Majjhima Nikāya (lectured by ven. Dehipagoda Vijitananda) 2011
The Majjhima Nikāya is the second division of Sutta Piṭaka. 152 suttas are included in Majjhima Nikāya. Those suttas are further sorted into fifty sections. Those parts are called vaggas. Every vagga is named as vibhaṅga vagga and it has 12 suttas. In the other way those 152 suttas are categorized into three parts as paṇṇāsaka. First and second paṇṇāsaka differ from the third. Though panṇṇāsaka means 50, the third paṇṇāsaka has 52 suttas.
The Majjhima Nikāya traditionally means middle-length discourses. That interpretation was provided by the commentator. But if we scrutinize Majjhima Nikāya, we may not agree with that idea. There are two points against the commentator's idea in Majjhima Nikāya.
If we consider Majjima Nikāya as middle-length discourses with regards to the length of those suttas, it is not proper. When we examine Majjima Nikāya, we are able to find some suttas which are longer than Mahāli and Jāliya Sutta which belong to Dīgha Nikāya. Alagddūpama Sutta, Mūlapariyāya Sutta – such suttas may be given as examples. On the other hand, when we compare some suttas with Saṃyutta Nikāya, we can see that Āhāra Sutta and Nagara Sutta are longer than some Majjima Nikāya suttas. As such it is hard to agree with commentators about the interpretation of the term Majjima Nikāya.
The Majjima Nikāya is very important to understand the character of the Buddha using traditional and poetical myths. Among those suttas Ariyapariyesana is a marvelous one. If provides some facts about prince Siddhattha and the Buddha. According to this sutta prince Siddhattha renounced household life without informing his parents and relatives. This sutta sheds some light on the ascetic life of Siddhattha too. The Mahāsīhanāda Sutta of Majjhima Nikāya also gives an account on asceticism of Siddhattha. The Sela Sutta and Brahmāyu Sutta show the special features of Buddha's physical appearance.
The Majjima Nikāya contains some Jātaka Stories. The Maghadeva Sutta provides Maghadeva Jātaka story. The Ghatikāra Sutta delivers Nemi Jātaka. Some suttas give account of stories which are related to recent short stories. One of them is Raṭṭhapāla Sutta. It is a very creative sutta while it also mentions some doctrinal teachings. Aṅgulimāla Sutta is also very close to modern-day short stories. Among those two suttas Aṅgulimāla Sutta has been very famous and popular in the Sinhalese literature as well. Though Vinaya rules arise 20 years after the Buddha’s enlightenment (paṭhamā bodhisamaya), we may directly bring to light some evidence which are related to Vinaya rules in the Majjima Nikāya. Especially Bhaddāli Sutta, Goliyāni Sutta, Cūḷa Assapura Sutta, Kiṭāgiri Sutta, Gopaka Moggallāyana Suttas contain features of Vinaya points.
The Isigili Sutta of Majjhima Nikāya is also more important to as it is a collection of some features of Mahāyāna influence in Theravāda Buddhism. This sutta explains that it is going to provide 500 Arahantas' names. But the sutta gives only 108 Arahantas' names. This number is very important in Brāhmanism and Tantrayāna. Thereby, it is not too hard to name it a lexicon. It may be more suitable to claim that it was added by redactors or later scholars.
Saccavibhaṅga Sutta, Dhātuvibhaṅga Sutta, Araṇavibhaṅga Sutta, Cacakka Sutta etc. - all these suttas deliver commentarial and analytical Dhamma expressions. In that case modern scholars mention that the Majjima Nikāya was a tremendous collection which contains features of Abhidhamma in the earliest period. Vibhaṅga means analyzing. The great (mahā) there attempts to show the Buddha’s teaching is analytic in his own words. When the Buddha preached, “jātipi dukkhā, jarāpi dukkhā”etc., Ven. Sāriputta has discoursed again what is jāti (katamā cāvuso jāti) what is jarā (katamā cāvuso jarā). This system was developed by later Theravāda monks and led to compilation of Abhidhamma Piṭaka following ultimate teaching of Sutta Piṭaka.
It is very easy to recognize several suttas in Majjhima Nikāya similar to other Nikāya texts. One of them is Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta. It is included in Dīgha Nikāya as Mahāsatipaṭṭāna Sutta. Saṃyutta Nikāya also provides Satipaṭṭhāna Saṃyutta in correspondence to Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta in Majjhima Nikāya. Not only that but also Vibhaṅgappakaraṇa deals with Satipaṭṭhānappakaraṇa. Following Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta in Majjhima Nikāya the Vāseṭṭa Sutta included in Majjhima Nikāya is similar to Vāseṭṭa Sutta in Sutta Nipāta. Sela Sutta is also given in canonical literature two times. One of them is in Majjhima Nikāya and next is in the Sutta Nipāta. Though Māgaṇḍiya Sutta is two times in canonical text, in Majjhima Nikāya it is clearly different - the Māgaṇḍiya Sutta in Majjhima Nikāya was composed as prose, whereas the same sutta in Sutta Nipāta goes compiled in verses (as stanzas). The Kosambī Sutta which is given in Majjhima Nikāya can be encountered several times under different names. In Saṃyutta Nikāya we can see Kosambhī Sutta under the same name, while in another place it is mentioned as Pārileyyaka. In Mahāvagga Pāli which belongs to Vinaya Piṭaka it is given as Kosambakakkhandaka. This way we may come to conclusion that Sela Sutta in Majjhima Nikāya spirited other canonical tasks as well.
Indeed, we may categorize all sutta in Majjhima Nikāya in to two parts:
1. Suttas which were preached by the Buddha.
2. Suttas which were preached by Mahāthera.
It is very easy to sort out suttas of Majjhima Nikāya into two parts that way. The Sela Sutta in the scrutiny of Majjhima Nikāya can show that several suttas were edited by Mahāthera. Saccaka Sutta is one example of that – the definition it provides make it a sutta of a dramatic type. Therefore, modern scholars suppose that Saccaka Sutta was compilation of an elder (mahāthera). According to Mahāsīhanāda Sutta it is not to difficult to suggest that it was done by a Thera who wanted to praise and decorate character of the Buddha because Assalāyana Sutta gives the names Yonaka and Kamboja. Some scholars introduced that it also was given by someone who respected them. The one character of Majjhima Nikāya is it uses stanzas that were not used every time in Majjhima Nikāya, especially some of suttas used this verse type. Upāli Sutta consisted of ten stanzas. Isigili Sutta was originally given in 12 stanzas and Ariyapariyesana Sutta, Bhaddhekarasa Sutta,Vāseṭṭha Sutta, Sela Sutta were also Dhamma discourses in verse.
We have already mentioned that Majjhima Nikāya is the most important evolution of Buddha's teaching. Asoka's inscription also proves that idea. When we going through this inscription it is not too hard to find out some citation connected to information given in Majjhima Nikāya. Among those inscriptions, mainly one inscription mentions Rāhulovāda Sutta as Lāhulovāda, according to scholars also Bhaddekaratta as well. Sappurisa Sutta and Raṭṭavinīta Sutta also were used in Asoka's inscriptions. These accounts indicate the position inherited by Majjhima Nikāya.
In other sects of Buddhism Majjhima Nikāya is called Madhyamāgama. Anyway, there is no evidence to see whether their own languages matters, but we can see Chinese translation which has been done by two former scholars in fourth century AC. Recent archeology have discovered two suttas as belonging to MadhyamaĀgama,from middle. There were also Upāli Sutta and Subha Sutta.
