gama (Buddhism) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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gama (Buddhism)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Buddhism, an gama (Sanskrit and Pali for "sacred work"[1] or "scripture"[2]) is a collection of Early Buddhist scriptures. The five gamas together comprise the Stra Piaka of the early Buddhist schools. The various schools had different recensions of each gama. In the Pli language Sutta Piaka of the Theravada school (in the Pali Canon) the term nikya is used in place of gama. gamas of various schools are preserved in in Chinese translation, and portions also survive in Sanskrit and in Tibetan translation.

Early Buddhism
Scriptures
Gandhran texts gamas Pali Canon

Contents
1 Meaning 2 History 3 Doctrines 4 The various gamas 4.1 Drgha gama 4.2 Madhyama gama 4.3 Sayukta gama 4.4 Ekottara gama 4.5 Kudraka gama or Kudraka Piaka 4.6 Additional materials 5 See also 6 Notes 7 Sources 8 External links

Councils
1st Council 2nd Council 3rd Council 4th Council

Schools
First Sangha Mahsghika Ekavyvahrika Lokottaravda Bahurutya Prajaptivda Caitika Sthaviravda Mahsaka Dharmaguptaka Kyapya Sarvstivda Vibhajyavda Theravda

Meaning

In Buddhism, the term gama is used to refer to a collection of discourses (Sanskrit: sutra; Pali: sutta) of the early Buddhist schools, which were preserved primarily in Chinese view talk edit (//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Early_Buddhism&action=edit) translation, with substantial material also surviving in Sanskrit and lesser but still significant amounts surviving in Gndhr and in Tibetan translation. These sutras correspond to the first four Nikayas (and parts of the fifth) of the Sutta-Pitaka of the Pali Canon, which are also occasionally called agamas. In this sense, gama is a synonym for one of the meanings of nikaya. Sometimes the word gama is used to refer not to a specific scripture, but to a class of scripture. In this case, its meaning can also encompass the Sutta-pitaka, which the Theravada tradition holds to be the oldest and most historically accurate representation of the teachings of Gautama Buddha, together with the Vinaya-pitaka.[3] In the 4th century Mahyna abhidharma work Abhidharmasamuccaya, Asaga refers to the collection which contains the gamas as the rvakapiaka, and associates it with the rvakas and pratyekabuddhas.[4] Asaga classifies the Mahyna stras as belonging to the Bodhisattvapiaka, which is designated as the collection of teachings for bodhisattvas.[4]

History
According to the MacMillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism (2004):[5] According to tradition, the Buddha's discourses were already collected by the time of the first council, held shortly after the Buddha's death ... Scholars, however, see the texts as continually growing in number and size from an unknown nucleus, thereby undergoing various changes in language and content ... It is clear that, among the early schools, at a minimum the Sarvstivda , Kyapya, Mahsghika , and Dharmaguptaka had recensions of four of the five gamas that differed at least somewhat. The gamas have been compared to the Pali Canon's nikayas by contemporary scholars in an attempt to identify possible changes and root phrasings. The gamas' existence and similarity to the Sutta Pitaka are sometimes used by scholars to assess to what degree these teachings are a historically authentic representation of the Canon of Early Buddhism.[6] Sometimes also the differences between them are used to suggest an alternative meaning to the accepted meaning

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of a sutta in either of the two recensions.

Doctrines
According to some interpretations in the Theravda school, it is not possible for there to be two fully enlightened buddhas at the same time. However, in Mahyna traditions, the concept of contemporaneous buddhas is common. According the Mahyna Mahprajpramit stra, which is associated with the Vaibhika Sarvstivdins,[7] in the "rvaka Dharma" (gamas and related teachings), "the Buddha did not say whether or not there are contemporaneous buddhas in the ten directions."[8] In the gamas preserved in Chinese, the concept of contemporaneous buddhas does indeed exist.[8] This is found in the extant Drgha gama, the Sayukta gama, and the Ekottara gama, in which the doctrine of contemporaneous buddhas is mentioned many times.[8] The Chinese monk Xuanzang noted that the doctrine of the mlavijna ("root consciousness") was contained in the gamas of the Mahsghikas.[9] Xuanzang studied Mahsghika abhidharma in India, and considered this doctrine of the mlavijna to be essentially the same as the Yogcra doctrine of the lyavijna ("store consciousness").[9]

The various gamas

There are four extant collections of gamas, and one for which we have only references and fragments (the Kudrakgama). The four extant collections are preserved in their entirety only in Chinese translation (gama: ), although small portions of all four have recently been discovered in Sanskrit, and portions of four of the five gamas are preserved in Tibetan.[10] The five gamas are:

Drgha gama
The Drgha gama ("Long Discourses," Chng Ahnjng Taish 1)[11] corresponds to the Dgha Nikya of the Theravada school. A complete version of the Drgha gama of the Dharmaguptaka () school was done Buddhayaas () and Zhu Fonian () in the Late Qin dynasty (), dated to 413 CE. It contains 30 stras in contrast to the 34 suttas of the Theravadin Dgha Nikya. A "very substantial" portion of the Sarvstivdin Drgha gama survives in Sanskrit,[12] and portions survive in Tibetan translation.

Madhyama gama
The Madhyama gama ("Middle-length Discourses," Zhng Ahnjng , Taish 26)[11] corresponds to the Majjhima Nikya of the Theravada school. A complete translation of the Madhyama gama of the Sarvstivda school was done by Saghadeva ( ) in the Eastern Jin dynasty () in 397-398 CE. The Madhyama gama of the Sarvstivda school contains 222 stras, in contrast to the 152 suttas in the Pli Majjhima Nikya. Portions of the Sarvstivda Madhyama gama also survive in Tibetan translation.

Sayukta gama
The Sayukta gama ("Connected Discourses", Z Ahnjng Taish 2.99)[11] corresponds to the Sayutta Nikya of the Theravada school. A Chinese translation of the complete Sayukta gama of the Sarvstivda () school was done by Guabhadra () in the Song state (), dated to 435-443 CE. Portions of the Sarvstivda Sayukta gama also survive in Sanskrit[13] and Tibetan translation. There is also an incomplete Chinese translation of the Sayukta gama ( Taish 100) of the Kyapya () school by an unknown translator, from around the Three Qin () period, 352-431 CE.[10] A comparison of the Sarvstivdin, Kyapya, and Theravadin texts reveals a considerable consistency of content, although each recension contains texts not found in the others.

Ekottara gama
Main article: Ekottara Agama The Ekottara gama ("Numbered Discourses," Zngy Ahnjng, Taish 125)[11] corresponds to the Anguttara Nikya of the Theravada school. A complete version of the Ekottara gama was translated by Dharmanandi () of the Fu Qin state ( ), and edited by Gautama Saghadeva in 397398 CE. Some believed that it came from the Sarvstivda school, but more recently the Mahsghika branch has been proposed as well.[14] According to A.K. Warder, the Ekottara gama references 250 Prtimoka rules for monks, which agrees only with the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, which is also located in the Chinese Buddhist canon. He also views some of the doctrine as contradicting tenets of the Mahsghika school, and states that they agree with Dharmaguptaka views currently known. He therefore concludes that the extant Ekottara gama is that of the Dharmaguptaka school.[15] Of the four gamas of the Sanskritic Stra Piaka in the Chinese Buddhist Canon, it is the one which differs most from the Theravdin version. The Ekottara gama contains variants on such standard teachings as the Noble Eightfold Path.[16] According to Keown, "there is considerable disparity between the Pli and the [Chinese] versions, with more than two-thirds of the stras found in one but not the

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other compilation, which suggests that much of this portion of the Stra Piaka was not formed until a fairly late date."[17]

Kudraka gama or Kudraka Piaka

The Kudraka gama ("Minor Collection") corresponds to the Khuddaka Nikya , and existed in some schools. The Dharmaguptaka in particular, had a Kudraka gama.[18] The Chinese translation of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya provides a table of contents for the Dharmaguptaka recension of the Kudraka gama, and fragments in Gandhari appear to ha ve been found.[19] Items from this gama also survive in Tibetan and Chinese translationfourteen texts, in the later case.[18][20][21] Some schools, notably the Sarvstivda, recognized only four gamasthey had a "Kudraka" which they did not consider to be an "gama."[20][22] Othersincluding even the Dharmaguptaka, according to some contemporary scholarspreferred to term it a ""Kudraka Piaka." As with its Pi counterpart, the Kudraka gama appears to have been a miscellany, and was perhaps never definitively established among many early schools.

Additional materials
In addition, there is a substantial quantity of gama-style texts outside of the main collections. These are found in various sources: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Partial gama collections and independent sutras within the Chinese canon. Small groups of sutras or independent sutras within the Tibetan canon. Sutras reconstructed from ancient manuscripts in Sanskrit, Gandhari, or other ancient Indic languages. Passages and quotes from gama sutras preserved within Mahayana Sutras, Abhidharma texts, later commentaries, and so on. Isolated phrases preserved in inscriptions. For example, the Ashoka pillar at Lumbini declares iha budhe jte, a quote from the Mahaparinirvana Sutra.

See also
Early Buddhist schools Nikaya

Notes
1. ^ Monier-Williams (1899), p. 129, see "gama," retrieved 12 Dec 2008 from "U. Cologne" at http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans /MWScan/MWScanpdf/mw0129-Akhara.pdf. 2. ^ Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 95, entry for "gama," retrieved 12 Dec 2008 from "U. Chicago" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin /philologic/getobject.pl?c.0:1:2582.pali. 3. ^ The traditional Theravada view regarding the authenticity of the Pali Canon is contested by some modern scholars such as Brough (2001) whose own methodology involves triangulating the texts of the Pali Canon and the gamas to make inferences about pre-sectarian texts. 4. ^ a b Boin-Webb, Sara (tr). Rahula, Walpola (tr). Asanga. Abhidharma Samuccaya: The Compendium of Higher Teaching. 2001. pp. 199-200 5. ^ MacMillan, Encyclopedia of Buddhism, vol. 1, p. 10. 6. ^ See, e.g., Norman (1983), Brough (2001) and nandajoti (2004) regarding the authenticity of the Pali Canon's Dhammapada, Sutta Nipata and other texts when juxtaposed with other non-Pali early Buddhist texts. 7. ^ Williams, Paul, and Tribe, Anthony. Buddhist Thought: A Complete Introduction to the Indian Tradition. 2000. p. 100 8. ^ a b c Guang Xing. The Concept of the Buddha: Its Evolution from Early Buddhism to the Trikaya Theory. 2004. p. 62 9. ^ a b Cook, Francis (tr). Three Texts on Consciousness Only. 1999. p. 88 10. ^ a b A Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keown, Oxford University Press: 2004 11. ^ a b c d Muller, Charles. Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, entry on (http://www.buddhism-dict.net/cgi-bin /xpr-ddb.pl?96.xml+id('b963f-542b-7d93')) 12. ^ Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 CE by Patrick Olivelle. Oxford University Press, 2006 ISBN 0-19-530532-9 pg 356 13. ^ Tripah 1962. 14. ^ Sujato Bhikkhu. "About the EA" (http://ekottara.googlepages.com/about) . ekottara.googlepages.com. Retrieved on 2009-03-01. 15. ^ Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 6 16. ^ Sujato Bhikkhu. "About the EA" (http://ekottara.googlepages.com/about) . ekottara.googlepages.com. Retrieved on 2010-09-18. 17. ^ Keown, Damien. A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 18. ^ a b Andrew Skilton (2004). A Concise History of Buddhism (http://books.google.com/books?id=GEKd4iqH3C0C&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82& dq=ksudrakagama&source=bl&ots=xWgLv99VQQ&sig=a953GLg17rYa0yv-pOcbS8k_syg&hl=en&ei=BodMS4CoEIqB8QbanczDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CCIQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=ksudrakagama&f=false) . Windhorse Publications. p. 82. ISBN 0-904766-92-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=GEKd4iqH3C0C&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=ksudrakagama&source=bl& ots=xWgLv99VQQ&sig=a953GLg17rYa0yv-pOcbS8k_syg&hl=en&ei=BodMS4CoEIqB8Qbancz-DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result& resnum=9&ved=0CCIQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=ksudrakagama&f=false. 19. ^ Richard Salomon, Frank Raymond Allchin, Mark Barnard (1999). Ancient Buddhist scrolls from Gandhra: the British Library Kharoh fragments (http://books.google.com/books?id=Dm8aXSwL0OgC&pg=RA1-PA161&lpg=RA1-PA161&dq=ksudrakagama&source=bl& ots=czY_983GmY&sig=s8zF6g5UookuPxMXDZB6z8tDk24&hl=en&ei=BodMS4CoEIqB8Qbancz-DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result& resnum=4&ved=0CBEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=ksudrakagama&f=false) . University of Washington Press. p. 161. ISBN 0-295-97769-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=Dm8aXSwL0OgC&pg=RA1-PA161&lpg=RA1-PA161&dq=ksudrakagama&source=bl& ots=czY_983GmY&sig=s8zF6g5UookuPxMXDZB6z8tDk24&hl=en&ei=BodMS4CoEIqB8Qbancz-DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result& resnum=4&ved=0CBEQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=ksudrakagama&f=false. 20. ^ a b Sean Gaffney. The Pali Nidanakatha and its Tibetan Translation: Its Textual Precursors and Associated Literature.

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21. ^ T. Skorupski (1996). The Buddhist Forum, Volume 2 (http://books.google.com/books?id=_B73f0ZajeQC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78& dq=ksudrakagama&source=bl&ots=hfB8zEgrgB&sig=MBmAA1JskuOV69r6I4hDROyDc3g&hl=en&ei=BodMS4CoEIqB8QbanczDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=15&ved=0CDgQ6AEwDg#v=onepage&q=ksudrakagama&f=false) . Routledge. p. 78. ISBN 0-7286-0255-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=_B73f0ZajeQC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=ksudrakagama&source=bl& ots=hfB8zEgrgB&sig=MBmAA1JskuOV69r6I4hDROyDc3g&hl=en&ei=BodMS4CoEIqB8Qbancz-DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result& resnum=15&ved=0CDgQ6AEwDg#v=onepage&q=ksudrakagama&f=false. 22. ^ T. Skorupski (1996). The Buddhist Forum, Volume 2 (http://books.google.com/books?id=_B73f0ZajeQC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78& dq=ksudrakagama&source=bl&ots=hfB8zEgrgB&sig=MBmAA1JskuOV69r6I4hDROyDc3g&hl=en&ei=BodMS4CoEIqB8QbanczDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=15&ved=0CDgQ6AEwDg#v=onepage&q=ksudrakagama&f=false) . Routledge. p. 77. ISBN 0-7286-0255-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=_B73f0ZajeQC&pg=PA78&lpg=PA78&dq=ksudrakagama&source=bl& ots=hfB8zEgrgB&sig=MBmAA1JskuOV69r6I4hDROyDc3g&hl=en&ei=BodMS4CoEIqB8Qbancz-DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result& resnum=15&ved=0CDgQ6AEwDg#v=onepage&q=ksudrakagama&f=false.

Sources
nandajoti Bhikkhu (2004). The Uraga Sutta. Retrieved 13 Dec 2008 from "Ancient Buddhist Texts" at http://www.ancientbuddhist-texts.net/Buddhist-Texts/C4-Uraga-Verses/index.htm. Brough, John (2001). The Gndhr Dharmapada. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited. Monier-Williams, Monier (1899, 1964). A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-864308-X. Retrieved 12 Dec 2008 from "Cologne University" at http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWScan /index.php?sfx=pdf. Norman, K.R. (1983). Pali Literature: Including the Canonical Literature in Prakrit and Sanskrit of All the Hinayana Schools of Buddhism. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Societys PaliEnglish Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. Retrieved 12 Dec 2008 from "U. Chicago" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/. Triph, Chandra. (Ed.) (1962). 'Fnfundzwanzig Stras Des Nidnasayukta' in Sanskrittexte aus den Turfanfunden (Vol. VIII). Edited by Ernst Waldschmidt. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1962. [Includes translation into German]

External links
Ekottara Agama: The One-up Discourses of the Buddha (http://ekottara.googlepages.com) A Digital Comparative Edition and Translation of the Shorter Chinese Sayukta gama (T.100) (http://buddhistinformatics.chibs.edu.tw/BZA/) SuttaCentral.net Online Sutta Correspondence Project (http://www.suttacentral.net) Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=gama_(Buddhism)&oldid=532634191" Categories: Agamas Sanskrit words and phrases Pli words and phrases Tripiaka

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