Mar Ngok Summer Teachings 2024
Origins of Secret Mantra Day 3
29 July 2024
Continuing the previous day’s exploration, the Karmapa summarised the qualities, properties and styles of the scriptures of Early Buddhism.
The Sutta-Piṭaka
He began by looking at some of the sections within the Minor Discourses (Khuddaka-Nikāya).
The Section of the Sutras (Suttanipāta) exhibits a very simple, ancient style, without much elaboration.
The Verses of the Elder Monks and Verses of the Elder Nuns (Theragāthā and Therīgātha) are the words of Buddhist disciples, presented in verse form. There are probably no words in these texts that the Buddha himself actually said, the Karmapa explained. Instead, they show what is termed “the blessings of the Buddha”, the level of experience and degree of realisation of his disciples, and are similar to the songs of realisation, the Dohā that the great Kagyu lamas sang.
A very important Buddhist text, the Dhammapada is also found in the Khuddaka-Nikāya. It contains 423 verses spoken by the Buddha, and these are divided into 26 different chapters. The verses are easy to understand; they are simple, and the vocabulary is easy. Reading them impresses on us how much loving-kindness and compassion the Buddha had. The main topic of the Dhammapada is the actual practice of the path, presented in the form of poetry and verse.
Another section, the Jataka Tales are primarily accounts of how in previous lives the Buddha practiced acts of loving-kindness and compassion, or meditated on patience, practised diligence, and so forth. These stories are a form of religious literature accessible to ordinary people, explaining how the Buddha took birth in various bodies and practised Dharma in previous lives. In the Theravada scriptures, there are 500 Jataka Tales, and they are all complete stories. The Jataka Tales are akin to the Indian Pañca-tantra fables or Aesop’s fables in Greece, so one could say that they have the same sources.
Among all these deeds of the Buddha, many were accomplished with an altruistic thought of wishing to benefit beings. This altruistic thought of wishing to benefit others is also present in the Mahayana, so it seems as if the source for the Mahayana’s emphasis on bodhichita — the altruistic intention— is in these “Jataka Tales.”
In any case, the Jataka Tales spread widely among the public and greatly influenced the way people thought. They held a particular fascination for Buddhists, as witnessed by the plethora of Buddhist art and sculpture which depict stories from the Jataka Tales. In India, there are the stupas at Bharhut, Sanchi and Amaravati, and the caves of Ajanta and Ellora. In Java, Indonesia, there is the stupa at Borobudur Stupa. Across Central Asia, many ancient artefacts with depictions of the Jataka Tales have been found. In China, there are the Longmen Grottoes. In Japan there is the Tamamushi Shrine at Horyu-ji, where the walls are decorated with scenes from the Jataka Tales, including one where the Buddha sacrificed his life in order to hear even a single teaching.
The Development of the Vinaya- Piṭaka.
Most academics hold that at the time of the First Council, the Vinaya consisted of only five parts: the five different types of downfall: the defeat, the remainders, the downfalls, the confessables, and the individual confessables. Basically, it contained all the precepts that list what is prohibited or what is to be given up, arranged into five different sections.
Gradually, the Vinaya developed and grew larger and larger, until finally from these five it became eight different categories, the eight dharmas, with the root precepts divided into six categories. For bhikshus, for example, there are: i) the four defeats; ii) the 13 remainders; iii) two undetermined; iv) 30 forfeiture downfalls; v) 90 simple downfalls; and vi) four confessables. This makes a total of 143 precepts. However, there are different presentations in different schools. For example, the Mahāsāṃghika lists not 90 but 92 downfalls, whereas the Mahīśāsaka have 90. Later generations seem to have settled on 90 downfalls, so a consensus was probably reached at some point. In addition to these six categories of root downfalls, if you then include the trainings and the seven dharmas for settling disputes, it gives a total of eight categories and 250 precepts that the bhikshus need to keep.
In addition to the Theravada Vinaya- Piṭaka, there are several texts extant from the period of Nikāya Buddhism (the period of the 18 schools). At that time, it seems that each school compiled its own Vinaya- Piṭaka, which would have contained slight differences from those of the other schools.
Of the seven Vinayas which are extant today, the oldest are the Pali Vinaya-Pitaka of the Southern Transmission and the Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya- Piṭaka of the Northern Transmission, which is in Chinese translation. There are several in the Chinese translation, but the oldest is the Mahāsāṃghika.
The extant Vinayas are:
1. The Pali Vinaya from the Southern Transmission in the Theravada school.
2. The Mahīśāsaka Vinaya in 30 volumes. Known as the Five Part Vinaya.
3. The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya in 60 volumes. Known as the Four-Part Vinaya.
4. The Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya in 40 volumes
5. The Sarvāstivāda Vinaya in 61 volumes (This is known as the Ten Section Vinaya and presumed to be from the earlier Sarvāstivāda school.
6. The Sarvāstivāda Vinaya in over 170 volumes, from the later Sarvāstivāda school, which was translated into Chinese in the Tang Dynasty by Master Yijing, or Paramārtha. This text is incomplete.
7. The Tibetan translation of the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya. This is a complete translation.
These vinaya scriptures are called “Long Vinayas” because they contain the complete Vinaya scriptures. The Pali Vinaya illustrates what identifies a Long Vinaya. It contains three sections: 1) Sutta-Vibhaṅga (Detailed Explanations), 2) The Khandhaka or Aggregates (The Chapters on Discipline and the Finer Points), and 3) the Parivāra (Supplementary Discourses).
1. The Sutta-Vibhaṅga explains the 250 precepts for bhikshus and 311 for bhikshunis in the Pātimokkha-Sutta (Skt: Pratimokṣa-Sūtra).. These are considered to be the words of the Buddha.
2. The Khandhaka is organized into 22 chapters that deal with the procedures and rules for the monastic community’s activities. For example, it includes ordination procedures, the fortnightly Uposatha ceremony for purification, the three-month rainy season retreat, and regulations on the use of robes, food, lodging, and medicine and so forth that are essential for the daily life of the monastic community.
3. The Parivāra is a supplementary appendix, containing many different aspects of the Vinaya that are not included in the detailed explanations or in the Khandhaka.
Because the first two parts are in general basically the same in all the vinaya texts of the various schools, they are probably earlier, whereas the Supplement section varies in all the schools and probably originated after the division into the eighteen schools. Thus, the first two parts, the early Vinaya texts, are the most important for researchers of Early Buddhism. They describe in great detail how the Buddha established the rules of the Vinaya and the procedures for the motions and activities of the Sangha. As such, they tell us about the daily life of the early Sangha and a little about contemporary society at that time. However, there are some differences between the schools, so there must have been additions and deletions in later times.
Japanese scholars define the “Long Vinaya” differently as only the first two sections—the Sutta- Vibhaṅga and the Khandhaka. According to this definition, there are five extant Vinayas which have complete texts of these two sections and count as “Long Vinaya”: the Sarvāstivāda-Vinaya, the Dharmaguptaka-Vinaya, the Mahāsāṃghika- Vinaya, the Mahīśāsaka-Vinaya, and the Mūlasarvāstivāda-Vinaya (which is preserved in Tibetan).
The original texts for the Vinaya- Piṭaka and the Sutta- Piṭaka, before the division into eighteen schools, no longer exist. The only way we have now to approximate their content is to research and compare the extant Vinaya and Sutta- Piṭaka and look for commonalities, the points where there is basically no dispute. Then we can say that these are parts of the original Vinaya- Piṭaka from the time before the split into the schools, from the time of Early Buddhism. There is a problem though: only a portion of these scriptures remain. Even were we to have the complete texts of all the schools, we would still not be able to say definitively what exactly the Buddha taught because these texts were compiled after the Buddha’s parinirvana. The best we can say is that they show what was held in common one or two centuries after the Buddha’s parinirvana, and during that time there could have been many changes.
This, explained the Karmapa, is the view of contemporary researchers. Their way of research and thinking is different from the traditional view. However, both their view and the traditional view have pros and cons:
If we were to discard the traditional ways of thinking and only use contemporary ways, we couldn’t do that because we have our own transmission, we have our own tradition, that comes from many hundreds and thousands of years. It contains a lot of great, valuable experiences, a lot of very valuable discernment and provenance. It’s not something that we can just throw away at the drop of a hat.
Nor is it right to stubbornly hold on to the old ways of thinking, without considering the new, dismissing the latter as the work of the maras. We need to use the old and new together in union.
Using diagrams, the Karmapa summarised his introduction to the Sutta-Pitaka and the Vinaya- Piṭaka.
A. The Pali Vinaya- Piṭaka has three parts.
i) The Sutta- Vibhaṅga, the detailed explanations of discipline. This has two parts: the Mahā- Vibhaṅga for the monks and the Bhikkhunī-Vibhaṅga for the nuns.
ii)The Khandhaka which has two main sections: the Mahā-Vagga, the great chapters, is about discipline and the Culla-Vagga deals with the finer points of discipline.
iii)The Parivārapātha: supplementary topics, which includes the points on the Vinaya that are not included in either of the first two.
B. The Pali Sutta- Piṭaka contains the five Nikāya
Dīgha-Nikāya (The Long Discourses);
Majjhima-Nikāya (Middle-Length Discourses);
Saṃyutta-Nikāya (Connected Discourses);
Aṅguttara-Nikāya (Numerical Discourses);
Khuddaka-Nikāya (The Minor Discourses).
C. The Four Āgamas : the Pali tradition in Chinese translation.
Dīrgha-Āgama (Long Discourses);
Madhyama-Āgama (Middle-length Discourses);
Saṃyukta-Āgama (Connected Discourses);
Ekottarika -Āgama ( Numerical Discourses).
The Long Discourses has 30 sutras and comes from the Dharmaguptaka tradition. It was translated into Chinese in the year 413 CE.
The Middle-length Discourses contains 221 sutras. It is from the Sarvāstivāda school and was translated in the year 398 CE.
The Connected Discourses contains 1,362 sutras, it is from the Sarvāstivāda school, and was translated into Chinese in the year 443 CE.
The Numerical Discourses contains 471 sutras. It isn’t clear which school it came from, but it was translated in 384 CE.
The Karmapa also reminded everyone of connections with Mahayana that he had mentioned in the previous teaching. The Chinese translation of the Connected Discourses includes a discussion of the dharmakaya, which is not found in the Pali Saṃyutta-Nikāya.
The Pali also has a fifth nikāya, the Supplementary Discourses, which has not been preserved in the Four Āgamas. However, some of these texts were translated into Chinese, and they are scattered throughout the Four Āgamas, though there is no discrete section for them. They include the Dhammapada and texts concerning the birth of the Buddha, events in his life and so forth.
A few of the sutras from the Four Āgamas have been translated into Tibetan, but there is no complete translation in Tibetan of any of the Four Āgamas.
The Question of Authenticity
If the Buddha had written down his teachings himself or dictated them, we would be able to say that the Early Buddhist scriptures are undisputed actual texts of the Buddha. But the situation in that era was that one heard the Buddha’s teachings in person or indirectly. They were transmitted orally from person to person and then had to be committed to memory through revision and recitation. From generation to generation, this was how the Buddha’s teachings were passed down. According to modern academics, the critical question then is:
When the Buddha taught the Dharma, were those people who first listened to the Dharma actually able to accurately remember his Dharma instructions completely, without forgetting any of them? Were they able to maintain them with mindfulness, hold them in their brains…were they able to remember his Dharma instructions in full and were they able to actually transmit them to the next generation?
In response to these questions, the Karmapa asserted that it was a matter of perspective. It was wrong to apply today’s experiences to those who lived in previous generations. It was true that a group of people listening to a discussion of profound philosophical issues would have different levels of understanding, different capacities, different receptivity and different resistance. He cited a modern-day example—a professor lecturing on a profound philosophical topic at a university or educational institution. If, at the end, audience members were asked to repeat what they had heard, it would be very difficult for them to do so. Most people would have probably forgotten half of what had been said, or even most of it! They’d remember a few things, but they wouldn’t be able to remember everything. For this reason, it would be difficult to memorise the points made in a lecture, and then to repeat them word-for-word to another person. That is the position that modern academics take when researching Buddhist scriptures.
However, traditionally, there is an alternative view. In India, not just at the time of the Buddha but for hundreds of years, perhaps thousands of years before, there was a very strong tradition of memorising and they had developed different methods and techniques for this.
They were well-trained in memorisation and probably had a greater capacity for memorisation than we have and very clear memories. I think we can prove this. If you consider our generation, when we were children, our parents and older people were able to tell us many stories and histories, and they had very clear memories…they would say “On this month and this day, I went to this place and did this thing.” They would explain it as if they were watching a film. These old people had very little education, there were no schools for them to go to, and many couldn’t even read well, but they had very clear memories.
These days, with technological advances, our memories have become much worse. In the past people would have to memorise lots of phone numbers; these days numbers are stored in the phone and we even forget our own number and have to look it up!
In the Buddhist tradition there are also people with the dhāraṇī of perfect memory—because of their meditation, their minds have become very peaceful, and because of this, they have a special intelligence and memory in particular.
In any case, from the time of the Buddha, through the period of Early Buddhism, the Buddhist teachings were primarily transmitted by memorisation and orally. During this period, they naturally underwent many changes such as minor changes in wording. Some of these changes may also have been intentional, either additions or deletions.
Another thing that we need to consider is that the Buddhist scriptures were scrutinised and determined during the great councils. All the great Arhats and great masters would meet, analyse the material and reach agreement on which were Buddhist scriptures and what category they belonged to.
Something else to take into account is that the Vinaya-Piṭaka and Sūtra-Piṭaka that we have today are the product of the councils, but not all the Arhats came to the councils, and those not there may have held authentic transmissions that they passed down. These would not have been included in the texts agreed at the councils. Since there may have been words of the Buddha that were not included in the Northern and Southern transmissions of Buddhism, it is not as straightforward as saying that topics which accord with the extant Vinaya-Piṭaka or Sūtra-Piṭaka are words of the Buddha and those which do not accord are not. There may also be actual words of the Buddha not preserved in these transmissions.
This gives us a little bit of hope for the Vajrayana, because we currently say that the compilers of the Vajrayana were very different. We say that the Śrāvaka (Pali. Sāvaka) [ed. The term means ‘hearers’ and is a synonym for the Buddha’s disciples], the compilers of the Śrāvaka scriptures did not compile the Mahayana or the Vajrayana, and that the compilers and councils for the Mahayana and the Vajrayana were in different places… and so there’s no fault for us to assert that particular points in the Chinese and the Tibetan Buddhist teachings are the thought of the Buddha…If we think about the overall topic and meaning of the teachings, if it fits with the thought of the Northern and Southern transmissions, if it is harmonious with that thought, then we can say that this is the thought of the Buddha, there’s no problem.
However, there might be a difficulty if the Northern and Southern transmissions are regarded as the essence and only source of the Buddha’s thought and particular points in the Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist tradition do not fit those parameters. But that was no reason to label them as not the teachings of the Buddha and discard them. The Karmapa went on to say that examining the differences between the views presented in the Northern and Southern transmissions and that in other scriptures can give us a fuller picture of the Buddhist teachings, and a new perspective on Mahayana and Vajrayana.
He raised a further question: Was anything left out of the scriptures of Early Buddhism?
In terms of omissions or inadequacies, the Vinaya-Piṭaka and the Sutta-Piṭaka were primarily for those Sangha members who had already gone forth and become monastics, and the transmission was passed down primarily through monastic practitioners, hence the importance and content of the Vinaya-Piṭaka.
Another important point to consider is that although the sutras and the Four Āgamas and so forth contain several topics that were intended for lay practitioners, most were focused on the needs of the monastic community. In actuality, we know from the scriptures that there were many faithful lay people who wanted to receive Dharma teachings and that the Buddha had a great desire to teach them the Dharma. The Dharma was not restricted just to monks and nuns. Unfortunately, most parts of the sutras are meant specifically for monastics and only a small part is related to or intended for lay practitioners. The reason for this is that from the end of the period of Early Buddhism and in particular during the time of Nikāya Buddhism, monastic practices and study were considered extremely important. It seems that even the public were educated on vinaya discipline, study and practice. Consequently, many of the Dharma teachings the Buddha gave to lay people were not included in the collection of sutras that we have. Only a few have been preserved, so this might be considered an omission. The Karmapa suggested that this was a weakness.
The extant scriptures of Early Buddhism contain teachings which emphasise transcending the world, renunciation, separating yourself from society, going forth from home to homelessness, giving up on this life, a bhikshu is like a beggar. This makes it very difficult for lay people to practise the Dharma as it is presented. They have duties as a householder and responsibilities such as caring for their children or their parents. They can’t just walk away. Reflecting on this, the Karmapa concluded:
The Buddha definitely gave many different Dharma teachings that are beneficial for laymen and women, but they haven’t been preserved. There is quite a bit about the topics of going forth and becoming a monastic, but the things that were appropriate for laypeople and would benefit them were not preserved as well. This creates some difficulties in terms of society, for Buddhism to spread in society, and for Buddhism to offer something for laypeople to practice.
Although the extant Vinaya and Sutra scriptures come from the time of the eighteen schools, their basic structures are the same in terms of organisation and content. This shows that all the schools descended from a single original source. If this were not the case, there would not be such harmony in thought and form and content between the texts of the different schools. There must have been a unified Buddhist thought before the split and this is what is termed Early Buddhism or original Buddhism.
The “Nine Branches of the Scriptures” and the “Twelve Branches of the Scriptures.”
When we look at ancient Buddhist scriptures. they can be divided into nine categories, which are called the “Nine Branches of the Scriptures” (Pali: Navaṅga-sāsana, Skt: Navāṅga-śāsana). Alternatively, they can be grouped into twelve categories, called the “Twelve Branches of the Scriptures” (Skt: Dvādaśāṅga-dharma-pravacana). The Karmapa illustrated these with diagrams and said the Tibetan tradition follows the twelve branches. The nine branches are found in the twelve branches and usually include:
1. Sutras, 2. Verses in Review, 3. Prophecies, 4. Verses 5. Inspired Verses, 6. Chronicles, 7. Jataka tales, 8. Extensive Teachings, and 9. Narrations of Marvels.
However, there are many variations of the nine branches, according to different choices from the twelve branches. Some exclude the three categories of Life Stories, Jataka Tales, and Teachings. Others exclude Inspired Verses, Life Stories, and Teachings.
The “Twelve Branches of the Scriptures” in detail.
- The Sutras (Skt. sūtra). The word sūtra refers to the actual words taught by the Buddha in prose not in verse. Later, when people began to speak about the “basket of the sutras” it became the general term to all the sutras of the Buddha.
- Verses in Review, geya (songs) in Sanskrit. Initially this referred to the Buddha’s teachings in verse. Later, it referred to things said concisely which needed further clarification. In the Śrāvaka Levels, it is said to refer to verses said at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of a passage in prose. Sutras that taught the expedient meaning were also placed in this category.
- Prophecies (Skt. vyākaraṇa). Originally the term was used for detailed explanations of the sutras, verses in review, etc., and analyses in the form of question and answer about the meaning of the Dharma. Later it also referred to predictions concerning the future lives of the Buddha’s disciples. In the Śrāvaka Levels, it primarily refers to predictions of where disciples would take rebirth after they died, but it also is used for sutras that teach the definitive meaning.
- Verses (Skt. gāthā) refers to the words of the Buddha recorded solely in verse. These are verses based on the sutras and Verses in Review in order to facilitate memorisation. Usually a stanza or verse is four lines long but not necessarily in this context, where verses were between two lines to six lines in length such as:
Until you reach the undefiled,
Do not uncross your legs.
- Inspired Verses (Skt. udāna). These are dharma verses primarily spoken in rejoicing or because the Buddha was pleased. They are spontaneous teachings rather than a response to a request for a teaching. In the Śrāvaka Levels, it is said that this means verses spoken without mentioning the name or caste of the person who requested them in order for the Dharma to remain long into the future.
- Chronicles (Skt. itivṛttaka “thus it happened” or ityuktaka, “thus it was said”). These are collections of the Buddha’s teachings that merely say “Thus it was said” without indicating for whom it was said, why, or where it was said. In other words, “I heard this from the Buddha”. They are compiled into one collection, collected into an anthology. They are also collections of the qualities of the Buddha or his disciples in their past lives, as they were taught. In the Śrāvaka Levels it is understood in three different ways. One way is that it means Dharma teachings related to the events of his disciples when they established connections with other sentient beings during a previous lifetime, while they were training on the path.
- Jataka Tales (Skt. Jātaka). These teach the qualities, causes, and conditions of the past and present lives of the Buddha and his disciples. The difference between a jataka and a chronicle is that the chronicles primarily discuss previous lives, while the Jataka tales primarily speak about the constant relationship of cause and result between past lives and the present. “In a past life, I did this, and so forth, because of this reason, in this lifetime, this result occurred.” In the Śrāvaka Levels, the term is said to mean the teachings of the many previous lives in which the Bodhisattva practiced the Bodhisattva conduct and underwent hardships.
- Extensive Teachings (Skt.Vaipulya). This probably means the explanations of the meaning of the vast and profound Dharma. The Prophecies teach classifications and question and answers about Dharma, whereas the extensive teachings give longer classifications, more extensive questions and answers, commentaries on profound points of dharma, and more systematic presentations. Thus, they are called “extensive teachings”, not “prophecies”.
In the Southern Transmission, the extensive teachings are called in Pali vedalla . There is a difference in meaning. “Extensive Teachings” refers to the long classifications and extensive explanations, whereas vedalla refers to long questions and answers. So, there is a difference in emphasis, but the two are basically the same in terms of examining the profound Dharma in depth. In this sense, the Mahayana sutras which are so profound, long and extensive would be included within this category, as would be the Vajrayana.
The Śrāvaka Levels say that this term means the extensive teachings of the path of the bodhisattva that the Buddha taught in detail in order for beings to achieve the level of Buddhahood.
- Narrations of Marvels (Skt. Adbhūtadharma). This is also called “Unprecedented Dharma” because it speaks about the inconceivable aspects of the Buddha and his disciples; their marvelous qualities and miraculous deeds. The extensive teachings focus on the meaning of the profound and vast Dharma, the marvellous and miraculous Dharma, whereas the Narrations of Marvels speak about the qualities and deeds of individuals that are inconceivable. The great conduct and the great results of the Mahayana teachings, for example the deeds of a bodhisattva that are difficult to do, would be included in this category.
The Śrāvaka Levels say that this means the common and superior qualities and deeds of the Buddha and his bhikshus and bhikshunis and lay and novice disciples, the qualities that make them superior to others.
- Background Stories (Skt. nidāna). In a strict sense, this means teachings on the circumstances—the background stories— which led to the establishment of the rules and procedures in the Vinaya. In a broader sense, it can mean the circumstances that led to meeting the Buddha and hearing the Dharma, or for the Buddha to teach Dharma and tame sentient beings.
In the Śrāvaka Levels, it is said to mean the events or background stories behind the Buddha making the rules of the Vinaya that clearly state the name, caste, and so forth of the questioner and the person or persons involved.
- Life Stories ( Skt.avadāna): The strict meaning is stories that illustrate the circumstances described above as background stories, but that make a particular point or have a particular meaning, so they are used to inspire others with examples and analogies. It then changed to mean all explanations of the Dharma with clear examples. Background stories and life stories both initially were included in the Sūtra-Piṭaka, but there were also many in the Vinaya-Pitaka, so later they were all collated in the Vinaya-Piṭaka. In the Śrāvaka Levels, it is said to mean teachings that are taught through examples in order that the meaning can be clearly understood. There is a difference here in translation between the Chinese and the Tibetan. The Chinese uses the term “example” but in Tibetan the term is translated as “an account of realisation”. There is no real contradiction, both refer to an actual history as an example of what you need to know.
- Teachings (Skt. Upadeśa). This refers to the Buddha’s extensive teachings on the meaning of the Dharma through presentations and analyses. The explanations later came to be called mātṛtka. Mātṛka and abhidharma are similar in general, but there are differences. The former is primarily detailed explanations and analyses of the points of the Dharma, whereas the latter is more about determining the characteristics and forms of dharmas. In the Śrāvaka Levels, it is said to mean treatises that teach the profound points of the sutras or the abhidharma that explain the thought of the sutras. It includes both the Buddha’s words— true words of the Buddha himself that analyse and describe the finer meaning of the teachings of the Dharma —and also words spoken by his disciples either with the Buddha’s blessing or his permission. The former are included in the Sūtra-Piṭaka whereas the latter are considered treatises. Here it is primarily understood as the Buddha’s words, but the words of the disciples spoken through the Buddha’s blessings or with his permission may also be included.
The Karmapa concluded the session with an overview of chronology.
He explained that it is still not clearly known whether the nine or twelve branches of scripture or the Four Āgamas and the Five Nikāyas are older. Many researchers say that the division of the scriptures into the nine and twelve branches predate the Four Āgamas and the Five Nikāyas, and preserve more aspects of the Early Buddhism. However, researchers also believe that the Jataka Tales were produced later, so it’s not possible to claim that all of the nine or twelve branches are necessarily earlier. A method for establishing the chronology would be to compare the branches with the Minor Discourses of the Five Nikāyas and the fragmentary teachings and separate sutras of the Four Āgamas.
With regards to the branches, academics generally believe that the Nine Branches predate the Twelve Branches, though there is no clear evidence.
During the initial compilation of scriptures, the Sutras and the Verses were the foundation, and the Prophecies were added to form them. Both the Verses and Inspired Verses are easy to understand and probably not separate; they probably spread independently. Particularly, the Dhammapada, because it was so well-known, became an independent category. Likewise, among the Twelve Branches, the four categories of the Chronicles, Jataka Tales, Extensive Teachings, and Narrations of Marvels contain more verses than the sutras, so they are included in the Long Discourses, the Middle-Length Discourses, and the Numerical Discourses. This is the correlation between the Nine Branches of Scripture and the Four Āgamas.
When you add the three categories of Background Stories, Life stories, and Prophecies to the Nine Branches of Scripture, it becomes the Twelve Branches. Most scholars hold that the Background Stories, Life Stories, and Prophecies appeared later, but that is not unilaterally the case.
The Background Stories and Life Stories are related to the circumstances for setting the precepts of the Vinaya, so they must have also developed on the side when the Prātimokṣa and Chapters on Discipline were compiled. They had to come together with them. The reason is that they give the context for making the rules, so it would not be right to say they were developed later. During its initial compilation, the Vinaya-Piṭaka only included the Prātimokṣa-Sūtra and the Vibhaṅga, so the Background Stories and Life Stories were included in the Sūtra-Piṭaka. Later, when the full Vinaya-Piṭaka had been compiled, the Background Stories and Life Stories were both inserted at the appropriate places in the Vinaya text. Consequently, many people have misunderstood and considered them to be later additions, not realizing that previously they had been included in the Sūtra-Piṭaka.
The Upadeśa (Teachings) must also have appeared during the original compilation at the time of the First Council, but they only became prominent later when the Buddha’s Śrāvaka disciples gave more extensive explanations of the sutras and so they became the Abhidharma-Pitaka. This does not mean that they were later additions. They must have been present from the time of the original compilation.
