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18-463: The nature of this book is a matter of some disagreement among scholars. The translator, supported by Professor George Bond of Northwestern University, holds it is a guide to those who understand the teaching in presenting it to others. However, A. K. Warder , Professor Emeritus of Sanskrit in the University of Toronto, maintains that it covers all aspects of interpretation, not just that. The text

36-681: A systematization of the Buddha's teachings. It is regarded as canonical by the Burmese Theravada tradition, but isn't included in other Theravada canons. The nature of the Nettipakarana was a matter of some disagreement among scholars. Initially, Western scholars classified it as a commentary, rather than as a canonical text. Further study and comparison with a closely related text, the Petakopadesa eventually revealed that it

54-510: Is an abridged version of an originally larger text. It describes a few of the methods of the Peṭaka and gives examples which roughly correspond to passages in the Peṭaka . Thus it appears that the Peṭakopadesa was circulating in different schools and in different versions. There are 8 sections as follows: However, the translator says this last title is a mistake for "moulding of the guidelines",

72-518: Is often connected to another para-canonical text, the Nettipakaraṇa . Oskar von Hinüber suggests that both of these texts originated from outside the Theravada tradition as handbooks on the interpretation of the sutras. According to the chapter colophons, the book was composed by the Buddha's disciple Kaccana (or Kaccayana). Scholars do not take this literally, though the translator mentions that

90-620: Is that it was primarily intended as a guide to interpreting and providing explanation of canonical texts, similar to the Petakopadesa , whose content it resembles. Verses in the Nettipakarana composed in a poetic meter unknown in Sri Lanka suggest a northern Indian origin for the text that predates the Christian era. It is one of the few post-canonical texts composed in Pāli that predates

108-636: The Peṭakopadesa … Thus both schools had a recension of this work, but differing in such details as this. …”. The passage in the Gaṇṭhipada is Suttante piṭakatthāya kataṭṭhakathā peṭakaṃ mahiṃsakānaṃ gantho. This book was regarded as canonical by the head of the Burmese sangha about two centuries ago. It is included in the inscriptions of the Canon approved by the Burmese Fifth Council and in

126-466: The Sutta Pitaka . In some cases, terms are dealt with in a different order or using different terminology from that presented in previous chapters. A colophon at the end of the text again attributes it to Mahākaccāna. The Sri Lankan scholar Dhammapala wrote a commentary on this text in the fifth century. An English translation titled The Guide by Bhikkhu Nanamoli was published in 1962 by

144-412: The hāras and nayas of the previous section along with 12 padas ('terms'), of which six refer to linguistic forms and six to meaning and describes their relations. The Patiniddesavāra forms the main body of the text and is itself divided into three parts. Each section illustrates technical terms from previous sections by quoting the verses that contain them and illustrating them with quotations from

162-547: The Nettipakarana is not a continuation of the Petakopadesa, but a rewritten version that eliminates unimportant content and provides improved and clarified versions of material shared by both sources. Dhammapala composed a commentary on the Nettipakarana, the Nettipakarana-atthakatha, but not the Petakopadesa, a fact that K.R. Norman attributes to the Nettipakarana superseding the older text. Both

180-586: The Nettipakarana is unusual for being a text drawn from beyond the Theravada tradition that influenced the composition of the definitive commentaries composed by Buddhaghosa . The Nettipakarana was regarded as canonical by the head of the Burmese sangha around two centuries ago, and included in the Khuddaka Nikaya . It is included in the Burmese Phayre manuscript of the Canon, dated 1841/2,

198-792: The inscriptions of the Canon approved by the Burmese Fifth Council , the 1956 printed edition of the Sixth Council , the new transcript of the Council text being produced under the patronage of the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand and the Sinhalese Buddha Jayanti edition of the Canon. A recent Burmese teacher has not regarded it as canonical. The Nettipakarana is divided into two divisions (vāra): The Uddesavāra enumerates three separate categories (Pali terms with Nanamoli's translations): The Niddesavāra repeats

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216-693: The methods may go back to him. Warder, in his examination of the Paṭisambhidāmagga Gaṇṭhipada in the Introduction to the Path of Discrimination , notes: “The Gaṇṭhipada (p. 106), however, provides the positive information that this Peṭaka is a book of the Mahiṃsāsakas, an aṭṭhakathā ("commentary") made for the purpose of the Suttantapiṭaka . This implies that it was a work similar to

234-649: The printed edition of the Sixth Council text. Stefano Zacchetti revealed that in the Chinese Canon there is a text called Yin chi rujing , translated in the 3d century, which corresponds to most of the sixth chapter of the Pali Peṭakopadesa . Then there is another Chinese text, the Da zhidu lun , which mentions the Peṭaka as a text circulating in South India (presumably Kāñcipura and Sri Lanka) and that it

252-545: The text's colophon, introductory verses, and the commentary attributed to Dhammapala . The text's colophon says he composed the book, that it was approved by the Buddha and that it was recited at the First Council . Scholars do not take this literally, but the translator admits the methods may go back to him. The translator holds that the book is a revised edition of the Petakopadesa , though this has been questioned by Professor von Hinüber. K.R. Norman concludes that

270-402: The title given at the end. Pitaka-Disclosure , tr. Nanamoli Bhikkhu , 1964, Pali Text Society [1] , Bristol Nettipakara%E1%B9%87a The Nettipakaraṇa ( Pali , also called Nettippakarana , abbreviated Netti ) is a Buddhist scripture, sometimes included in the Khuddaka Nikaya of Theravada Buddhism's Pali Canon . The main theme of this text is Buddhist Hermeneutics through

288-523: The use of āryā meter and summary verses suggest a North Indian origin for the text, possibly Ujjain , where Buddhist tradition connects the name Mahākaccāna to Avanti , the region suggested as the origin of the Pāli texts brought to Sri Lanka . The text contains quotations from sources outside the Theravada canon, some of which have been traced to texts from the Mulasarvastivada canon. Other quotations are as yet unidentified, but suggest that

306-426: The work of Buddhaghosa , who quotes from it and uses its methods and technical terms in his own commentaries. The structure of the text- where the later verses are constructed as commentaries on a summary verse- became popular in the first centuries CE, while the āryā meter used for its verses was already being used for such verses around 150 BCE. The Nettipakarana is ascribed to the Buddha's disciple Kaccana by

324-403: Was a guide to interpretation and the composition of definitive commentaries. Its translator, supported by Professor George Bond of Northwestern University, described it is a guide to help those who already understand the teaching present it to others. However, A. K. Warder disagreed, maintaining that it covers all aspects of interpretation, not just this. Consensus among contemporary scholars

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