Digha Nikaya (Collection of Long Discourses)

Digha Nikaya («Collection of Long Discourses») is the first collection of the Pali Sutta Pitaka, which primarily consists of the oldest Buddhist texts. They are important for studying issues related to the emergence and early development of Buddhism, and contain invaluable data about the initial history of this religion.

The collection includes 34 suttas (Sanskrit: sutras) divided into three sections (vaggas). The «Silakkhandha Vagga» («Section on Morality», suttas 1‒13) discusses questions of Buddhist morality; the «Mahavagga» («Great Section», suttas 14‒23) mainly consists of suttas that begin with the word «maha», meaning «great»; the section «Patika Vagga» («Section [opening with the sutta] on Patika») is named after the sutta with which it begins. Among the most important suttas of the monument are the «Mahaparinibbana Sutta», which describes the last days and the passing of the Buddha into nirvana; the «Singalovada Sutta», in which the Buddha discusses ethics and practices of Buddhism with his followers; the «Samanjnapala Sutta»; and the «Brahmajala Sutta», which describes and compares the judgments of the Buddha and other Indian sages on issues of existence.

The uniqueness of A.Y. Syrkin's translation lies in the fact that it is the only scholarly commented translation of the entire collection of texts of the Theravada Buddhist canon from Pali into Russian. This is the first complete translation of all 34 suttas of the Digha Nikaya. The translation is accompanied by introductory articles, comments, bibliography, and a subject index.