Names of Dīgha-nikāya suttas

Textual analysis and comparative discussion on early Buddhist sects and scriptures.
Post Reply
sphairos
Posts: 966
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:37 am
Location: Munich, Germany

Names of Dīgha-nikāya suttas

Post by sphairos »

Dear Pāli friends ,

Do you know if there had ever been used in Ancient Buddhist History any additional "clarifying" or "theme-introducing" names for the Dīgha-nikāya / Dīrgha-āgama texts ? For instance , Brahmajāla - "On views" ... I don't find anything in ATThakathās, Tīkās and Anyas ....
How good and wonderful are your days,
How true are your ways?
User avatar
Dhammanando
Posts: 6492
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:44 pm
Location: Mae Wang Huai Rin, Li District, Lamphun

Re: Names of Dīgha-nikāya suttas

Post by Dhammanando »

sphairos wrote: Thu Oct 12, 2017 5:11 pm Dear Pāli friends ,

Do you know if there had ever been used in Ancient Buddhist History any additional "clarifying" or "theme-introducing" names for the Dīgha-nikāya / Dīrgha-āgama texts ? For instance , Brahmajāla - "On views" ... I don't find anything in ATThakathās, Tīkās and Anyas ....
I don't think so. In the Nettipakaraṇa and Peṭakopadesa you will find a lot of sutta passages being quoted and then classified as being an utterance of such-&-such type or serving such-&-such purpose. But neither work treats any whole suttas in this way and very few of the quoted passages are from the Dīgha Nikāya — just 2 in the Peṭakopadesa and 4 in the Nettipakaraṇa.
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
sphairos
Posts: 966
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:37 am
Location: Munich, Germany

Re: Names of Dīgha-nikāya suttas

Post by sphairos »

Thank you very much , Bhante ! This is very helpful.

May I ask what in your opinion is the most plausible theory of creation of the Dīgha-texts ? What was the purpose of those ? Why is there so many literary elements , "literature" in general in them ? Who designed and elaborated all those complicated stories and teachings, at what time, in which circumstances and for what auditory? I am acquainted with pretty much all current research on the Dīgha/Dīrgha : Manné's theory, von Simson's, Allon's works, Anālayo's, Dīrgha-āgama research group's etc, but I still am nowhere close to any clear picture of its coming into being.

While the origination of the Saṃyutta/Anguttara (and of great deal of Abhidhamma) is very much explainable in terms of explication of mātikās, which code the system and sequence of required states and practices, as Cousins, Gethin etc. suggested.
Last edited by sphairos on Sat Oct 14, 2017 3:29 am, edited 3 times in total.
How good and wonderful are your days,
How true are your ways?
User avatar
Zom
Posts: 2712
Joined: Fri May 08, 2009 6:38 pm
Location: Russia, Saint-Petersburg
Contact:

Re: Names of Dīgha-nikāya suttas

Post by Zom »

I guess ven. Bodhi mentioned that Digha has a vivid proselytic spirit. Many episodes of speaking with brahmins, etc..
sphairos
Posts: 966
Joined: Mon Jun 21, 2010 4:37 am
Location: Munich, Germany

Re: Names of Dīgha-nikāya suttas

Post by sphairos »

Zom wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 2:25 pm I guess ven. Bodhi mentioned that Digha has a vivid proselytic spirit. Many episodes of speaking with brahmins, etc..
Yes, but many of the texts are quite complicated to be used for any "proselytizing" in a normal sense of the word. There were simply not many people who could understand them. For instance, Pāyāsi-suttānta or Mahānidāna. Brahmajāla, PoTThapāda, SatipaTThāna. The target auditory for many of those texts was just a handful of ascetics/teachers/philosophers of the time...
How good and wonderful are your days,
How true are your ways?
User avatar
Dhammanando
Posts: 6492
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:44 pm
Location: Mae Wang Huai Rin, Li District, Lamphun

Re: Names of Dīgha-nikāya suttas

Post by Dhammanando »

sphairos wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:58 pmMay I ask what in your opinion is the most plausible theory of creation of the Dīgha-texts ?
I’m afraid I have no opinion at all. Moreover, it sounds as if you have already gone into this matter much more deeply than I ever have (or am ever likely to), and so even if I did have an opinion, telling it to you would be rather as if “a needle-seller would think he could sell a needle to a needle-maker,” to quote Tissā the Fat.

Having said that, if I ever did feel an uncontrollable urge to have an opinion on this, I think I should probably concur with Sāmaṇera Bodhesako that the Dīghabhāṇakas likely started out as bhikkhus who happened to live in close proximity to villages and were much more occupied than the other groups of bhāṇakas in preaching to householders.
Yena yena hi maññanti,
tato taṃ hoti aññathā.


In whatever way they conceive it,
It turns out otherwise.
(Sn. 588)
Post Reply