Structure and Formation of the A?guttara Nik?ya and the Ekottarika ?gama

Abstract

In both the A?guttara Nik?ya in Pali and the Ekottarika ?gamain Chinese translation, the suttas are grouped into eleven nip?tas (“books”), from the Ekaka-nip?ta/Eka-nip?ta (Book of Ones) to the Ek?dasaka-nip?ta (Book of Elevens) – though in the Ekottarika ?gama the nip?tas are not labelled as such. This grouping into nip?tas is based on the number of doctrinal items dealt with in the component suttas. In the Ones and Twos, it is often the case that a single original sutta has been subdivided so that its component sections become a series of similarly structured derivative suttas superficially appropriate for inclusion in the Ones or Twos. Moreover, material for this process of subdividing has sometimes been provided by multiplying doctrinal sets with formulaic statements. In most of the remaining nip?tas the phenomena noted in the Ones and Twos are also present, but on a much smaller scale. In view of their Chinese counterparts in the Sa?yukta ?gama, some groups of suttas in the A?guttara Nik?ya with sa?yutta-like nature were probably moved from the Sa?yutta Nik?ya to the A?guttara Nik?ya within the Pali tradition. Evidence of a comparable movement into the Ekottarika ?gama is also available. The artificial suttas created by subdivision and the original suttas shared by the Ekottarika ?gama and the A?guttara Nik?ya largely retained their original places at the beginning of each nip?ta, while the genuine suttas, probably earlier located in the Sa?yukta ?gama and Madhyama ?gama, were added progressively at the end of the growing nip?ta.

Early Buddhist Texts: Their Composition and Transmission

“…For this phenomenon of generating "artificial" or pseudo-suttas (as they refer to them) in the AN/EA ¯s, seeKuan and Bucknell (2019).…”