Nikāya

Nikāya (T. sde; C. bu; J. bu) is a term from the Sanskrit and Pāḷi languages that is translated as "group," "collection," "assemblege," etc. This term is used in the following senses:

1) In reference to collections of sutras. In this context, nikāya is most commonly used to refer to the suttas of the Pali Canon, which are referred to as either the Sutta Pitaka or the Nikāyas. (Note that the parallel texts from the Sanskrit tradition are referred to as agamas.)

2) In reference to the different groups within Early Buddhism (i.e. the Early Buddhist schools)

3) In reference to the monastic divisions of Theravāda Buddhism.

Collections of sutras

Main article: Sutta Pitaka

In the Pāli Canon, particularly, the Sutta Piṭaka, the meaning of nikāya is roughly equivalent to the English collection and is used to describe groupings of discourses according to theme, length, or other categories. For example, the Sutta Piṭaka is broken up into five nikāyas:

• the Dīgha Nikāya, the collection of long (Pāḷi: dīgha) discourse
• the Majjhima Nikāya, the collection of middle-length (majjhima) discourses
• the Samyutta Nikāya, the collection of thematically linked (samyutta) discourses
• the Anguttara Nikāya, the "gradual collection" (discourses grouped by content enumerations)
• the Khuddaka Nikāya, the "minor collection"

In the other early Buddhist schools the alternate term āgama was used instead of nikāya to describe their Sutra Piṭakas. Thus the non-Mahāyāna portion of the Sanskrit-language Sutra Piṭaka is referred to as "the Āgamas" by Mahāyāna Buddhists. The Āgamas survive for the most part only in Classical Tibetan and Chinese translation. They correspond closely with the Pāḷi nikāyas.

Nikaya Buddhism: divisions in early Buddhism

Further information: Nikaya Buddhism

Charles Muller states:

Nikaya Buddhism: A name for the sectarian form of Buddhism that developed in India starting from the time around 100 years after the passing of Śākyamuni, during the reign of King Aśoka. The first major division was between the conservative (Sthaviravāda/Theravāda) 上座部 and the progressive Mahāsāṃghikas 大衆部. These two main groups further split into smaller schools, distinguished from each other mainly by their variant interpretations of the Buddhist doctrine, and especially the rules of discipline. Accounts of the nature of this schismatic process, and the exact names and number of schools varies according to the source. According to the account of the so-called Northern tradition (北傳, 北傳分派說) the two main divisions branched into twenty sub-sects 小乘二十部, and according to the Southern tradition, (南傳, 南傳分派說), eighteen 小乘十八部.

Monastic divisions in Southeast Asia

Among the Theravāda nations of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, nikāya is also used as the term for a monastic division or lineage; these groupings are also sometimes called "monastic fraternities" or "frateries". Nikāyas may emerge among monastic groupings as a result of royal or government patronage (such as the Dhammayuttika Nikāya of Thailand, due to the national origin of their ordination lineage (the Siam Nikāya of Sri Lanka), because of differences in the interpretation of the monastic code, or due to other factors (such as the Amarapura Nikāya in Sri Lanka, which emerged as a reaction to caste restrictions within the Siam Nikāya). These divisions do not rise to the level of forming separate sects within the Theravāda tradition, because they do not typically follow different doctrines or monastic codes, nor do these divisions extend to the laity.

See also

• Āgama
• Dhammayuttika Nikaya
• Early Buddhist Schools

Bibliography

• Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.