Vinaya Texts

Author(s): T W Rhys Davids, Hermann Oldenberg
Publisher: Oxford

Page 33

XXX
VINAYA TEXTS FROM THE PÂLI.
while the Brethren are in confusion—some reciting the Dhamma, those versed in the Suttantas intoning some Suttanta together, the custodians of the Vinaya discussing the Vinaya, and the preachers of the Dhamma discoursing about the Dhamma.'
The whole of these expressions recur in Kullavagga IV, 4, 4; and are found again, with others of a similar character, in Kullavagga VI, 6, 2. This last passage is in the Introduction to a fable which of course recurs, as a Gâtaka, in the Gâtaka collection, and with an introduction in almost the same words. We should therefore expect to find there also the epithet suttantika (versed in the Suttantas '), if that expression had remained in use as late as the fifth century A.D.; but it is omitted, the Suttantikas having been then long since replaced by those entrusted, not with the whole, but with special portions only, of the Dhamma literature. The word Suttanta was however still in common use at the time when the presumably later books now contained in the Pitakas were composed; for it occurs in the Anguttara Nikâya', and in a constantly recurring verse in the Buddhavamsa in which it is opposed to Vinaya”, and the word is still used in the MSS. as the title of the more important Suttas.
In the passage quoted above from the Kullavagga IV, 14, 22, 23 there is a term Sutta-vibhanga used as the name of some part of the Vinaya literature apparently distinct
1 The Anguttara Nikâya, Pankaka Nipata (Phayre MS. vol. ii. fol. gâh): Ye te Suttantâ Tathagatassa bhâvitâ gambhfrâ gambhiratthâ lokuttarâ sunnatapatisamyuttâ tesu bhaññamânesu na sussissanti no sotam odahissanti na aññakittam upatthâpessanti na ka te dhamme uggahetabbam pariyâpunitabbam maññissanti; ye pana te suttantâ kathitâ kâveyyâ kittakkharâ kittabyañganâ bahirakâ sâvakabhâsitâ tesu bhaññamânesu sussissanti sotam odahissanti ; &c.
Ibid. fol. nah: Ye te bhikkhû bahussutâ âgatâgamâ dhammadharâ vinayadhara mâtikâdhara te na sakkakkam suttantam param vâkenti, tesam akkayena khinnamúlako suttanto hoti apatisarano. On the form compare the Sanskrit drishtânta, vrittanta, and siddhânta.
Suttantam Vinayañ kâpi navangam Satthusâsanam
Sabbam pariyâpunitvâna sobhayi Ginasasanam. The phrase is used of various Buddhas in verses 317, 348, 594, 627, and 786 of the Buddhavamsa. This reference we owe to Dr. Morris.
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