Pali Canon/Addendum
This addendum will give a detailed account of the Pali Canon.
The usual arrangement of the Canon is as follows:
- Vinayapiṭaka
- Sutta- or Suttantapiṭaka
- Dīghanikāya
- Majjhimanikāya
- Saṃyuttanikāya
- Aṅguttaranikāya
- Khuddakanikāya
- Abhidhammapiṭaka
An alternative arrangement is in nikāyas, with the Vinaya and Abhidhamma included in the Khuddakanikāya, either before or after the Sutta parts. The inscriptions approved by the Fifth Council are arranged Vinaya, Abhidhamma, Sutta, while the Sixth Council recited the texts in the order listed above except for placing the Khuddakanikāya at the end.
Abbreviations
- B: Burmese edition; volume numbers are taken from the imprints pages of the 2008 Latin-script issue
- C: Ceylon edition
- E: English edition, PTS
- K: Khmer edition
- N: Nalanda nagari edition
- PTS: Pali Text Society
- S: Siamese edition
Vinayapiṭaka
B1-5; C1-6; K1-13; S1-8; EN 5 volumes.
English translation: The Book of the Discipline, 1938-1966, 6 volumes, PTS.
This division of the Canon is primarily concerned with the rules of monastic discipline, though the stories of the origins of the rules sometimes seem to take on a life of their own.
Western scholarship, based on some secondary accounts in the tradition, commonly divides the Vinaya into three parts:
- Suttavibhaṅga
- Khandhaka
- Parivāra
However, the title pages of the various editions usually do not use this division explicitly. Instead, BC divide as
- Pārājika
- Pācittiya
- Mahāvagga
- Cūḷa- or Cullavagga
- Parivāra
while KS have
- Mahāvibhaṅga
- Bhikkhunīvibhaṅga
- Mahāvagga
- Cūḷa- or Cullavagga
- Parivāra
In each case 1 and 2 constitute the Suttavibhaṅga, 3 and 4 the Khandhaka. The editor of E chose to interchange these two parts, and N does likewise.
The Western division is one of literary entities.
According to Professor von Hinüber, tentatively supported by Dr Gethin (President of the PTS), the Vinaya is, on the whole, later than the first four nikāyas of the Suttapiṭaka.