Sutta
A Sutta (Pali, Sanskrit sutra), are recorded dialogues of the Buddha designed to convey the teaching of the Buddha.
Related Terms
Notes
See discussion for an overview of core Pitaka.
Not really dialogues, as Wallis points out, more vehicles for preservation of the Buddha's words.
The core suttas collected into a pitaka or basket.
"The themes covered in the Suttapiaka constitute the core concerns of the Buddha. These themes include those that preoccupy our modern disciplines of psychology (for example, the nature of mind, the processes of perception), religion (the question of supernatural agency, the practice of meditation), ethics (the necessity and means of self-restraint and moderation), and philosophy (the nature of reality, the modes of knowledge). But despite this variety, in the end, the Buddha says, his teachings are like the salty ocean. As vast and various as they are, the teachings contain but a single taste: that of awakening. They teach slumbering, deluded, dissatisfied people the means to transform themselves into ones who are bright, clear, and wide awake."[1]
"As we saw earlier, the discussions that the Buddha had with others were first recorded and organized mnemonically and eventually written down on birch bark and literally sewn together as a book. While the woven book (sutta, “text”) ensures a certain degree of material preservation of the teachings, it does not ensure their vitality. For this to occur, the teachings must be further woven into the hearer-reader’s attitude toward living. This rich and complex interweaving of dialogue between the Buddha and a seeker, the physical embodiment of this as a text, and the application of this in the life of the reader constitute the real sutta."[2]
