The Niddesa is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pali Canon

Pāli Canon

The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and one of the first to be written down...

 of Theravada

Theravada

Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...

 Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

. It is included there in the Sutta Pitaka

Sutta Pitaka

The Sutta Pitaka is the second of the three divisions of the Tipitaka or Pali Canon, the Pali collection of Buddhist writings, the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism...

's Khuddaka Nikaya

Khuddaka Nikaya

The Khuddaka Nikaya is the last of the five nikayas, or collections, in the Sutta Pitaka, which is one of the "three baskets" that compose the Pali Tipitaka, the scriptures of Theravada Buddhism...

. It is in the form of a commentary on parts of the Suttanipata. The tradition ascribes it to the Buddha's disciple Sariputta. It is divided into two parts:

• Maha Niddesa (mahā-) (abbrev., "Nidd I" or "Nd1"), commenting on the Atthaka Vagga ("Octet Chapter," Sn
  Sutta Nipata
  The Sutta Nipata is a Buddhist scripture, a sutta collection in the Khuddaka Nikaya, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. All its suttas consist largely of verse, though some also contain some prose. It is divided into five sections:...
  
   4);
• Culla or Cula Niddesa (abbrev., "Nidd II" or "Nd2"), commenting on the Parayana Vagga ("Way to the Far Shore Chapter,"Sn 5) and Khaggavisana Sutta ("Rhinoceros Horn Discourse," Sn 1.3).

This text is believed to have been most likely composed no later than the 1st c. BC.

Sources

• Hinüber, Oskar von (2000). A Handbook of Pāli Literature. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016738-7.
• Access to Insight: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/index.html

External links

• Link to a small excerpt from the Niddesa that has been translated into English:http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/nm/nm.2.04.olen.html

See also

• Atthakavagga and Parayanavagga
  Atthakavagga and Parayanavagga
  The ' and the Pārāyanavagga are two small collections of suttas within the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism. They are considered by modern scholars to be among the earliest existing Buddhist literature...
  
  
• Khaggavisana Sutta
• Sutta Nipata
  Sutta Nipata
  The Sutta Nipata is a Buddhist scripture, a sutta collection in the Khuddaka Nikaya, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. All its suttas consist largely of verse, though some also contain some prose. It is divided into five sections:...