At present, however, we are not concerned with these smaller questions. We treat the canon as a whole, divided into three parts, and containing the books which still exist in MSS., and we want to find out at what time such a collection was made. The following is a short abstract of the Tipitaka, chiefly taken from Childers' Pali Dictionary:

I. Vinaya-pitaka.

Vibhanga[4].
Vol. I, beginning with Paragika, or sins involving expulsion.
Vol. II, beginning with Pakittiya, or sins involving penance.

Khandhaka.
Vol. I, Mahavagga, the large section.
Vol. II, Kullavagga, the small section.

Parivarapatha, an appendix and later resume (25 chapters). See p. xiii, n. 4; p. xxiv, n. 2.

[1. Dipavamsa VII, 40.

2. Dipavamsa VII, 55.

3. Dr. Oldenberg, in his Introduction to the Vinaya-pitaka, p. xxxii.

4. Oldenberg, Vinaya-pitaka I, p. xvi, treats it as an extended reading of Patimokkha.]

p. xxviii

II. Sutta-pitaka.

Digha-nikaya, collection of long suttas (34 suttas)[1]. Magghima-nikaya, collection of middle suttas (152 suttas). Samyutta-nikaya, collection of joined suttas. Anguttara-nikaya[2], miscellaneous suttas, in divisions the length of which increases by one. Khuddaka-nikaya[3], the collection of short suttas, consisting of-- Khuddakapatha, the small texts[4]. Dhammapada, law verses (423)[5]. Udana, praise (82 suttas). Itivuttaka, stories referring to sayings of Buddha. Suttanipata 70 suttas[6]. Vimanavatthu, stories of Vimanas, celestial palaces. Petavatthu, stories of Pretas, departed spirits. Theragatha, stanzas of monks. Therigatha, stanzas of nuns. Gataka, former births (550 tales)[7]. Niddesa, explanations of certain suttas by Sariputta.

[1. The Mahaparinibbana-sutta, ed. by Childers, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, translated with other Suttas by Rhys Dayids (). Sept Suttas Palis, par Grimblot, Paris, l876.

2. The first four are sometimes called the Four Nikayas, the five together the five Nikayas. They represent the Dharma, as settled at the First and Second Councils, described in the Kullavagga (Oldenberg, I, p. xi).

3. Sometimes Khuddaka-nikaya stands for the whole Vinaya and Abhidhamma- pitaka, with the fifteen divisions here given of Khuddaka-nikaya. In the commentary on the Brahmagala-sutta it is said that the Dighanikaya professors rehearsed the text of the Gataka, Maha and Kulla Niddesa, Patisambhidamagga, Suttanipata, Dhammapada, Udana, Itivuttaka, Vimana, and Petavatthu, Thera and Theri Gatha, and called it Khuddakagantha, and made it a canonical text, forming part of the Abhidhamma; while the Magghimanikaya professors assert that, with the addition of the Kariyapitaka, Apadana, and Buddhavamsa, the whole of this Khuddakagantha was included in the Suttapitaka. See Childers, s.v. Nikaya;. See also <page x>.