Madhyama Agama

The Madhyama Āgama (Chinese: 中阿含經; pinyin: Zhong Ahan Jing[1]) is an early Indian Buddhist text, of which currently only a Chinese translation is extant (Taishō Tripiṭaka 26).[1] The title means "Middle Collection."[2] It is one of the four Āgamas of the Sanskritic Sūtra Piṭaka located in the Chinese Buddhist Canon and contains 222 discourses in 18 chapters.[3] Its Pali equivalent, the Majjhima Nikaya, contains 152 discourses in 15 chapters.[3]

Origins and history

The earliest Chinese translation of the agama dates to 397–398 C.E.[3] P.V. Bapat believes the original source for the Chinese translation was in a form of Prakrit, closer to Pali than Sanskrit.[4] The text is believed to be from the Sarvāstivāda tradition.[3][5]

Parallels in Pali Canon

There are numerous parallels between the discourses in the Madhyama Āgama and discourses in the Sutta Piṭaka.[6]

...of the two hundred and twenty-two sutras of T. 26, only one hundred and three have their counterpart in the Majjhimanikāya; fourteen have their counterpart in the Dīghanikāya, seventeen in the Saṃyuttanikāya, and eighty-seven in the Aṅguttaranikāya. Fourteen of the two hundred and twenty-two sutras of T. 26 have no known parallel in the Pāli corpus.[6]

English translations

Translation of the Madhyama Āgama into English began in 2006 with Marcus Bingenheimer as chief editor and Bhikkhu Analayo and Rodney S. Bucknell as co-editors.[7] The first of three volumes was published in 2013.[8]

References

  1. Bingenheimer, Bucknell & Analayo 2013, p. xv.
  2. "Madhyama Agama". Oxford Reference. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  3. Analayo 2012, p. 1.
  4. Bingenheimer, Bucknell & Analayo 2013, p. xix.
  5. Sujato & Brahmali 2014, p. 40.
  6. Bingenheimer, Bucknell & Analayo 2013, p. xvi.
  7. "Madhyama-āgama". Āgama Research Group. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  8. Sujato, Bhikkhu (September 20, 2013). "A good day for fans of the Suttas". Sujato’s Blog. Retrieved August 3, 2019.

Sources

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