The 'Majjhima Nikaya' (-nikāya; "Collection of Middle-length Discourses") is a Buddhist scripture, the second of the five
nikayas, or collections, in the
Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the
Pali Tipitaka of
Theravada Buddhism. This nikaya consists of 152 discourses by the Buddha and his chief disciples, which together constitute a comprehensive body of teaching concerning all aspects of the Buddha's teachings.
A similar collection, apparently translated from an earlier
Sanskrit version, appears in the
Chinese Buddhist canon. This is known as the ''
MÄdhyamÄgama'' or ''ZhÅng AhánjÄ«ng'' (ä¸é˜¿å«ç¶“), names which mean "the middle [i.e. mid-length]
agama".
Translations
★ Lord Chalmers (trans.), ''Further Dialogues of the Buddha'', 1926-7, 2 volumes, Ann Arbor: Books on Demand, University of Michigan.
★ I. B. Horner (trans.), ''The Book of Middle Length Sayings'', 1954-9, 3 volumes, Lancaster: Pali Text Society.
★ David W. Evans (trans.), ''Discourses of Gotama Buddha: Middle Collection'', 1991, Janus Pubns. "Translation in an abridged form ... just about one third the size of Horner's translation, but with well over 90% of the significant content"
★ Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi (trans.), ''The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya'', 1995, Somerville: Wisdom Publications ([http://jbe.gold.ac.uk/4/cous1.html review). ISBN 0-86171-072-X. The Pali Text Society also issues a private edition of this for members only, which is its preferred translation.
See also
★
Anguttara Nikaya
★
Buddhist texts
★
Digha Nikaya
★
Khuddaka Nikaya
★
List of Majjhima Nikaya suttas
★
Samyutta Nikaya
External links
★
Majjhima Nikaya in English at Metta.lk
★
Majjhima Nikaya in English at accesstoinsight.org
References
★
Digital Dictionary of Buddhism, entry on MÄdhyamÄgama