The Numerical Discourses

A Reader’s Guide to the
Chinese Ekottarika Āgama

The Book of Ones

Summary

The Chinese translation of the Ekottarika Āgama (EĀ) doesn’t contain headings for the numerical divisions that we find in the Aṅguttara Nikāya (AN), but we can discern that it was organized in the same way. The sūtras were arranged by the number of items in their main subject, which was usually a list. A “Book of Ones” through “Book of Elevens” is discernible, though there were many sūtras inserted into the collection that didn’t fit the original rationale.

The Book of Ones spans Chapters 2-14 and consists of 307 sūtras when we count the abbreviated sūtras in Chapters 4-7 (each of which is actually a group of chapters). These four chapters contain lists of prominent disciples similar to what we find at AN 1.188-267. Counting them is a little misleading, however, because there were many more disciples listed than is found in AN.

The table below breaks the count down by chapter.

This is about half the sūtra count found in AN, which has 31 chapters and 627 suttas in its Book of Ones. If we disregard the list of disciples, this Book of Ones has only 87 sūtras compared to 547 suttas in AN, making it only a sixth of the size of the Theravāda Book of Ones.

This is a pattern that will hold throughout the collection: AN is much larger than this version of EĀ. Despite this size difference, EĀ and AN have broad similarities in both content and motif, as we shall see as we summarize the individual chapters. This points to the existence of an ancestor collection, or at least a shared pool of older sūtras that both traditions have collected together in similar ways.

One difference that becomes apparent is that the chapter headings in EĀ are often not representative of a chapter’s contents. Rather, the chapter heading is usually the title of the first sūtra in the chapter. The first sūtra often appears to be an insertion that doesn’t match the theme of the chapter as a whole. The result is that these headings obscure the topics covered in each chapter.

Chapter 12 is a good example of this. It’s heading is “The Single-Entry Path,” which is the title of the first sūtra on the four abodes of mindfulness, but the remainder of the chapter doesn’t cover that subject. Instead, most of the sūtras that follow serve as warnings against the danger of moral corruption of the religious life.

Another difference between EĀ and AN that’s noticable is that EĀ is in a greater state of disarray. While AN more neatly collects topics and motifs together into chapters, EĀ’s sūtras are more scattered and disorganized. The scattering is not complete, however. On close inspection, chapter headings sometimes appear to have been moved when new sūtras were inserted, causing the themes of the original chapters to straddle between existing chapters.

A good example of this is Chapter 12 and 13. The uddāna verse at the end of Chapter 13 references ten sūtras found in both chapters, and it skips a few sūtras in between. This makes it appear that one or two chapters were rearranged when a handful of texts were added.

It seems likely that some of this disarray occurred after EĀ was translated to Chinese. Historical sources in China suggest that the initial translation was revised at least once, and that more than one recension circulated for quite some time. Be that as it may, many of the apparent insertions were present before it was translated, if the surviving uddāna verses are accurate. Thus, this version of EĀ that we have today is not in the best of shape, having passed through many centuries of sometimes uninterested curation to reach us. It nonetheless provides us with valuable insights about the development and diversity that existed in early-to-middle period Buddhism.

Chapter 2-3: The Ten Recollections

These two chapters consist of twenty sūtras, each of which is dedicated to one of the ten recollections. Chapter 2’s ten sūtras use a common template to introduction each recollection only by name. Chapter 3’s ten sūtras use a very similar template to present a definition of each recollection.

These chapters are a good example of a common way the Book of Ones was populated with sūtras: A list was divided into its individual items, each of which was used to create a sūtra. This same method occurs in AN in a number of instances including this one. AN 1 also has a chapter that uses the ten recollections to create a set of ten suttas (AN 1.296-305).

This list of ten recollections follows a meaningful order: the three jewels (Buddha, Dharma, and Saṅgha), virtuous practices (precepts, generosity, and gods), and meditative practices (calming, mindfulness of breathing, mindfulness of the body, and contemplation of mortality). This could be viewed as three phases of Buddhist practice, moving from development of faith to virtuous behavior and meditative practice. In general, however, the commentary on these ten recollections in Chapter 3 takes the form of visualization exercises, indicating that the ten recollections formed the outline of a meditative program.

Chapter 4-7: The Four Assemblies

Each of these chapters is a group of chapters dedicated to praising disciples belonging to one of the four assemblies. Chapter 4 consists of ten chapters praising a hundred monks. Chapter 5 consists of five chapters praising fifty nuns. Chapter 6 consists of four chapters praising forty laymen. Chapter 7 consists of three chapters praising thirty laywomen.

As such, this section of EĀ is remarkably similar to the parallel section in AN found at AN 1.188-267. In fact, the abbreviated format found in AN is replicated here in EĀ despite the fact that EĀ doesn’t use this format elsewhere that drops the traditional intros and outros of the oral tradition sūtras. This suggests that it must be a fairly old part of the Book of Ones. The major departure is that this part of EĀ is much larger than we find in AN, consisting of 220 passages vs. AN’s 80 passages.

Chapter 8: Asura

This chapter gets its title from the first sūtra, which is a short mythological description of asuras. Here, asuras are described as the largest of beings, standing 84,000 yojanas tall, making it reasonable to call them titans. The Buddha describes how an asura sometimes menaces the sun and moon, being so large that it can physically reach them. However, asuras can’t actually grab them but only make the sun and moon temporarily grow dim. This story, by the way, would appear to be a mythological explanation for lunar and solar eclipses. The Buddha employs it as an anology for Māra harassing and menancing his disciples but lacking the power to harm them.

The remainder of Chapter 8 is generally parallel to the One Person chapter of AN at AN 1.170-187. This type of sūtra extols the virtues of the Buddha by saying he is the only person to arise in the world possessing them. A tenth “one person” sūtra occurs at the end of Chapter 10, which might have been displaced when the Asura Sūtra was inserted here.

Chapter 9: The Only Son

This chapter consists of five pairs of sūtras, beginning with its namesake, the Only Son Sūtra, which is paired with an Only Daughter Sūtra (cf. SN 17.23-24). In both, a laywoman encourages her only son or only daughter to emulate the best of the Buddha’s lay and renunciate disciples. The next pair of sūtras express how quickly the mind moves from one thing to the next, making it difficult to control (cf. SN 12.61 for a parallel of the monkey analogy). The third pair of sūtras express how the Buddha could judge a person’s fate in the afterlife by examining their mind (cf. AN 1.43-44 and Iti 20-21). The next pair of sūtras express how addicting the opposite sex’s form can be to a man or a woman (cf. AN 1.1-10). The last pair of sūtras express how distraction leads to the five hindrances and focused thinking does not (cf. AN 1.11-20).

Chapter 10: The Guarded Mind

This chapter begins with a pair of sūtras roughly parallel with Iti 23, and which feature an Itivuttaka format here as well. They indicate that guarding the mind and being careful in one’s practice are key to reaching nirvāṇa.

The next four sūtras shift to a theme of generosity, a couple including encounters with the layman Anāthapiṇḍada. This group of sūtras also sometimes features an underlying bodhisattva practice theme without explicitly mentioning it, perhaps being inspired by Jātaka or Avadāna literature. The first says that generosity achieves the Buddha path. The second features Anāthapiṇḍada, whom the Buddha declares to be the best at giving. The third follows up on the second sūtra, and provides some interpretation of the saying, “All sentient beings rely on food to survive.” Anāthapiṇḍada cites it as his thought when he provides alms to all living things, even wild birds. In the fourth sūtra, the Buddha extols the rewards of even small acts of generosity, such as giving away leftover food (cf. Iti 26).

The next pair of sūtras encourage the audience to cultivate merits and not to avoid them. In the first, the Buddha recounts how he had various past lives as wheel-turning kings and gods as a result of the merits he had cultivated (cf. Iti 22 and AN 7.62). The next sūtra says that cultivating merits makes a disciple immune to Māra’s influence.

The ninth sūtra in this chapter may actually be two or three sūtras that have been abbreviated. Each of them is a “cultivate one thing” sūtra on what leads to a bad destiny, a good destiny, and to nirvāṇa, respectively.

The last sūtra in this chapter is a “one person” sūtra that appears to have originally belonged to Chapter 8.

Chapter 11: The Non-Returner

This chapter begins with four briefs sūtras on things to cease in order to become a non-returner, which are parallel to Iti 1-4. However, the fourth sūtra here identifies stinginess rather than anger (P. kodha) as the fourth thing to cease after the three basic defilements of greed, hate, and delusion.

Next is a pair of sūtras on how detrimental it is to have an undeveloped mind, whereas a developed mind brings good results.

The next four sūtras begin a new theme that will continue in Chapters 12 and 13. This theme is the danger of moral corruption for an ascetic caused by greed. In the first pair of sūtras, the Buddha relates how he has witnessed greed for gifts or wealth cause monks in his assembly to become dishonest (cf. SN 17.11-20). The second pair of sūtras continue this theme, using Devadatta’s corruption as a specific example (cf. SN 17.31-36).

Chapter 12: The Single-Entry Path

The theme that began at the end of Chapter 11 is interrupted by the insertion of a sūtra on the four abodes of mindfulness that’s clearly parallel to MN 10 and MĀ 98 but somewhat less expansive. It’s inclusion here in the Book of Ones is artificial, based on it being called the “single-entry path.”

After the chapter’s namesake, three miscellaneous sūtras follow: A “one thing” sūtra on spitefulness being detrimental to the religious life, another orphaned “one person” sūtra, and a third sūtra on the supreme practice of giving.

Next is a pair of sūtras that extol Mahākāśyapa as being the best disciple at the ascetic practices (cf. SN 16.5).

At this point, the theme of warning against moral corruption resumes for the last four sūtras of the chapter. The first pair return to the subject of Devadatta being corrupted by the alms he received (cf. SN 17.35-36). In the final pair, the Buddha likens profit to a cord that cuts to the bone (cf. SN 17.28) and cites another corrupt monk as a bad example.

Chapter 13: Profit

This chapter continues the theme that ended Chapter 12. This is likely because an older chapter spanned these two chapters, judging by the uddāna verse at the end of this chapter, which lists sūtras found in both.

The first sūtra appears to belong with the last sūtra of Chapter 12, as it identifies another specific monk as a bad example. This monk is named Surādha, and he appears to be the monk identified as Devadatta’s teacher in EĀ 49.9. The second sūtra is another “one thing” sūtra, which identifies enjoyment of desires as something that must be ceased to stop the contaminants.

The next sūtra is another long parallel with MN/MĀ, in this case MN 87 and MĀ 216. It tells the story of how a rumor was spread about the Buddha teaching nonsense by a man distraught about the death of his son. This rumor reaches King Prasenajit, who questions his wife Mālikā about it. Queen Mālikā dispatches a messenger to discover the truth of the matter. This messenger is here named Nāḷijaṅgha, which is the title given to the sūtra by the uddāna verse. This messenger receives the correct teaching from the Buddha, and Queen Mālikā in turn corrects the King, who is so impressed that he becomes a Buddhist layman. Mālikā is praised by the Buddha as one of his best disciples, which is the reason the sūtra appears here in the Book of Ones.

This narration of events has a clear chiamus structure sometimes used to construct complex but easily memorable stories. In this case, the central climax is the correct teaching that the Buddha gives to the Queen’s messenger. We might diagram it in this way:

The fourth sūtra is another significant story parallel with SN 22.1. Here, an elderly layman asks the Buddha how to deal with the infirmities of his body. He then seeks out Śāriputra and ask for an explanation of what the Buddha’s brief answer, which was that he must detach his mind from the troubles of his body. Śāriputra analyzes this in terms of the five aggregates and detaching from ideas of self. It’s not clear why this sūtra was placed in the Book of Ones, but there it is.

The fifth sūtra of this chapter is parallel to MN 7 and MĀ 93. It presents a list of twenty-one defilements, the recollection of the three jewels, the four measureless thoughts, and three knowledges. How this sūtra fits into the Book of Ones isn’t clear, either.

The final pair of sūtras both involve the god Śakra. In the first, Śakra approaches the Buddha and asks which practitioners are the best to give alms. The Buddha replies in verse that the best fields of merit are the eight ranks of noble people (cf. SN 11.16). In the last sūtra, Śakra pays a visit to Subhūti, who was in a deep samādhi to cure himself of a sudden attack of physical pain. Pañcaśikha sings an ode to wake him, and then he gives Śakra a teaching.

Chapter 14: The Five Precepts

This chapter is a set of sūtras that juxtapose the good or bad destinies that result from keeping or breaking precepts. Each pair takes up one of the five precepts as its subject to fill a chapter of ten. The chapter would appear to be another example of artificially creating single items from larger lists in order to populate the Book of Ones. The format of these sūtras is very similar to AN 1.312-313, but those Pali parallels treat wrong and right view rather than individual precepts.