Sutta Nipata
Sutta Nipata
Clinging to views, possessions, and even religious identity itself is what keeps a person bound, and the sage lets go of all of it, including the wish to be seen as wise.
- among the linguistically oldest layers of the Pali Canon
- non-attachment extended to views and identity, not just possessions
- the Atthakavagga's skeptical, pre-scholastic tone
- the Metta Sutta and Ratana Sutta in continued liturgical use
A collection of verse suttas in the Khuddaka Nikaya, widely regarded by scholars as containing some of the linguistically and doctrinally oldest material in the entire Pali Canon, predating much of the prose Nikayas. It includes the Atthakavagga and Parayanavagga chapters, notable for a spare, skeptical tone that avoids the more elaborate scholastic doctrine of later Buddhist texts. The Metta Sutta and Ratana Sutta within it remain in common liturgical use today. Its Khaggavisanasutta, the Rhinoceros Horn Sutta, is often read as evidence of an early, more solitary style of wandering renunciation that predates the settled monastic communities the Vinaya later regulates, repeating after each verse the refrain to wander alone like a rhinoceros horn.
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