The Medium Discourses
(S. Madhyama Āgama; C. 中阿含經)
The Medium Discourses was translated twice to Chinese; the second translation by Gautama Saṅghadeva is the one that survives today. The translation was completed in 398 CE and appears to represent a Sarvāstivāda version of the Madhyama Āgama.
The Pali equivalent of this Āgama is the Majjhima Nikāya, but the two collections differ somewhat in both their arrangement and size. With a total of 222 sūtras, the Medium Discourses contains many texts that have parallels in the Pali Aṅguttara Nikāya and Dīgha Nikāya. A handful of sūtras in the Medium Discourses don’t appear to have any extant parallels.
This version of the Madhyama Āgama was divided into eighteen chapters as shown in the table of contents below. Links to the primary Pali parallels, if any, are provided alongside each sūtra. Parallels in parentheses () indicate that there is only a vague similarity between the texts, such as having common topics but different arrangements and wording.
The English translation remains a work in progress. Please feel free to send any feedback or corrections.
Table of Contents
Chapter | Sūtra | Pali Parallel(s) |
---|---|---|
1. The Sevens | 1. Skillful Qualities | AN 7.68 |
2. The Pārijāta Tree | AN 7.69 | |
3. The City Parable | AN 7.67 | |
4. The Water Parable | AN 7.15 | |
5. The Wood Pile Parable | AN 7.72 | |
6. The Good Person’s Departure | AN 7.55 | |
7. Worldly Merit | — | |
8. Seven Suns | AN 7.66 | |
9. Seven Chariots | MN 24 | |
10. Ending the Contaminants | MN 2, AN 6.58 | |
2. Related to Deeds | 11. The Rock Salt Parable | AN 3.100 |
12. Vāṣpa | AN 4.195 | |
13. Crossings | AN 3.61 | |
14. Rāhula | MN 61 | |
15. Intention | AN 10.217-219 | |
16. The Kālāmas | AN 3.65 | |
17. Gāminī | SN 42.6 | |
18. Siṃha | AN 8.12 | |
19. Jains | MN 101 | |
20. Pāṭaliya | SN 42.13 | |
3. Related to Śāriputra | 21. Equitable Mind | AN 2.32-41 |
22. Accomplishing the Precepts | AN 5.166 | |
23. Knowledge | SN 12.32 | |
24. Lion’s Roar | AN 9.11 | |
25. The Water Parable (2) | AN 5.162 | |
26. Gulissāni | MN 69 | |
27. The Brahmin Dhānañjāni | MN 97 | |
28. Teaching the Sick | SN 55.26, MN 143 | |
29. Mahākauṣṭhila | MN 9, AN 9.13 | |
30. Parable of the Elephant’s Footprint | MN 28 | |
31. Discernment of the Noble Truths | MN 141 | |
4. Unprecedented Things | 32. Unprecedented Qualities | MN 123, AN 4.127 |
33. The Attendant | — | |
34. Bakula | MN 124 | |
35. Asura | AN 8.19 | |
36. Earthquakes | AN 8.70, SN 51.10 | |
37. Campā | AN 8.20 | |
38. The Prominent Man Ugra | AN 8.21-22 | |
39. The Prominent Man Ugra (2) | — | |
40. The Prominent Man Hastaka | AN 8.24 | |
41. The Prominent Man Hastaka (2) | AN 8.23 | |
5. Related to Training | 42. What Purpose | AN 11.1 |
43. Don’t Think | AN 11.2 | |
44. Mindfulness | AN 11.3 | |
45. Conscience and Modesty | AN 7.65, 11.1 | |
46. Conscience and Modesty (2) | AN 7.65, 11.1 | |
47. Precepts | AN 11.3 | |
48. Precepts (2) | AN 11.4 | |
49. Veneration | AN 5.22 | |
50. Veneration (2) | AN 5.22 | |
51. The Origin | AN 10.62 | |
52. Food | AN 10.61-62 | |
53. Food (2) | AN 10.61-62 | |
54. Knowledge of the End | — | |
55. Nirvāṇa | SN 12.23 | |
56. Meghiya | AN 9.3 | |
57. A Teaching for the Monks | AN 9.1 | |
6. Related to Kings | 58. The Seven Treasures | SN 46.42 |
59. The Thirty-Two Signs | DN 30 | |
60. The Four Continents | — | |
61. Cow Dung Parable | SN 22.96 | |
62. King Bimbisāra Meets the Buddha | — | |
63. Vebhaḷiṅga | MN 81 | |
64. Heaven’s Messengers | MN 130, AN 3.36 | |
65. Parable of the Raven | — | |
66. Tales of the Past | — | |
67. Mahādeva’s Mango Grove | MN 83 | |
68. King Mahāsudarśana | DN 17 | |
69. Thirty Parables | — | |
70. The Wheel-Turning King | DN 26 | |
71. Pāyāsi | DN 23 | |
7. King Dīrghāyu | 72. The Legend of King Dīrghāyu | MN 128 |
73. The Gods | AN 8.64 | |
74. Eight Thoughts | AN 8.30 | |
75. The Pure Way to the Imperturbable | MN 106 | |
76. *Ugracelā | AN 8.63 | |
77. The Three Clansmen of Sāketa | MN 68 | |
78. Brahmā’s Invitation to the Buddha | MN 49 | |
79. The Greater Gods | MN 127 | |
80. The Rough Cloth | — | |
81. Mindfulness of Body | MN 119 | |
82. Crickets | AN 6.60 | |
83. A Senior Elder’s Drowsiness | AN 7.61 | |
84. Thornless | AN 10.72 | |
85. The Genuine Person | MN 113 | |
86. Teaching the Bases | — | |
8. Defilement | 87. Defilements | MN 5 |
88. Seeking Dharma | MN 3 | |
89. A Monk’s Request | MN 15 | |
90. Knowing the Dharma | AN 10.24 | |
91. Cunda’s Questions about Views | MN 8 | |
92. The Analogy of the Blue and White Lotus Flowers | AN 10.23, SN 22.94 | |
93. The Water Purification Brahmin | MN 7 | |
94. The Monk Kālaka | AN 10.87 | |
95. Abiding in Qualities | AN 10.53 | |
96. Not Having | AN 10.55 | |
9. Causation | 97. Great Causation | DN 15 |
98. Abodes of Mindfulness | MN 10, DN 22 | |
99. The Cause of Suffering | MN 13 | |
100. The Cause of Suffering (2) | MN 14 | |
101. Progressive Mental States | MN 20 | |
102. Thoughts | MN 19 | |
103. Lion’s Roar | MN 11 | |
104. Udumbara | DN 25 | |
105. Aspirations | MN 6, AN 10.71 | |
106. Conceptions | MN 1 | |
10. Forests | 107. Forests | MN 17 |
108. Forests (2) | MN 17 | |
109. Examining One’s Own Mind | MN 114, AN 10.54 | |
110. Examining One’s Own Mind (2) | AN 10.51 | |
111. Mastering the Religious Life | AN 6.63 | |
112. Anupiyā | AN 6.62 | |
113. The Origin of Things | AN 8.83, AN 10.58 | |
114. Udraka | SN 35.103 | |
115. Parable of the Honey Ball | MN 18 | |
116. Gautamī | AN 8.51 | |
11. The Greats | 117. Gentleness | AN 3.39 |
118. Nāga Elephant | AN 6.43 | |
119. Standpoints of Discussion | AN 3.67 | |
120. Teaching Impermanence | SN 22.76 | |
121. Invitations | SN 8.7 | |
122. Campā | AN 8.10 | |
123. The Ascetic Koṭīviṃśa | AN 6.55 | |
124. Eight Difficulties | AN 8.29 | |
125. Poverty | AN 6.45 | |
126. Engaging in Desires | AN 10.91 | |
127. Fields of Merit | AN 2.35 | |
128. The Laymen | AN 5.179 | |
129. The Rival Clan | AN 7.64 | |
130. Instructing Dharmika | AN 6.54 | |
131. Defeating Māra | MN 50 | |
132. Rāṣṭrapāla | MN 82 | |
133. Upāli | MN 56 | |
134. Śakra’s Questions | DN 21 | |
135. Sujāta | DN 31 | |
136. A Merchant Seeking Wealth | — | |
137. The World | AN 4.23 & Iti 112 | |
138. Fortune | AN 7.62 | |
139. The Path of Calming | (Snp 1.11) | |
140. The Extreme | Iti 91 & SN 22.80 | |
141. Similes | SN 45.141-145, 146-148 | |
12. The Brahmins | 142. Varṣākāra | AN 7.22 |
143. Saṅgāra | AN 3.60 | |
144. Maudgalyāyana the Mathematician | MN 107 | |
145. Gomaya Maudgalyāyana | MN 108 | |
146. Parable of the Elephant’s Footprint (2) | MN 27 | |
147. The Virtue of Learning | — | |
148. What Suffering? | AN 5.31 | |
149. What Desire? | AN 6.52 | |
150. Aiṣukāri | MN 96 | |
151. Asaha | MN 93 | |
152. Śuka | MN 99 | |
153. Sugandika | MN 75 | |
154. Bhāradvāja’s Hall | DN 27 | |
155. Sudatta | AN 9.20 | |
156. The Brahmins’ Escape (or Highest Aim) | Snp 2.7 | |
157. Yellow Reeds Park | AN 8.11 | |
158. Doṇa | AN 5.192 | |
159. Agrahana | (Br̥hadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.6.1) | |
160. Araṇya | AN 7.74 | |
161. Brahmāyu | MN 91 | |
13. Discerning the Root | 162. Discerning the Six Elements | MN 140 |
163. Discerning the Six Abodes | MN 137 | |
164. Discerning the Contemplation of the Dharma | MN 138 | |
165. The God at Tapoda Grove | MN 133 | |
166. The Sage of the Meditation House among the Śākyans | MN 134 | |
167. Ānanda’s Teaching | MN 132 | |
168. Mental Action | MN 120 | |
169. Non-Conflict among the Kuru | MN 139 | |
170. Śuka | MN 135 | |
171. The Great Discernment of Actions | MN 136 | |
14. Mind | 172. Heart | AN 4.186 |
173. Bhūmi | MN 126 | |
174. Taking up the Dharma | MN 45 | |
175. Taking up the Dharma (2) | MN 45 | |
176. Meditators | — | |
177. Assessments | — | |
178. The Hunter | MN 25 | |
179. Owner of the Fivefold Possessions | MN 78 | |
180. Gautamī | MN 142 | |
181. Many Elements | MN 115 | |
15. Pairs | 182. Aśvapura | MN 35 |
183. Aśvapura (2) | MN 40 | |
184. The Gośṛṅga Sal Forest | MN 32 | |
185. The Gośṛṅga Sal Forest (2) | MN 31 | |
186. Inquiry | MN 47 | |
187. Assessing Knowledge | MN 112 | |
188. Ajina | AN 10.116 | |
189. The Noble Path | MN 117 | |
190. Lesser Emptiness | MN 121 | |
191. Greater Emptiness | MN 122 | |
16. The Greats (2) | 192. Kāḷudāyin | MN 66 |
193. Mūliphalguna | MN 21 | |
194. Bhaddālin | MN 65 | |
195. Aśvajit | MN 70 | |
196. Cunda | MN 104 | |
197. Upāli | — | |
198. The Ground of the Tamed | MN 125 | |
199. The Grounds of the Foolish and the Wise | MN 129 | |
200. Ariṣṭa | MN 22 | |
201. Sāti | MN 38 | |
17. Potalaka | 202. Keeping the Fast | AN 3.70 |
203. Potalaka | MN 54 | |
204. Raṃbhaka | MN 26 | |
205. The Five Lower Bonds | MN 64 | |
206. Defilements of Mind | MN 16 | |
207. Sūciloma | MN 77 | |
208. Sūciloma (2) | MN 79 | |
209. Vimanasu | MN 80 | |
210. The Nun Dharmadinnā | MN 44 | |
211. Mahākauṣṭhila | MN 43 | |
18. The Order | 212. Omniscience | MN 90 |
213. Adornment of Dharma | AN 10.30 | |
214. Bṛhatikā | MN 88 | |
215. The Best Attainment | AN 10.29 | |
216. Born of Love | MN 87 | |
217. The City of Eight | MN 52 | |
218. Aniruddha | — | |
219. Aniruddha (2) | — | |
220. Views | AN 7.54 | |
221. Parable of the Arrow | MN 63 | |
222. The Order | — |
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