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which suttas are in the vinaya? Most important and early?

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 2:55 pm
by frank k
Reading Thanissaro's book. He mentioned the 16 steps of anapana were among the few sutta (passages) teaching meditation in the vinaya. This suggests they were of particular importance for monastics to memorize, recite and practice, etc. I know that SN 56.11 Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta is also in the Vinaya. So this got me wondering which suttas are in the Vinaya? And are the collection of suttas in the Vinaya enough to represent most of the Buddha's most important teachings?

Re: which suttas are in the vinaya? Most important and early

Posted: Tue May 14, 2013 3:34 pm
by Bhikkhu Pesala
The Anattalakkhaṇa Sutta is another very early Sutta found in the Vinaya, Mahāvagga, as is the Ādittapariyāya Sutta (the Fire Sermon).

Re: which suttas are in the vinaya? Most important and early

Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 10:25 pm
by Bakmoon
There is an old (and thus out of copyright) translation of the Vinaya Pitika into English available at sacredtexts.com. Here's a link to the Buddhism page. The translation of the Vinaya Pitika is in three parts, and you will want to look in the Mahavagga in parts II and III to find them.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/index.htm

Re: which suttas are in the vinaya? Most important and early

Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 5:28 pm
by frank k
Thank you Ven. Pesala and Bakmoon for the suggestions. I'm slowly making my way through reading the Vinaya sections of relevance. So far I see the 3 first suttas (dhammacakkappavattana, anattalakhana, aditta pariyaya) as well as what looks like some SN and AN suttas with Brahma Sahampati imploring the Buddha to teach, etc. In the vinaya it seems to be woven together in chronological order without identifying sutta passages explicitly as such.

All of the Theravadan chant books I've seen have the first 3 suttas. I'm wondering if it's known whether during the Buddha's time, there was a core set of suttas that were required to be memorized by all monastics, such as the 3 first suttas? I would guess something like Khandha sutta (the one sending metta to 4 main naga tribes, all creatures etc) would also be essential. I think SN 45.8 which gives the basic framework of the eightfold noble path might be required for memorization, as well as 16 steps of anapanasati.