Dear Bhante Sujato,

A follow-up to an earlier message of yours.

> [snip] but also from the list of contents of the Sarv and Mula Sarv DA as

mentioned in later

> texts. These have only 16 texts (=silakkhandhavagga, M Pari, M Apadana,

Sangiti, Dasottara,

> Catusparisat (=first chapter of Vinaya Mahavagga), and Arthavistara

(?proto-abhidhamma?))

As I have not done any detailed or wide ranging research on the DA, I am
interested that you mention the existence of lists of contents for the
SarvDA and the MSarvDA. Can you give me any references please ? Although I
have not, as I mention above, done any detailed research on the DA, I have
been revisiting my notes on Shamathadeva's Abhidharma-ko'sopaayika, which as
you will be aware, is a large compilation of Agama material surviving in its
Tibetan translation. It is a feature of Shamathadeva's method that he often
gives a varga and uddaana to locate the sutra he is reproducing from the
Agamas. The DA (and MA, for that matter) he quotes is interesting as its
structure can partially be reconstructed -- I believe, for several reasons,
that it is the MulaSarvDA. It is quite different to the surviving
Dharmagupta version in Chinese as well as the Pali version. It seems to
have three vargas, as one might expect and I have identified the
following -- I give the Pali titles for convenience where they exist:with
the Dharmagupta sutra numbers:

'SIILA-SKANDHA-VARGA

1. Tri-da.n.da-suutra DA12 ? No Pali version
2. Keva.t.ta DA24
3. Lohicca I DA29
4. Lohicca II DA29 (S states that there are two Lohicca sutras which he
calls the "Lohitya-vyakara.na"
?. Sama~n~na-phala DA27
9. Po.t.thapada DA28
?. Brahma-jala-sutra DA21 [But last sutra in this varga]

SAMAADHI-SAMYUKTA-VARGA
1. Title unknown but something that contains a passage identical to one
found in MA72 (MN128)
Nothing else identifiable for this varga.

.SA.T-SUUTRA-VARGA
1. Sa'ngiiti DA9 [location tentative]
2. Udumbarika-sihanada DA8 [location tentative]
3. Dasottara DA10.
5. Mahaa-apadaana DA1
6. Mahaa-parinirvaa.na DA2 [Last sutra in this varga and in DA as a whole]

It will be very interesting to see how the structure of the new DA ms
relates to the data we already possess.

Shamathadeva also quotes from a MA -- also different in structure to the
Pali MN and to the Chinese translation of the Sarvastivadin MA. As a
considerable percentage of this MA is quoted, often entire sutras, much
useful reserach could be done with this material. If I ever get the time, I
hope to digitize the entire work as a basic resource to widen people's
knowledge of this extremely significant work -- nobody seems to have done
much with it apart from the Japanese.

Finally, regarding the SA, you will possibly be interested to note that
Shamathadeva's source Agama places the Buddha [=Tathaagata]-vyaakara.na and
the 'Sraavaka-vyaakara.na in a K.sudraka-pit.aka and not in his SA ! The
ommission of these two collections of vyaakara.nas is also implict in
Asanga's treatment of the SA in the YBS. Likewise, the Saagathaa-varga
seems to have circulated independently of the SA in some schools -- as
corroborated by a separate Chinese translation of it.

Hope this is of interest.

Best wishes,
Stephen Hodge