta, where it consists of seven dhammas only. It occurs twice in the Vibhanga and there too it consists of the seven bojjhangas.? In the same book, the thirty-seven items are called saddhamma. 8. In the Fatakatthakatha these thirty-seven are called both saddhamma and bodhipakkhiya dhamma. The Visuddhimagga enumerates the thirty-seven dhammas as bodhipakkhiya and discusses them in detail. 10 The Nettipakarana once speaks of thirty-seven11 and in an other place adds seven sannasis to the thirty-seven, bringing the number of the bodhipakkhiyas to forty-three. 18 1 Digha, II. p. 127. 2 Vlde Adv. p. 196, n. 8. 3 Ibid 4 Ang. IIJ. 70; 300. 5 Samyutta, V. 227, 237-9, 6 Digha, III. p. 97. 7 Vbh, pp. 244 and 249. 8 Ibid. p. 372. 9 Jataka, V. p. 483. 10 Vsm. XXII. 34-38. 11 Netti, p. 31. 12 Ibid. p. 112. For sannas, vide Adv. p. 371. 13 For a note on the extention of this term, see Mrs. Rhys Davids' Preface to the Vibhanga, p. XIV. Vide Ado. pp. 356-7. terima se Moraes Rhys David
