Sunday, September 21, 2008

Ekottara-agama

The Ekottara-āgama is a collection of Buddhist sutras corresponding to the Pali Anguttara-nikaya.

Apart from a small handful of manuscript fragments found in Central Asia, it only survives in one version preserved in Chinese translation. The precise sectarian affiliation of this Chinese version is not recorded, but a consensus of scholars attribute it to the school. Though this version is formally equivalent to the Pali Anguttara-nikaya, there is a considerable difference in the number of individual sutras contained in each, the Chinese Ekottara-āgama being smaller in size. The Chinese Ekottara-āgama is also noteworthy because it contains a number of sutras which show the influence of Mahayana ideas.

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