QLXChristoper at 06:14, 25 March 2024

2024-03-25T06:14:35Z

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The '''''Ksudraka Agama''''' (Skt. Kṣudraka Āgama; English: "Minor Collection") is one of the Buddhist [[Āgama (Buddhism)|Agamas]], a collection of [[Buddhist texts]]. It corresponds to the [[Khuddaka Nikaya]] of the [[Pali Canon]].

Rupert Gethin writes that in addition to the four main [[Nikāya]]/Āgama texts, a ‘minor’ collection of miscellaneous texts was also recognized. This fifth collection included works such as the [[Dharmapada]] and the [[Jātaka]]s (tales of the previous lives of the [[Buddha]]). These four Nikāyas—together with a varying number of lesser texts constituting the Ksudraka Agama—comprised the Sūtra/[[Sutta Piṭaka]] (‘the basket of discourses’) of the earliest Buddhist schools. <ref>Gethin, Rupert (1998-07-16). The Foundations of Buddhism (p. 43). Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.</ref>

The [[Dharmaguptaka]] in particular recognized a Kṣudraka Āgama. The [[Chinese language|Chinese]] translation of the [[Dharmaguptaka Vinaya]] provides a table of contents for the Dharmaguptaka recension of the Kṣudraka Āgama, and fragments in [[Gandhari language|Gandhari]] appear to have been found. Items from this Āgama also survive in [[Classical Tibetan|Tibetan]] and Chinese translation—fourteen texts, in the latter case.<ref>Andrew Skilton (2004). A Concise History of Buddhism. Windhorse Publications. p. 82. ISBN 0-904766-92-6.</ref><ref>Richard Salomon, Frank Raymond Allchin, Mark Barnard (1999). Ancient Buddhist scrolls from Gandhāra: the British Library Kharoṣṭhī fragments. University of Washington Press. p. 161. ISBN 0-295-97769-8.</ref><ref>Sean Gaffney. The Pali Nidanakatha and its Tibetan Translation: Its Textual Precursors and Associated Literature.</ref>

Some schools, notably the [[Sarvāstivāda]], recognized only four Āgamas—though they had a "Kṣudraka" which they did not consider to be an "Āgama." Others—including even the Dharmaguptaka, according to some contemporary scholars—preferred to term it the "Kṣudraka Piṭaka." As with its [[Pāḷi]] counterpart, the Kṣudraka Āgama appears to have been a miscellany, and was perhaps never definitively established among many of the [[early schools of Buddhism]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Buddhism topics}}

[[Category:Agamas| ]]
[[Category:Tripiṭaka]]

{{Buddhism-stub}}

Ksudraka Agama - Revision history

QLXChristoper at 06:14, 25 March 2024