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20 EASTERN HORIZON | TEACHINGS

iv. The Saḷāyatanavagga – 10 Saṃyuttas The Mahāvagga deals with various Dhammas such
v. The Mahāvagga – 12 Saṃyuttas as the Four Noble Truths, The Noble Eightfold
Path, etc. Several saṃyuttas of the Mahāvagga
The Sagāthavagga is the section of verses or stanzas. are: the Maggasaṃyutta, Bojjhaṅgasaṃyutta,
There are thousands of gāthās in it. The first Saṃyutta Satipaṭṭhānasaṃyutta, Indriyasaṃyutta, etc.
of the Saṃyuttanikāya is the Devatāsaṃyutta. It
contains the suttas which have been delivered to divine The Aṅguttaranikāya – The Gradual Discourses of the
beings. Most of the time divine beings appeared in Buddha
front of the Buddha after midnight and asked various
questions and then the Buddha answered to them. One The fourth collection of the Suttapiṭaka is the
of the very famous questions posed by a certain deva is: Aṅguttaranikāya. The Manorathapūraṇī, the
commentary to the Aṅguttaranikāya explains that there
Anto jaṭā bahi jaṭā jaṭāya jaṭitā pajā are 9557 suttas in the Aṅguttaranikāya.
Taṃ taṃ gotama pucchāmi ko imaṃ vijaṭaye jaṭaṃ?”
Navasuttasahassāni – pañcasuttasatāni ca
A tangle within, a tangle without, people are entangled Sattapaññāsa suttāni – honti aṅguttarāgame
in a tangle. Gotama, I ask you this: Who can disentangle
this? As Venerable Bhikkhu Bodhi says there are only 3872
independent suttas in the existing Aṅguttaranikāya
The Buddha’s answer was: extant today. However, with repetition suttas (peyyāla),
Sīle patiṭṭhāya naro sapañño - cittaṃ paññaṃ ca there are 8122. Therefore, as Bhikkhubodhi points out
bhāvayaṃ there are 4250 peyyāla suttas in it. So, together with
Ātāpi nipako bhikkhu – so imaṃ vijaṭaye jaṭaṃ this number of suttas and the independent suttas, the
A man established in virtue, discerning, developing total number of suttas is 8122.
discernment and mind, a monk ardent, austere: he
can disentangle this tangle. The special characteristics of the Aṅguttaranikāya are
given as follows.
Some of the other saṃyuttas are: the
Devaputtasaṃyutta, Kosalasaṃyutta, Mārasaṃyutta, Ekakadukādipaṭimaṇḍitassa aṅguttarāgamavarassa
bhikkhuṇīsaṃyutta, Vanasaṃyutta, etc. Dhammakathikapuṅgavānaṃ vicittapaṭibhānajananassa

The Nidānavagga basically deals with the teachings Aṅguttara Nikāya means: “That which contains nipātas
on Dependent Origination. It’s a philosophical like ekaka, duka, etc., known as Aṅguttarāgama,
section. Some of the Saṃyuttas of this section are: the generating variegated knowledge of Dhammakathikas
Nidānasaṃyutta, Dhātusaṃyutta, Abhisamayasaṃyutta, (expert Dhamma preaches)”. This definition implies that
Anamataggasaṃyutta, etc. Dhamma preaches must learn the Aṅguttara Nikāya so
that they can be Dhammakathikas par-excellence.
The Khandhavagga deals with the five aggregates
or pañcakkhandhā. Some of the saṃyuttas of this The Suttas of the Aṅguttara have been arranged in
section are: the Khandhasaṃyutta, Rādhasaṃyutta, numerical order. Therefore, this Nikāya is also called the
Diṭṭhisaṃyutta, Kilesasaṃyutta etc. Numerical Teachings of the Buddha. Here a special term
is used to name the Vaggas; that is Nipāta. There are
The Saḷāyatanavagga deals with the six organs, eleven Nipātas in the Aṅguttara and various Dhammas
faculties, or āyatanas. Some of the saṃyuttas of have been categorised into those Nipātas based on the
it are: the Saḷāyatanasaṃyutta, Vedanāsaṃyutta, numerical order. For instance, the teachings which are
Mātugāmasaṃyutta, Cittasaṃyutta, etc. talking about a single Dhamma have been categorised