# Kaccānagotta Sutta

Part of a series on :
Theravāda Buddhism :
Buddhism :
History
Pre-sectarian Buddhism
Early schools
Sthaviras
Buddhist councils
Vibhajjavāda
Mahāvihāra
Tambapaṇṇiya
Dīpavaṃsa
Mahāvaṃsa
Pali Text Society :
Key figures
Bhāṇaka
Moggaliputta-Tissa
Mahinda
Sanghamitta
Tissa
Buddhaghoṣa
Buddhadatta
Dhammapāla
Parakramabahu I
Mahākassapa (12th century)
Sāriputta (12th century)
Shin Arahan
Anawrahta
Ram Khamhaeng
Sumangala Thera
Anagarika Dharmapala
Mongkut
Vajirananavarorasa
Ledi Sayadaw
U Nu
U Nārada
Bhaddanta Āciṇṇa
Mahasi Sayadaw
U Ba Khin
S. N. Goenka
Mun Bhuridatta
Ajahn Chah
Maha Ghosananda
Kripasaran
Mahapragya
Pragyananda
K. Sri Dhammananda
Narada Mahathera
Asoka Weeraratna
Walpola Rahula
Jayatilleke
Kalupahana
U Dhammaloka
Nyanatiloka
Nanamoli
Nyanaponika
Bhikkhu Bodhi
Ajahn Sumedho
Ajahn Brahm
Bhikkhu Sujato
Analayo
Varanggana Vanavichayen
Dhammananda Bhikkhuni
Ayya Tathaaloka
Ayya Khema
Kee Nanayon
Dipa Ma :
Literature
Pāli Tipiṭaka
Paracanonical
Commentaries
Sub-commentaries
Paritta
Visuddhimagga
Abhidhammattha-saṅgaha
Vimuttimagga
Abhidhammāvatāra
Yogāvacara's manual :
Orders (Nikāya)
Thailand, Laos, Cambodia
Mahā
Dhammayuttika
Myanmar
Thudhamma
Shwegyin
Mahādvāra
Mūladvāra
Veḷuvana
Anaukchaung-dvāra
Hngettwin
Gaṇavimutti
Dhammayuttika
Sri Lanka
Amarapura–Rāmañña
Siam
Bangladesh
Saṅgharāja
Mahāsthabir :
Traditions
Pariyatti, paṭipatti, paṭivedha
Sādhu
Evaṃ me sutaṃ
Abhidhamma
Kammaṭṭhāna
Vassa
Pavāraṇā
Vipassana movement
Thai Forest
Ajahn Chah Forest
Pa-Auk Forest
Sri Lankan Forest
Esoteric Theravāda
Dhammakaya :
Festivals
Vesākha Pūjā
Māgha Pūjā
Āsāḷha Pūjā
Kaṭhina
Abhidhamma Day
Uposatha :
Higher education
MBU
MCRU
IBC
ITBMU
SPSU
BPU
Sihanouk
Sihamoni
CSC
Sangha College
Kertarajasa
Syailendra
Nalanda
DDIBU :
vte :
The Kaccānagotta Sutta is a short, but influential Buddhist text in the Pali Canon (Saṃyutta Nikāya 12.15).
A Sanskrit and Chinese (Saṃyuktāgama 301; also a partial quotation in SĀ 262) parallel text is also extant. Although there is considerable agreement across versions, the Sanskrit and Chinese texts are more or less identical to each other and both slightly different from the Pāli version.
The Chinese translation was carried out by Guṇabhadra (c. 435-443 CE) as part of a Samyuktāgama Sutta (雜阿含經) translation project. Guṇabhadra is thought to have had the Sanskrit text brought to China from Sri Lanka. A separate Sanskrit text, also part of the fragmentary Saṃyuktāgama and dating from the 13th or 14th century, has been preserved.
The text is cited in Sanskrit in works by Nāgārjuna and his commentators. Nāgārjuna's citation suggests he had a different version from the extant Sanskrit. The text is also cited in a number of other Mahāyāna Sūtras.

## Themes in the Text

Mahākaccāna asks about the meaning of the phrase "right-view" (Pali: sammādiṭṭhi; Skt: samyagdṛṣṭi; Ch: 正見).
The main theme of the text is the avoidance of the extremes "existence" (Pāli: atthi) and "non-existence" (Pāli: natthi) with respect to the world (Pāli: loka), and instead seeing the world in terms of the Middle Way which is illustrated by the twelve nidānas. The one with right-view understands this.
In the Chinese version, the terms "existence" and "non-existence" are rendered 有 (yǒu) and 無 (wú). The Sanskrit text uses the terms asti and nāsti. Nāgārjuna's Sanskrit citation uses the words bhava and abhava instead, although in context these terms mean more or less the same as the roots of both atthi (Sanskrit: asti) and bhava come from verbs meaning "to be" (i.e. √as and √bhū).
The question of existence and non-existence is discussed in the context of right-view (sammādiṭṭhi) with Mahākaccāna initially asking the Buddha to define right view for him.
Kaccāna is a moderately prominent character in the Pāli Canon, and two canonical commentaries are attributed to him.

## Sources
### Primary

* Pāli: Saṃyutta Nikāya (SN 12.15, PTS iii.16-17); also cited in toto in the Channa Sutta (SN 22.90).
* Sanskrit: Sūtra 19 of Nidānasaṃyukta, in a Saṃyuktāgama collection found in Turfan, probably copied c. 13th or 14th century.
* Chinese: Saṃyuktāgama 301 (T. 2.99 85a-86c), probably translated from a Sanskrit original; also partially cited in Saṃyuktāgama 262 (T. 2.99 66c01-c18 = SN 22.90) with a significantly different rendering, suggesting a different translator.

### Secondary

The sutta is quoted in the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra (Section LXII; p. 145). It is also cited in Sanskrit in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārika (MMK 15.7) and in commentaries on this work by Candrakīrti, namely Prassanapadā and Madhyamakāvatārabhāṣya.
As the only text cited by name in MMK it is pointed to as evidence that Nāgarjuna might not have been a Mahāyānist. David Kalupahana has referred to the MMK as "a commentary on the Kaccānagotta Sutta".

## English Translations
### From Pāli

* Access to Insight: Thanissaro, Walsh.
* Jayarava. Kaccānagotta Sutta (SN 12.15, PTS S ii.16.) along with Buddhaghosa’s commentary (PTS SA ii.32).

### From Chinese

* Choong Mun-keat & Piya Tan (2004) ‘Saṃyukta Āgama 301 = Taishō 2.99.85c-86a’. Dharmafarer. (pages numbered 89-91)
* Jayarava. Kātyāyana Gotra Sūtra.
* LapisLazuli Translations - Wikisource