Udāna

The Udāna is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. It is included there in the Sutta Pitaka's Khuddaka Nikaya. The title might be translated "inspired utterances". The book comprises 80 such utterances, most in verse, each preceded by a narrative giving the context in which the Buddha utters it.

Udāna
TypeCanonical Text
Parent CollectionKhuddaka Nikaya
CommentaryParamatthadīpanī (UdA)
PTS AbbreviationUd
Pāli literature
Pāli Canon
1. Vinaya Piṭaka
1. Suttavibhaṅga
2. Khandhaka
3. Parivāra
2. Sutta Piṭaka
1. Dīgha Nikāya
2. Majjhima Nikāya
3. Saṃyutta Nikāya
4. Aṅguttara Nikāya
5. Khuddaka Nikāya
3. Abhidhamma Piṭaka
1. Dhammasaṅgaṇī
2. Vibhaṅga
3. Dhātukathā
4. Puggalapaññatti
5. Kathāvatthu
6. Yamaka
7. Paṭṭhāna

The famous story of the Blind men and an elephant appears in Udana, under Tittha Sutta (Ud. 6.4).[1]

Structure of the Udana

The Udana is composed of eight chapters (vagga) of ten discourses each. The chapter titles are:

  1. Bodhivagga (Awakening chapter)
  2. Mucalindavagga (King Mucalinda chapter)
  3. Nandavagga (Ven. Nanda chapter)
  4. Meghiyavagga (Ven. Meghiya chapter)
  5. Soṇavagga (Lay Follower Sona chapter)
  6. Jaccandhavagga (Blind From Birth chapter)
  7. Cullavagga (Minor chapter)
  8. Pāṭaligāmiyavagga (Pataligamiya chapter)

Each discourse includes a prose portion followed by a verse. At the end of each prose section, as prelude to the verse, the following formulaic text is included:

It is from such "exclamations" (udāna) that the collection derives its name.

Dating of text

Some scholars consider this one of the earliest of all Buddhist scriptures,[4] while others consider it somewhat later.[5]

Hinüber identifies this type of discourse (although not necessarily the existing collection itself) as being part of the pre-canonical navaṅga (Pali for "nine-fold") which classified discourses according to their form and style, such as geyya (mixed prose and verse), gāthā (four-lined couplets), udāna (utterances) and jātaka (birth story).[6]

Relationship to other sacred texts

Within Buddhist literature, about a fourth of the Udana's prose sections correspond to text elsewhere in the Pali Canon, particularly in the Vinaya. In addition, in regards to Tibetan Buddhist literature, von Hinüber suggests that the Udana formed the original core of the Sanskrit Udānavarga, to which verses from the Dhammapada were added.[7]

In terms of non-Buddhist texts, some Udana concepts can be found in the Vedantic Upanishads and in Jain texts.[8]

Translations
  • Tr Major-General D. M. Strong, 1902
  • "Verses of uplift", in Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon, volume II, tr F. L. Woodward, 1935, Pali Text Society, Bristol
  • Tr John D. Ireland, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1990; later reprinted in 1 volume with his translation of the Itivuttaka
  • Tr Peter Masefield, 1994, Pali Text Society, Bristol; the PTS's preferred translation; its declared aim is to translate in accordance with the commentary's interpretation
  • Bilingual Pali-English study edition, 2010 Theravada Tipitaka Press
  • Tr Ānandajoti Bhikkhu, Udāna. Exalted Utterances ; Last revised version 2008

Notes
  1. See, for example, Thanissaro (1994).
  2. Thanissaro's translation, e.g., in Thanissaro (1994).
  3. SLTP (n.d.).
  4. Nakamura (1980); and, Hinüber (2000), p. 46 (§91).
  5. L. S. Cousins in Buddhist Studies in Honour of Hammalawa Saddhatissa, ed Dhammapala, Gombrich & Norman, University of Jayawardenepura, 1984, page 56
  6. von Hinüber (2000), pp. 7 (§10), 46 (§91); and, Rhys Davids & Stede (1921–1925), p. 348, entry for "Nava" at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.1:1:2826.pali%5B%5D (retrieved 2007-10-12). In particular, von Hinüber (2000, p. 46, §91) states: "The Udāna ... belongs to those old texts mentioned already as one of the navaṅga.... [I]t does not seem to be impossible that there once was an Ud having only verses such as those in the Udānavarga...."
  7. von Hinüber (2000), pp. 45 (§89), 46 (§91).
  8. von Hinüber (2000), p. 46 (§91).

Sources
  • Hinüber, Oskar von (2000). A Handbook of Pāli Literature. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016738-7.
  • Nakamura (1980). Indian Buddhism. Japan; reprinted Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi
  • 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/.
  • Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project (SLTP) (n.d.). Paṭhamanānātitthiyasuttaṃ (Ud. 6-4, in Pali). Retrieved 2007-10-12 from "MettaNet" at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/5Khuddaka-Nikaya/03Udana/06-Jaccandhavaggo-p1.html#six4.
  • Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1994). Tittha Sutta: Various Sectarians (1) (Ud. 6.4, in English)). Retrieved 2007-10-12 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.6.04.than.html.
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