Abhidharmakosa, visudhimagga, etc

[Yasoj]

@Dhammanando

I assume that the passage quoted by Seniya was part of the Pali Suttanta Piṭaka at the time of Third Council. But whether its dropping from the Suttanta but preservation in the Abhidhamma came about by accident or design is a complete mystery to me. That is, I can’t imagine what sort of accident could have caused this, nor any reason for doing it on purpose.

Thank you for your reply. I had imagined that some solid hypotheses existed about this, but it seems it’s still a mystery.

[seniya]

@Yasoj

Good job at spotting this parallel I checked the parallels of this text in SC and they don’t have it yet.
You could maybe ask them to add it…?

Perhaps Bhante @sujato or @aminah can do it

@Yasoj

If not, what are the different hypotheses that can explain this situation? ( i.e. some early Theravadin monastics quoting a passage from a sutta which is not found in the Pali Canon but which is found in the Canon of another school).

I think perhaps the sutta was shared both by Theravadin and Sarvastivadin before their split, but somehow lost in transmission by Theravadin part. Just IMHO

[seniya]

In Visuddhimagga chapter XX verse 96 (page 658 in Nanamoli’s translation), there a passage which seems quoted from a sutta but not found in Pali canon:

Nanamoli said it is from S IV 197 (which is SN 35.246 in SC numbering), but the SN sutta just match on the sound in music instrument simile to explain the passage. The passage (I blocked in picture above) is similiar words with a passage from SA 355:

Just different in that SA version applies to salayatana (six sense-bases), but Vism version applies to nama-rupa (name-form or mentality-materiality). Somehow Buddhaghosa seems to preserve a memory of an ancient sutta which is not found in Pali canon nowadays.

[Aminah]

@seniya

or @aminah can do it

Thanks so much! Just so you know I haven’t ignored this, I just wanted to send a quick note to say that I don’t handle parallel stuff at all and only deal with the preparation of legacy format texts. I’m sure Ven. Sujato will see to it when he has a chance.

[Gillian]

@Aminah

I’m sure Ven. Sujato will see to it when he has a chance.

Paging Venerable @Sujato.