Early Indian Buddhist text
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The Madhyama Āgama (Chinese: 中阿含經; pinyin: Zhong Ahan Jing) is an early Indian Buddhist text, of which currently only a Chinese translation is extant (Taishō Tripiṭaka 26). The title means "Middle Collection." It is one of the four Āgamas of the Sanskritic Sūtra Piṭaka located in the Chinese Buddhist Canon and contains 222 discourses in 18 chapters. Its Pali equivalent, the Majjhima Nikaya, contains 152 discourses in 15 chapters.
Origins and history
The earliest Chinese translation of the agama dates to 397–398 C.E. P.V. Bapat believes the original source for the Chinese translation was in a form of Prakrit, closer to Pali than Sanskrit. The text is believed to be from the Sarvāstivāda tradition.
Parallels in Pali Canon
There are numerous parallels between the discourses in the Madhyama Āgama and discourses in the Sutta Piṭaka.
...of the two hundred and twenty-two sutras of T. 26, only one hundred and three have their counterpart in the Majjhimanikāya; fourteen have their counterpart in the Dīghanikāya, seventeen in the Saṃyuttanikāya, and eighty-seven in the Aṅguttaranikāya. Fourteen of the two hundred and twenty-two sutras of T. 26 have no known parallel in the Pāli corpus.
English translations
Translation of the Madhyama Āgama into English began in 2006 with Marcus Bingenheimer as chief editor and Bhikkhu Analayo and Rodney S. Bucknell as co-editors. The first of three volumes was published in 2013.
References
- ^ Bingenheimer, Bucknell & Analayo 2013, p. xv.
- "Madhyama Agama". Oxford Reference. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
- ^ Analayo 2012, p. 1.
- Bingenheimer, Bucknell & Analayo 2013, p. xix.
- Sujato & Brahmali 2014, p. 40.
- ^ Bingenheimer, Bucknell & Analayo 2013, p. xvi.
- "Madhyama-āgama". Āgama Research Group. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
- Sujato, Bhikkhu (September 20, 2013). "A good day for fans of the Suttas". Sujato’s Blog. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
Sources
- Analayo, Bhikkhu (2012), Madhyama-āgama Studies (PDF), Dharma Drum Publishing
- Bingenheimer, Marcus; Bucknell, Rodney S.; Analayo, Bhikkhu (2013), The Madhyama Agama: Middle-length Discourses: 1 (PDF), Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, ISBN 978-1886439474
- Sujato, Bhikkhu; Brahmali, Bhikkhu (2014), The Authenticity of the Early Buddhist Texts (PDF), Buddhist Publication Society, ISBN 978-955-24-0410-8
External links
- The Madhyama Āgama, or Middle-length Discourses at BDK America
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