Collections of sutta texts outside the four main collections.
01
Uragavagga
The Serpent Chapter
Twelve poems beginning with a set of similes comparing a liberated one with a serpent who sheds its skin. The poems are diverse in style and content, and appear to have been collected from different sources. This chapter includes...
02
Cūḷavagga
The Lesser Chapter
Thirteen diverse poems similar to the previous chapter.
03
Mahāvagga
The Great Chapter
Twelve longer poems that expand into sometimes legendary narrative. The first two discourses and the Nalaka Sutta offer early glimpses at crucial episodes in the Buddha's life. While some of these poems are found elsewhere in the...
04
Aṭṭhakavagga
The Chapter of Eights
This chapter, which has parallels in Chinese, and received an early commentary in the Niddesa, is often regarded as one of the earliest texts in the canon. Shorn of literary embellishments, it is direct and powerful. A...
05
Pārāyanavagga
The Chapter on the Way to the Beyond
This is perhaps the most sophisticated and moving poetic composition in early Buddhism. It begins with a brahmin, suffering an unwanted curse, who sends his students to seek the Buddha. At the end of a long journey they ask...
