Footnote 335: But the lists may be pieces of folk-lore older than the suttas in which they are incorporated.
The suttas of the Dîgha Nikâya in which these lists of deities occur were perhaps composed before 300 B.
Majjhima, or collection of 152 suttas of middling length; c.
Of course, when the recitation of the Suttasconstituting the Pirit is concluded, it is recommenced, and in this way all the Suttas are recited again and again.
Argumentative as the Buddhist suttas are, their aim is strictly practical, even when their language appears scholastic, and the burden of all their ratiocination is the same and very simple.
The history of this career is given in the introduction to the Jâtaka and in the late Pali work called the Cariyâ-piṭaka, but the suttas make little reference to the topic.
Footnote 644: It may be objected that some Suttas are put into the mouths of the Buddha's disciples and that their words are very like those of the Master.
Apprehensions are expressed that suttas will be lost if monks neglect to learn them by heart[623].
The Suttas may preserve his teaching and some of his words but they are probably rearrangements made for recitation.
The suttas generally commence with a picture of the surroundings in which the discourse recorded was delivered.
The practice of tranquillizing the mind by regulating the breathing is recommended repeatedly in Suttas which seem ancient and authentic; for instance, in the instruction given by the Buddha to his son Râhula[692].
For collecting the suttas they relied on the testimony of Ânanda and asked him where the Brahmajâla[628] was spoken.
But some allowance must be made for the fact that the Upanishads and the earliest versions of the Buddhist Suttas were produced in different parts of India.
Many of the suttas do not deal with the Tathâgata.
Thus the Mahâsamaya and Aṭânâṭiya suttas are epitomes of popular mythology tacked on to the history of the Buddha.
The suttas contain five groups of collections called the Nikâyas.
The suttas mainly deal with the doctrine (Dhamma) of the Buddhistic faith whereas the Vinaya deals only with the regulations concerning the discipline of the monks.
The suttas were however composed before the Abhidhamma and it is very probable that almost the whole of the canonical works were completed before 241 B.
They only elaborated the materials of the suttas with enumerations and definitions.
The suttascame first embodying, in set phrases, the doctrine that had to be handed down.
In each of these thesuttas on the same subject, or in one or two cases the suttas addressed to the same sort of people, are grouped together.
Many hundreds of the short suttas and verses in these two collections are found, word for word, in the dialogues.
And finally the suttantas were grouped together into the two Nik[=a]yas, and the suttas and episodes separately into the two others.
The recitation of the Jâtakas is particularly popular but the suttas of the Dîgha Nikâya are also often read.
The monks read Suttas over it and it is said[232] that they hold ribbons which enter into the coffin and are supposed to communicate to the corpse the merit acquired by the recitations and prayers.
Footnote 48: The imitation of the original play on words is Rhys Davids', who has translated these Suttas in SBE.
Rejecting single passages of the Suttas and of the proposed Vinaya, they composed other Suttas and another Vinaya which had (only) the appearance (of the genuine ones).
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "suttas" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
