The Udana 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 Buddhism. 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...

. The title might be translated "inspired utterances". The book comprises 80 such utterances, most in verse, each preceded by a narrative giving the context in which the Buddha utters it.

The famous story of the Blind men and an elephant

Blind Men and an Elephant

The story of the blind men and an elephant originated in India from where it is widely diffused. It has been used to illustrate a range of truths and fallacies...

 appears in Udana, under Tittha Sutta (Ud. 6.4).

Structure of the Udana

The Udana is composed of eight chapters (vagga) of ten discourses each. The chapter titles are:

1. Bodhivagga (Awakening chapter)
2. Mucalindavagga (King Mucalinda chapter)
3. Nandavagga (Ven. Nanda chapter)
4. Meghiyavagga (Ven. Meghiya chapter)
5. (Lay Follower Sona chapter)
6. Jaccandhavagga (Blind From Birth chapter)
7. Cullavagga (Minor chapter)
8. (Pataligamiya chapter)

Each discourse includes a prose portion followed by a verse. At the end of each prose section, as prelude to the verse, the following formulaic text is included:

Then, on realizing the significance of that, the Blessed One on that occasion exclaimed:

It is from such "exclamations" () that the collection derives its name.

Dating of text

Some scholars consider this one of the earliest of all Buddhist scriptures, while others consider it somewhat later.

Hinuber identifies this type of discourse (although not necessarily the existing collection itself) as being part of the pre-canonical (Pali for "nine-fold") which classified discourses according to their form and style, such as geyya (mixed prose and verse), gāthā (four-lined couplets), udāna (utterances) and jātaka (birth story).

Relationship to other sacred texts

Within Buddhist literature, about a fourth of the Udana's prose sections correspond to text elsewhere in the Pali Canon, particularly in the Vinaya

Vinaya

The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...

. In addition, in regards to Tibetan Buddhist

Tibetan Buddhism

Tibetan Buddhism is the body of Buddhist religious doctrine and institutions characteristic of Tibet and certain regions of the Himalayas, including northern Nepal, Bhutan, and India . It is the state religion of Bhutan...

 literature, Hinuber suggests that the Udana formed the original core of the Sanskrit Udānavarga

Udanavarga

The Udnavarga is an early Buddhist collection of topically organized chapters of aphoristic verses or "utterances" attributed to the Buddha and his disciples. While not part of the Pali Canon, the Udnavarga has many chapter titles, verses and an overall format similar to those found in the Pali...

, to which verses from the Dhammapada

Dhammapada

The Dhammapada is a versified Buddhist scripture traditionally ascribed to the Buddha himself. It is one of the best-known texts from the Theravada canon....

 were added.

In terms of non-Buddhist texts, some Udana concepts can be found in the Vedantic

Vedanta

Vedānta was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a morphophonological form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedic hymns." It is also speculated that "Vedānta" means "the purpose or goal...

 Upanishad

Upanishad

The Upanishads are philosophical texts considered to be an early source of Hindu religion. More than 200 are known, of which the first dozen or so, the oldest and most important, are variously referred to as the principal, main or old Upanishads...

s and in Jain texts.

Translations

• Tr Major-General D. M. Strong, 1902
• "Verses of uplift", in Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon, volume II, tr F. L. Woodward, 1935, Pali Text Society
  Pali Text Society
  The Pali Text Society was founded in 1881 by T.W. Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pali texts".Pali is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism is preserved...
  
  http://www.palitext.com, Bristol
• Tr John D. Ireland, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1990; later reprinted in 1 volume with his translation of the Itivuttaka
  Itivuttaka
  The Itivuttaka is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism and is attributed to Khujjuttara's recollection of Buddha's discourses. It is included there in the Sutta Pitaka's Khuddaka Nikaya. It comprises 112 short teachings ascribed in the text to the Buddha, each...
  
  
• Tr Peter Masefield, 1994, Pali Text Society, Bristol; the PTS's preferred translation; its declared aim is to translate in accordance with the commentary's interpretation
• Bilingual Pali-English study edition, 2010 Theravada Tipitaka Presshttp://books.nibbanam.com

Sources

• Hinüber, Oskar von (2000). A Handbook of Pāli Literature. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3-11-016738-7.
• Nakamura (1980). Indian Buddhism. Japan; reprinted Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi
• Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text Society's Pali–English Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.
• Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project (SLTP) (n.d.). (Ud. 6-4, in Pali). Retrieved 2007-10-12 from "MettaNet" at http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/5Khuddaka-Nikaya/03Udana/06-Jaccandhavaggo-p1.html#six4.
• Thanissaro Bhikkhu
  Thanissaro Bhikkhu
  Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, also known as Ajaan Geoff, is an American Buddhist monk of the Dhammayut Order , Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He is currently the abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is a notably skilled and prolific translator of the Pāli Canon...
  
   (trans.) (1994). Tittha Sutta: Various Sectarians (1) (Ud. 6.4, in English)). Retrieved 2007-10-12 from "Access to Insight" at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/ud/ud.6.04.than.html.

External links

• The Udâna Translated from the Pali by Dawsonne Melanchthon Strong
• Udana at Access to Insight; selections from translations by Ireland and Thanissaro
  Thanissaro Bhikkhu
  Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu, also known as Ajaan Geoff, is an American Buddhist monk of the Dhammayut Order , Thai forest kammatthana tradition. He is currently the abbot of Metta Forest Monastery in San Diego County. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu is a notably skilled and prolific translator of the Pāli Canon...
  
  .
• Udana. Pali - English a new version of the Udana in a bi-lingual edition.