What a Buddhist SËtra is in India

Nalini Balbir

Etymological Considerations

In classical Hindu usage, the Sanskrit word sËtra refers to concise,pithy aphorisms from the founding texts in a field of study, whether it
is about grammar, yoga (the Yoga SËtra) or eroticism (Kåma SËtra).
Etymologically, the word sËtra means ‘thread’: in the Hindu context, it
is said, for example, that ‘hymns are strung like pearls on a thread, orlike a thread through a bead.’1 A related image borrowed from the worldof weaving is likewise the basis of the word ‘text’.
In the languages of Indian Buddhism, Påli for Theravåda, Gåndhår¥Prakrit and Sanskrit for other schools, the meanings of the word are specific and have evolved. It is generally agreed that the Påli word sutta
corresponds to the Sanskrit term sËtra, but it has sometimes been suggested that the more accurate equivalent would be the Sanskrit wordsËkta—‘a well said thing’, the term applied to the words of Vedic sages.
This hypothesis, which is not unanimously accepted, deserves attention:in many cases, Påli texts use Vedic words to give them a newinterpretation.

Usage and Style
In the most ancient Påli sources, Sutta, which appears in a list of four
components (a∫ga), means the Påtimokkhasutta,2 that is to say all themonastic rules that define a community and are recited periodically. The
concise style of these rules refers to the basic meaning of the word sËtra
mentioned above. The other terms in the list designate the verse (geyya),prophecies (veyyåkaraˆa) and the legend of the Buddha (abbhutadhamma).
At this stage, the concept of a speech or sermon by the Buddha isconveyed by words such as veyyåkaraˆa or dhammapariyåya—‘expounding of the Law.’ It was commentators such as Buddhaghosa(5th century C.E.) who contributed to the spread in the accepted lexicon
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what a buddhist su
ˉ tra is in indiaof words such as sutta or suttanta (roughly the same meaning) toindicate a speech attributed to
Buddha in a story where anotherperson is addressing him.
Furthermore, the scenario of a
dialogue that introduces a mentor and disciple or anotherperson to be persuaded is remiNo Imageniscent of the Upani∑ad in theBrahmanical tradition and thusanchors the Buddhist suttas inthe intellectual environment ofancient India.
According to tradition, Suttas
were originally transmitted orally and, strictly speaking, bring
together teachings directly fromthe mouth of the BuddhaGåndhår¥ manuscript of the Dharmapada.
Near Khotan; 1st–2nd centuries. Birch bark, (buddhavacana). Memorised bylinen thread, black ink. Institute of Oriental Ónanda, his faithful disciple,
Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences, they were documented at the first
Saint Petersburg
collective recitation (sa∫g¥ti)
held shortly after the Buddha’sdeath. The texts, written down in Sri Lanka in the 1st century C.E., carrytraces of this origin in their initial formula “Thus have I heard” (in Pålievam me sutaµ or in Sanskrit evaµ mayå ßrutaµ), where “I” denotesÓnanda.
A Sutta is therefore first and foremost an act of speech and narration,
an interview, standing alone, and is mainly written in prose. It is recognisable by its distinctive style, marked by the constant use ofstandardised formulas: the same narrative sequence (for example, theintroduction) is conveyed in the same words. But the stock of episodes
is used with discrimination by the redactors and subjected to sophisticated variations depending on the characters of the stories.3 Stylistic
devices encourage frequent formulaic language, and repetition takes
place on a large scale. Many of these techniques have a mnemonic function, just like the lists of suttas.

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Diverse Meanings and Interpretations
Each sËtra/sutta does however have its own individuality and they are ofwidely varying lengths. We know the sËtras by their names, and in different versions for those that were transmitted in several schools orlanguages of Buddhism: ‘the text of Brahma’s net’ (BrahmajålasËtra/Brahmajålasutta) sets the fundamentals of the Law (dhamma) against
the traps of heterodoxy, the famous ‘sËtra of the great extinction’(MahåparinirvåˆasËtra/Mahåparinibbånasutta) depicts the last part ofthe Buddha’s life, death and distribution of relics like a huge screenplay,‘the sËtra of exhortations to Sigåla’ contains lessons intended for followers to use, the ‘big sermon on the establishment of attention’(Mahåsatipa††hånasutta) is a fundamental text on meditation, etc.
The form of the sËtra is also attested in surprising textual environments, such as the Vinaya (monastic discipline book); a significant
portion of its Suttavibha∫ga contextualises the rules of Påtimokkha. It isa narrative moment specifying the circumstances that led the Buddha todecree a particular rule as a result of misconduct by evil monks, often
the group of six, about which he had come to know through monks or
virtuous followers keen to protect the Sangha’s reputation. Some ofthese stories are found in other parts of the Buddhist canon.
In any case, the Suttavibha∫ga exemplifies in its own way the typicalapproach of the Buddha, whose teachings, rather than being abstract
revelations, are rooted in time and place, taking into account the participants involved and the world around them.
While, strictly speaking, the prosaic form is a characteristic of sËtras,
it does not represent a defining constraint. Entitled Suttapi†aka, the second of the three divisions of the Påli canon (the three Baskets) includes
five groups (nikåyas or ågamas). It is only available in its complete formin the Påli tradition; whereas in other Indian languages of Buddhism,
only some suttas have survived, usually as individual texts. A large
majority of the texts in the first four groups (D¥ghanikåya,Majjhimanikåya, Saµyuttanikåya, A∫guttaranikåya) conform to the pattern described above.
This does not apply to the fifth group, the Khuddakanikåya, which ischaracterised by its great heterogeneity. Only the Udåna, the Itivuttaka
and parts of the Suttanipåta contain suttantas in the strict sense of theword, without, for all that, excluding the verses (gåthå). Elsewhere, theverse form clearly dominates, for example, the ‘Rhinoceros SËtra’(Kha∂gavi∑ånasËtra/Khaggavisåˆasutta) that exalts the perfect solitudeof the sage; stanzas are only used in the famous Dhammapada, which

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nevertheless is part of the Suttapi†aka. The number and type of sËtras
included in each group differ according to the version; as for the individual sËtra texts, some are close to each other and others are moredistant. These observations indicate a common source followed by along period of separate transmissions involving specific editorialdecisions.
Regardless of the collections to which they belong, the sËtras lendthemselves to being transmitted individually, or in selections made forspecific religious purposes, around a certain theme, for example. Thus
each of the Mahåyåna’s Samådhi-sËtras is about using meditation toachieve a profound state of consciousness. It is usually in this form thatthey play a role in the lives of Buddhists. From the 5th century until
today, from Buddhaghosa to S. N. Goenka or other masters, commentators explain their riches to successive generations of practitioners orreaders. A sËtra is also defined by the different potential meanings andinterpretations it contains.
So we can see how the word sËtra, beyond its formal constraints, cancome to mean, in the perception of its followers, any text at all, as longas it is considered as being imbued with the sanctity conferred by theword of Buddha and the Law: the JambËpatisËtra of Thailand is notstrictly ‘canonical’ but exhibits the approach of a classic sutta, chronicling the Buddha’s conversion of an arrogant king, while theMahåsËtras bring together basic texts, especially in verse.
NotesÍatapatha Bråhmaˆa 12.3,4,2 quoted by L. Renou, Sur le genre du sËtra dans lalittérature sanskrite, Journal Asiatique 1963, p. 200 (reproduced in L. Renou’s Choixd’études indiennes, Paris, EFEO, 1997, p. 604).
2See O. von Hinüber, Die neun A∫gas. Ein früher Versuch zur Einteilung buddhistischer Texte, WZKS 38, 1994, 121-135, reprinted in O. von Hinüber, Kleine Schriften,ed. H. Falk & W. Slaje, Harrassowitz Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2009, pp. 159–173.
3
See on these points M. Allon, Style and Function. A study of the dominant stylisticfeatures of the prose portions of Påli canonical sutta texts and their mnemonic function.
Tokyo, The International Institute for Buddhist Studies of the International College forAdvanced Buddhist Studies, 1997.
1Author Biography
Nalini Balbir is Professor of Indian Studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University (ParisIII) and is Director of Studies in Middle Indian philology at the École Pratique desHautes Études. Her specialist research areas are Jainism and the literature of TheravådaBuddhism in Påli, but she is also the author of a method of learning Sanskrit (Assimil)and has translated poems and short stories from Hindi and Gujarati. She is a member ofthe UMR 7528 Iranian and Indian worlds research unit whose site lists her publications.