Twelve categories of teachings

Twelve categories of teachings (Skt. dvādaśāṅga[pravacana]; T. gsung rab yan lag bcu gnyis གསུང་རབ་ཡན་ལག་བཅུ་གཉིས་; C. shi'erbu jing 十二部經) are twelve traditional genres of Buddhist literature, according to the Sanskrit tradition. These categories (aṅga) are based on content, structure or literary style. Bhikkhu Sujato suggests that it is possible that these groupings referred to specific groups of texts in the early (pre-sectarian) period of Buddhism.

The twelve categories are:

1. sūtra (T. མདོའི་སྡེ་ mdo'i sde), discourses
2. geya (T. དབྱངས་ཀྱིས་བསྙད་པའི་སྡེ་ dbyangs kyis bsnyad pa'i sde), poetic summaries
3. vyākaraṇa (T. ལུང་བསྟན་པའི་སྡེ་ lung bstan pa'i sde), prophecies
4. gāthā (T. ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པའི་སྡེ་ tshigs su bcad pa'i sde), discourses in verse
5. udāna (T. ཆེད་དུ་བརྗོད་པའི་སྡེ་ ched du brjod pa'i sde), intentional statements
6. nidāna (T. གླེང་གཞིའི་སྡེ་ gleng gzhi'i sde), contextual accounts
7. avadāna (T. རྟོགས་པ་བརྗོད་པའི་སྡེ་ rtogs pa brjod pa'i sde), testimonies of realization
8. itivṛttaka (T. དེ་ལྟ་བུ་བྱུང་བའི་སྡེ་ de lta bu byung ba'i sde), historical explanations
9. jātaka (T. སྐྱེས་པའི་རབས་ཀྱི་སྡེ་ skyes pa'i rabs kyi sde), accounts of former lives
10. vaipulya (T. ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པའི་སྡེ་ shin tu rgyas pa'i sde), detailed explanations
11. abidhutadharma (T. རྨད་དུ་བྱུང་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྡེ་ rmad du byung ba'i chos kyi sde), wondrous discourses
12. upadeśa (T. གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པའི་སྡེ་ gtan la phab pa'i sde), definitive explanations

The Pali tradition identifies a similar list of nine categories of teachings.

Brief descriptions

Ways of Enlightenment states:

According to tradition, on the day of his parinirvana, the Buddha reminded his disciples that the dharma teachings had been imparted in twelve branches (aṅga), each a means of evoking a different response and realization.

1. Sūtra. Discourses on a single topic. Seeing ten advantages of this type of teaching, the Buddha often taught in this way. Sutra teachings are well-suited for presenting a single topic; they easily evoke the listener's response, they increase respect for the dharma, supporting the rapid application of the teachings to one's life, they enable the teachings to penetrate deeply, they inspire serene joy based on faith in the Buddha, faith in the Dharma, and faith in the Sangha; they support supreme happiness even in this lifetime; they please the minds of the wise through exegesis; and they are recognized as extremely wise.
2. Geya. Discourses in verse. These are the stanzas often found at the beginning or end of a sutra. Sometimes an idea not discussed within the sutra will be explicated in verse.
3. Vyākaraṇa. Prophecies. Thse are discussions of the past lives and future possibilities of the assembly of the Sangha. They serve to clarify points presented in a sutra.
4. Gāthā. Verse summaries. These teachings are given in metred verse within sutras. They recapitulate the main themes and are easy to remember.
5. Udāna. Words spoken not to instruct particular individuals but to maintain the dharma. These teachings are said to have been spoken by the Buddha with a very joyful heart.
6. Nidāna. Explanations following a specific incident. In these teachings, the Buddha gives a principle or guideline and explains the reason for it.
7. Avadāna. Life stories of buddhas, bodhisattvas, disciples, and various individuals.
8. Itivṛttaka. Historical accounts such as geneologies.
9. Jātaka. Accounts of previous lives of the Buddha.
10. Vaipulya. Lengthy sutras with complex organisation. These include the sutras of the Mahayana, with teachings that are especially profound and vast.
11. Abidhutadharma. Accounts of wondrous accomplishments of the Buddha, the disciples, and the bodhisattvas.
12. Upadeśa. Topics of specific knowledge. These are exact, profound, and subtle instructions on the nature of reality.

Ways of Enlightenment also states:

Sūtra, geya, vyākaraṇa, gāthā, and udāna teachings make up the sutra collection of the First Turning. The aṅgas of vaipulya and abidhutadharma appear in the Second and Third Turning teachings. These express the extensive vision and wondrous accomplishments of the buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Alternative translations

Ways of Enlightenment:

1. Single topic discourses
2. Discourses in verse
3. Prophecies
4. Verse summaries
5. Spoken to maintain the dharma
6. Guidelines following a specific incident
7. Life stories
8. Historical accounts
9. Previous lives of the Buddha
10. Long complex sutras
11. Wondrous acts
12. Topics of specific knowledge

Erik Pema Kunsang:

1. General Discourses (mdo sde);
2. Proclamations in Song (dbyangs su bsnyad pa);
3. Prophecies (lung du bstan pa);
4. Poetic Pronouncements (tshigs su bcad pa);
5. Special Aphorisms (mched du brjod pa);
6. Declarations (gleng gzhi);
7. Narratives (rtogs pa brjod pa);
8. Parables (de lta bu byung ba);
9. Succession of Former Lives (skyes pa'i rabs);
10. Extensive Sayings (shin tu rgyas pa'i sde];
11. Marvels (rmad du byung ba);
12. Established Doctrines (gtan la dbab pa).

Princeton Dictionary:

1. Discourses
2. Aphorisms in mixed prose and verse
3. Prophetic teachings or expositions
4. Verses
5. Utterance or meaningful expressions
6. Framing stories or episodes
7. Heroic tales or narratives
8. Fables
9. Tales of previous lives
10. Marvellous events
11. Catechisms or works of great extent
12. Instructions

Gyurme Dorje, in his translation of Indo-Tibetan Classical Learning and Buddhist Phenomenology:

1. Discourses
2. Aphorisms in prose and verse
3. Prophetic declarations
4. Verses
5. Proverbs or meaningful expressions
6. Legends or frame stories
7. Extensive teachings
8. Tales of past lives
9. Marvelous events
10. Narratives
11. Fables
12. Established instructions

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University 
• Dharma Publishing Editors (1993), Ways of Enlightenment, Berkeley, CA: Dharma Publishing CS1 maint: Extra text: authors list (link)
• Sujato, Bhikkhu (2012), A History of Mindfulness (PDF), Santipada 

External links

• Twelve branches of the excellent teaching, Rigpa Shedra Wiki