Kinh tập

Suttanipāta

The “Group of Discourses” contains 74 mostly short texts in verse or mixed prose and verse, arranged in five chapters. This contains some of the most beloved texts in popular Buddhism, such as the Ratana, Maṅgala, and Mettā Suttas, which are known to all Theravada Buddhists and recited as uplifting and protective chants at auspicious ceremonies. The collection as a whole is somewhat late; it is not found in northern scriptures, and some portions, such as the opening verses of the Nālaka Sutta, belong to the latest strata of the early texts. Nevertheless, certain sections—the “Rhinoceros Horn”, the “Chapter of the Eights”, and the “Way to the Beyond”—appear to have existed before being gathered into the collection, and are regarded as early. While the collection as a whole has no counterpart elsewhere, several portions have parallels in Chinese or Sanskrit.