The Linked Discourses: the blueprint for Buddhist philosophy

The Saṁyutta Nikāya is the third of the four main divisions in the Sutta Piṭaka of the Pali Canon (tipiṭaka). It is translated here as Linked Discourses, and has been previously translated as the Connected Discourses or the Kindred Sayings. As the title suggests, its discourses are grouped thematically. These thematic groups of texts are called saṁyuttas, and the Saṁyutta Nikāya is the collection of such saṁyuttas.

The Saṁyutta Nikāya consists of 56 saṁyuttas collected in five large "books" (vagga), containing over a thousand discourses. The Mahāsaṅgīti text as used on SuttaCentral contains 2837 discourses; but the total number is somewhat arbitrary, as it depends on how the abbreviated texts are expanded, which differs in different editions. This variation, however, applies only to the way the texts are counted and does not affect the content, which is virtually identical in every edition.

It is in the Saṁyutta Nikāya that we find the core doctrines that have formed the basis for all subsequent Buddhist philosophy. It is largely structured around major doctrinal sections that correspond with the template of the four noble truths.

Suffering

: Aggregates (SN 22); six sense fields (SN 35).

The origin of suffering

: Dependent origination (SN 12)

The cessation of suffering

: Dependent cessation (SN 12); the unconditioned (SN 43).

The practice that leads to the end of suffering

: The chapters of the final book, the Mahāvagga (SN 45--54).

The four noble truths themselves are treated in the final chapter, the Sacca Saṁyutta (SN 56).

Not all the saṁyuttas fit so easily into this scheme. There are many minor saṁyuttas, which are sometimes connected with a major saṁyutta, and sometimes not. In addition, the first book, the Sagāthāvagga, is not organized by subject. Rather, the thematic linking here is the type of person involved in the discourse. These texts are also unified in literary form; they are in mixed prose and verse.

This collection has a full parallel in the Saṁyuktāgama (SA) of the Sarvāstivāda school in Chinese translation. In addition, there are two partial collections in Chinese (SA-2 and SA-3) as well as several miscellaneous or fragmentary texts in Chinese, Sanskrit, and Tibetan. Much of the organizational structure of SN is shared with SA, suggesting that this structure preceded the split between these two collections.