Op 3-okt-2008, om 4:00 heeft Piya Tan het volgende geschreven:
Does this mean that all the nine angas are already there even when the
Buddha started teaching?
The Buddha taught for 45 years. Understandably, the nine angas could
have
evolved eventually, perhaps after the first 20 years when the Buddha's
audience
was not so spiritually ready as during the first 20 years.
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N: I do not think the audience was less ready, perhaps even more
ready. There were so many arahats.
As to the history, I do not have an answer. I only know that the
whole Tipitaka was rehearsed at the first council. Of each sutta
Anada said: eva.m me sutta.m.
It was not said that the Buddha spoke the suttas in this or that
order, such as the Ones, the Twos, etc. All the arahats that
rehearsed together had a fabulous memory, not darkened by defilements
such as in our case.
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P: But I find it hard to imagine that the Dharma appeared in the
world as the
nine angas as a full set.
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N: But when we read them in certain suttas they were there at that
time. Perhaps not the first year of his teaching, but later on, we
are not able to know now.
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P: I hope you understand what I am trying to say here.
My point is also that if the Sutta says "Sutta and Geyya" and maybe also
"Veyyakara.na", I see no problem in accepting it as it is. There is no
reason to read more into it or "standardize" this to the nine angas.
This then becomes dogma.
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N: As to Veyyakara.na, the Atthasaalinii explains: < The entire
Abhidhamma-Pi.taka, Suttas without verses and any other words of the
Buddha not included in the eight parts should be understood as
Veyyaakara.na, or exposition.>
He taught Abhidhamma from the beginning but we also know that
Saariputta, the General of the Dhamma , systematizised the Abhidhamma.
You want to beware of dogma, but there is no danger if we see that
the essence of the teachings is not theoretical. Whatever we read, be
it a Tipi.ta text or commentary or tiika, we always have to ask
ourselves: how can this help me now, in the development of
understanding of this very moment? Otherwise all our study would be
mogha. Whatever I read or translate, I really try to get the meaning
relevant to this moment of my life.
I like the following sutta, where all the nine angas are mentioned:
Anguttara Nikaaya, Book of the Fours, XIX, 186) �Approach� (Ummagga)
On the meaning of �mastery, being well learned and knowing Dhamma by
heart:
�...�Well, monk, I have taught Sutta, Geyya, Veyyaakara.na ,Gaathaa,
Udaana, Itivuttaka, Jaataka, Abbhutadhamma and Vedalla .Now if a monk
understands the meaning and (text of) dhamma, - even if it be but a
stanza
of four lines, - and be set on living in accordance with Dhamma, he may
well be called �one widely learned, who knows Dhamma by heart.��
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Nina.
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