Anguttara Nikaya

The Anguttara Nikaya (aṅguttaranikāya; literally "Increased by One Collection," also translated "Gradual Collection" or "Numerical Discourses") is a Buddhist scripture, the fourth of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that comprise the Pali Tipitaka of Theravada Buddhism. This nikaya consists of several thousand discourses ascribed to the Buddha and his chief disciples arranged in eleven nipatas, or books, according to the number of dhamma items referenced in them.

The Anguttara Nikaya corresponds to the Ekottara Āgama ("Increased by One Discourses") found in the Sutra Pitikas of various Sanskritic early Buddhists schools, fragments of which survive in Sanskrit. A complete version survives in Chinese translation by the name Zēngyī Ahánjīng (增一阿含經); it is thought to be from either the Mahāsāṃghika or Sarvāstivādin recensions. According to Keown, "there is considerable disparity between the Pāli and the Sarvāstivādin versions, with more than two-thirds of the sūtras found in one but not the other compilation, which suggests that much of this portion of the Sūtra Piṭaka was not formed until a fairly late date."

Translations

• The Book of the Gradual Sayings, tr F. L. Woodward & E. M. Hare, 1932-6, 5 volumes, Pali Text Society[1], Bristol
• Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, tr Bhikkhu Bodhi, 2012, 1 volume, Wisdom Publications [2], Somerville, MA

Selections

• 1st 3 nipatas tr E. R. J. Gooneratne, Ceylon, c1913
• 4th nipata tr A. D. Jayasundare, London, 1925
• anthology ed & tr Nyanaponika, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka; revised, with additions & deletions, by Bodhi, as Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, Altamira Press, Oxford/New York/Lanham, Maryland/Walnut Creek, California, 1999

Divisions

The nipatas in this nikaya are:

• The Book of Ones
• The Book of Twos
• The Book of Threes
• The Book of Fours
• The Book of Fives
• The Book of Sixes
• The Book of Sevens
• The Book of Eights
• The Book of Nines
• The Book of Tens
• The Book of Elevens

Appreciation

Translator Bhikkhu Bodhi wrote: "In Anguttara Nikaya, persons are as a rule not reduced to mere collections of aggregates, elements and sense-bases, but are treated as real centers of living experience engaged in a heartfelt quest for happiness and freedom from suffering."(from Intro to Samyutta Nikaya)

See also

• Buddhist Texts
• Digha Nikaya
• Khuddaka Nikaya
• Majjhima Nikaya
• Samyutta Nikaya

External links

• Anguttara Nikaya in Pali, English and Sinhala (metta.lk)
• English Translations of the Anguttara Nikaya (accesstoinsight.org