concordance for Majjhima Nikaya

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Steve Katona, modified 13 Years ago at 1/23/11 4:45 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 1/23/11 4:45 PM

concordance for Majjhima Nikaya

Posts: 52 Join Date: 9/5/10 Recent Posts
anyone know of a concordance for the MN? Would prefer free and downloadable to convert and put on my Kindle.
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Steve Katona, modified 13 Years ago at 1/25/11 10:34 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 1/25/11 10:34 PM

RE: concordance for Majjhima Nikaya

Posts: 52 Join Date: 9/5/10 Recent Posts
Dhammawiki works pretty good though you often have to massage the search query to get results. Being less specific works better than too specific and then you can scan the search results often finding your desired hit. I still haven't found a good searchable on line Pali Canon and would appreciate being directed to that.
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Ian And, modified 13 Years ago at 1/25/11 11:38 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 1/25/11 11:38 PM

RE: concordance for Majjhima Nikaya

Posts: 785 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
Steve Katona:
Dhammawiki works pretty good though you often have to massage the search query to get results. Being less specific works better than too specific and then you can scan the search results often finding your desired hit. I still haven't found a good searchable on line Pali Canon and would appreciate being directed to that.

Steve, you're much better off biting the bullet and purchasing the published translations of the Nikayas published by Wisdom Publications. The reason I say this is that the footnotes are indispensable for your clarification of portions of the text. Bhikkhu Nanamoli, Bhikkhu Bodhi, Nyanaponika Thera, and Maurice Walshe have done a masterful job of translating and unpacking the intended meaning of these discourses.

As for the books themselves, the four main Nikayas are as follows:

The Long Discourses of the Buddha, The Digha Nikaya, trans. by Maurice Walshe.

The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, The Majjhima Nikaya, trans. by Bhikkhu Nanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi.

The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha, An Anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikaya, translated by Nyanaponika Thera and edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi.

The Connected Discourses of the Buddha, The Samyutta Nikaya, trans. by Bhikkhu Bodhi.

Accesstoinsight.org (ATI) has a portion of the discourses published online. Personally, I'm not particularly fond of Thanissaro's translation of certain words and phrases, which is why I recommend the printed version of these volumes. (Also, the footnotes in the printed volumes are more thorough.) Although you will be able to access quite a few of the more important suttas through the ATI website. It's a valuable resource.

There are other websites that have portions of the Nikayas online. But you'll have to google to find them. When reading the discourses, the most important feature to seek is a good translation of the original intended meaning of the suttas. And the books recommended above are the best translations (IMHO) that are available. They'll take you to where you want to go. Believe me, you won't regret having invested in them. Period! (Also, they won't need a working battery to read. Good old-fashioned old technology. Works perfectly fine. emoticon )
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Steve Katona, modified 13 Years ago at 2/4/11 12:30 PM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/4/11 12:30 PM

RE: concordance for Majjhima Nikaya

Posts: 52 Join Date: 9/5/10 Recent Posts
I own the translation of the Majjhima Nikaya you mentioned. I appreciate your comments and find them sound advice. For budgetary reasons I need to spread out the purchase of the other volumes over several months. In what order to you rank their usefulness? Perhaps the answer is obvious that they are all similarly useful. I have found that more often than not I am referred to MN most frequently in my studies. That's why I purchased that first.
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Ian And, modified 13 Years ago at 2/5/11 12:24 AM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/5/11 12:18 AM

RE: concordance for Majjhima Nikaya

Posts: 785 Join Date: 8/22/09 Recent Posts
Steve Katona:
I own the translation of the Majjhima Nikaya you mentioned. I appreciate your comments and find them sound advice. For budgetary reasons I need to spread out the purchase of the other volumes over several months. In what order to you rank their usefulness? Perhaps the answer is obvious that they are all similarly useful. I have found that more often than not I am referred to MN most frequently in my studies. That's why I purchased that first.

Your highlighted perception is perhaps closest to the truth. Yet, that said, here are some thoughts.

The first volume that I ever read was the Majjhima Nikaya, and I found that it opened up a new world for me. There is a lot in that volume which relates to meditation and how to go about structuring what to do. But there is a lot more to the study and practice of the Dhamma than just meditation, and that's where the other volumes come in handy.

I find that I am partial to the volumes that contain some of the oldest of the discourses, as they seem to bring alive the teaching in a way that is difficult to describe. I'd say that they seem to be more insightful (if that's possible) about the subject matter that they cover. The Samyutta and the Anguttara Nikayas are thought by scholars to contain some of the oldest of the discourses, having been among the first to be published. The Majjhima and the Digha came later chronologically and seem to show signs of having been cobbled together by committee. I think you would also find the Sutta Nipata to be quite a jewel in itself; not to mention the Udana and the Itivuttaka. These latter three small volumes are taken from the Khuddaka Nikaya, the fifth collection of 15 or more volumes of the lesser or shorter discourses, of which the Dhammapada is one also.

Bhikkhu Bodhi is about to come out with his full translation of the Anguttara Nikaya sometime soon, although when that will be no one really knows. He's been working on it a little here and a little there for the past ten years. The last I heard is that he has all the translations done, and is working on writing the introductions to the various sections. That will be a treasure to have when it is finally published.

Notwithstanding that, I found the anthology of the Anguttara by Nyanaponika to be wonderfully instructive of questions I had about certain subtle aspects of meditation and the Dhamma in general, with excellent footnotes to help explain the nuances. While it contains only ten percent of the discourses that compose the whole Anguttara, these discourses have been well chosen. Because it is less expensive than the Samyutta, I would recommend reading it next.

There are several important discourses in the Digha Nikaya, but many of those can be found online at ATI if push came to shove and you needed to consult one of them for further clarification.

When you get to a certain point of your practice you will find two small volumes written by Bhikkhu Nanananda to be invaluable in bringing to light certain subtle nuances of the teaching that will open up a new universe of understanding and appreciation of the Dhamma. These are Concept and Reality, In early Buddhist Thought and The Magic of the Mind, An Exposition of the Kalakarama Sutta. These along with Ven. Analayo's astoundingly thorough treatment of the practice of satipattana in a volume titled, Satipattana, The Direct Path to Realization and Nyanaponika's classic The Heart of Buddhist Meditation can add tremendously to your understanding of the practice of the meditation technology. I found all four of these books to be tremendously helpful in my own practice.

That should give you a few more options for making decisions about what to purchase and in what order. I didn't read Concept and Reality until after I had already read three quarters of the discourses (the three full main volumes mentioned above along with the Anguttara anthology); but that doesn't mean that it couldn't be read before hand. I just found it personally helpful to be able to have those volumes of the discourses to refer back to in order to validate the translation of suttas referenced in Nanananda's books.

I hope that helps.

All the best,
Ian
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Steve Katona, modified 13 Years ago at 2/9/11 10:17 AM
Created 13 Years ago at 2/9/11 10:17 AM

RE: concordance for Majjhima Nikaya

Posts: 52 Join Date: 9/5/10 Recent Posts
I appreciate your lengthy and detailed reply. I will consider your comments, perhaps look at selected excerpts on line and go from there. Of interest is that I have owned The Heart of Buddhist Meditation (one of the books you mentioned) for seven years and only glanced at it. My current teacher suggested I read it and I am amazed at what a treasure this small book is. Many thanks. metta

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