Saṅgītisutta (The Discourse on Communal Recitation)
8D/10, the tenth discourse of the Dīgha Nikāya's Pāthikavaggapāḷi: Sāriputta recites the Dhamma arranged by number, from ones to tens, so that the bhikkhū may recite it together and not quarrel. Translated in eleven parts.
Original text: 8D/10 Saṅgītisutta 773–1131 in the World Tipitaka Edition
Summary
Section titled “Summary”At Pāvā the Mallas have built a new assembly hall, Ubbhataka, and the Bhagavā is the first to use it; after teaching late into the night he lies down and asks āyasmā Sāriputta to speak to the bhikkhū. Sāriputta tells of the quarrels among the Jains after the death of Nigaṇṭha Nāṭaputta and proposes that the bhikkhū recite the Dhamma together and not quarrel, so that the optimal life may last long; he then recites it arranged by number, from one to ten. The Bhagavā rises and approves.
The edition’s own divisions, one page each, with the edition’s paragraph numbers:
- Ubbhatakanavasandhāgāra (The New Assembly Hall at Ubbhataka) — 8D/10, 773–778
- Bhinnanigaṇṭhavatthu (The Breakup of the Jains) — 8D/10, 779–781
- Ekaka and Duka (Ones and Pairs) — 8D/10.1–10.2, 782–817
- Tika (Threes) — 8D/10.3, 818–879
- Catukka (Fours) — 8D/10.4, 880–942
- Pañcaka (Fives) — 8D/10.5, 943–975
- Chakka (Sixes) — 8D/10.6, 976–1010
- Sattaka (Sevens) — 8D/10.7, 1011–1033
- Aṭṭhaka (Eights) — 8D/10.8, 1034–1077
- Navaka (Nines) — 8D/10.9, 1078–1101
- Dasaka (Tens) — 8D/10.10, 1102–1131
Commentary
Section titled “Commentary”This is a proto-Abhidhamma sutta that provides lists of related (and opposing) terms grouped by ascending numerical order (by size of list). It represents a largely Theravādin view of the core elements of the Buddha’s teaching. The corresponding version in the Dharmaguptaka Dīrghāgama — DA11 (Discourse Increasing by One) — is much shorter and better structured. The intention of the list is for communal recitation across the fourfold assembly of monastics and lay disciples.
Although some of the lists are probably derived from the Buddha’s teachings, it seems some lists have been inserted at a later stage by disciples. Given these lists are presented outside the context of the Buddha’s teachings, it is sometimes hard to understand the purpose and meaning for the items.
Parallels
Section titled “Parallels”The Chinese parallel is 眾集經, the ninth discourse of the Dīrgha Āgama (長阿含經 fascicle 8, CBETA T01, no. 1, pp. 49b–52c), translated into German by Behrsing (Behrsing, 1930) and into English by Patton (Patton, n.d.); a Sarvāstivāda Saṅgītisūtra survives in Sanskrit fragments with its commentary, the Saṅgītiparyāya (Stache-Rosen, 1968), and a separate Chinese translation of the Song period is a fourth version (Anālayo, 2013). The frame is the same: the Buddha among the Mallas at Pāvā, his back aching after teaching into the night, Sāriputta asked to teach while he lies down (p. 49c), Sāriputta’s account of the Nigaṇṭhas quarrelling after their teacher’s death as the reason to recite the Dhamma together (p. 49c), the same refrain closing every group of lists, and the Buddha’s approval at the end. The differences:
- The setting. The Chinese has 1,250 bhikkhus and a mango grove at Pāvā (波婆城闍頭菴婆園, p. 49b), the Buddha teaching the bhikkhus in the open on the full-moon night; the Pāḷi has 500, the Mallas’ new assembly hall Ubbhataka and the Buddha’s talk to the Mallas (part 1). The Nigaṇṭha episode is fuller in the Pāḷi (Patton, 2021).
- The lists. The Chinese recites 129 sets, the Pāḷi 230: Ones 2 and 2, Twos 12 and 33, Threes 37 and 60, Fours 36 and 50, Fives 15 and 26, Sixes 14 and 22, Sevens 7 and 14, Eights 4 and 11, Nines 1 and 6, Tens 1 and 6. 106 sets are common to both, where the Pāḷi shares 188 with the Sarvāstivāda version. Patton reads the Pāḷi as the most developed of the four, a compendium that kept growing because the sutta’s plan, unlike the Dasuttara’s fixed questions, sets no limit on insertion (Patton, 2021).
- Within the groups. The Chinese Nines are the nine abodes of beings alone (p. 52b) and its Tens the ten qualities of one beyond training alone (p. 52c), where the Pāḷi has six sets of each (Nines, Tens); the second One, “all beings are sustained by mental constructions” in part 3, reads in the Chinese “all beings go on by their actions” (皆由行往, p. 49c), the same word
saṅkhārataken as action.
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