Majjhima Nikāya
The Majjhima Nikāya is a Buddhist scripture collection, the second of the five nikāyas, or collections, in the Sutta Piṭaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pāli Tipiṭaka of Theravāda Buddhism. It was composed between 3rd century BCE and 2nd century CE. This nikāya consists of 152 discourses attributed to the Buddha and his chief disciples.
Overview
Bhikkhu Bodhi in the introduction to his translation describes the collection as follows:If the Majjhima Nikāya were to be characterised by a single phrase to distinguish it from among the other books of the Pali Canon, this might be done by describing it as the collection that combines the richest variety of contextual settings with the deepest and most comprehensive assortment of teachings.The 152 discourses come in three parts each with five divisions. All divisions save the penultimate contain 10 discourses.
Parallel
The Majjhima Nikāya corresponds to the Madhyama Āgama found in the Sutra Piṭakas of various Sanskritic early Buddhist schools, fragments of which survive in Sanskrit and in Tibetan translation. A complete Chinese translation from the Sarvāstivādin recension appears in the Chinese Buddhist canon, where it is known as the Zhōng Ahánjīng. The Madhyama Āgama of the Sarvāstivāda school contains 222 sūtras, in contrast to the 152 suttas in the Pāli Majjhima Nikāya.Translations
Full translations
- .
- Mahapandit Rahul Sankrityayan translated Majjhima Nikāya from Prakrit to Hindi.
- Lord Chalmers, trans., Further Dialogues of the Buddha, 1926-7, vol.1, vol. 2, London: Pali Text Society. Reprint: Ann Arbor: Books on Demand, University of Michigan.
- I.B. Horner, The Book of Middle Length Sayings, 1954-9, 3 volumes, Bristol: Pali Text Society.
- David W. Evans, Discourses of Gotama Buddha: Middle Collection, 1991, Janus Pubns. "Translation in an abridged form... just about one third the size of Horner's translation, but with well over 90% of the significant content"
- Bhikkhu Sujato, The Middle Discourses, 2018, and released into the public domain.