[quote=“akincana, post:16, topic:5613”]
Do you have a key to abbreviations?
[/quote]Were you just inquiring about EBTs (Early Buddhist Texts, as @sukha pointed out), or were you inquiring about all common used abbreviations here, such as MN, SA, DA, Dhp, etc?
I am used to the abreviations used in the Critical Paali Dictionary (CPD). However, I have used the Paali texts in book form for many years, quoting page and line and edition (of printed books).
I am not used to quote by chapter and Sutta. Is there a concordance for this mode of citing Pali text anywhere in the internet?
Also, I am not familiar with ALL modern translations. I often read just the Paali text.
I noted that you do not include KhN under EBT.
It is not Abhidhamma Pi.taka alone, which is late in the Paali canon.
The Vinaya Pi.taka is also a many layered compilation starting with the Bhikkhu Paa.timokkha, and ending - probably - with the grammatical explanations. The Parivaara, is the latest canonical Vinaya text, ascribed to a monk of Sri Lanka.
The earliest classification of Buddhavacana was into “nine limbs” (nav’-a.nga).
Then came the classification into Nikaayas (Agama-s), already mentioned in the stone inscriptions of emperor Asoka.
At first Vinayapi.taka, the early Sutta texts in verse form (like Dhp, Sn, Th, Thii) and the Abhidhamma books were all included in KhN. The early Sutta texts in this Nikaaya were just nine: Dhp, Ud, It, parts of Sn, Vv, Pv, Th, Thii, canonical Jaataka verses.
“Early canonical commentaries” (Niddesa and Pa.tisambhida-magga, may be as old as some of the seven books of the Abhidhamma Pi.taka, i. e. several hundred years younger than the discourses of the four Great Nikaayas (DN, MN, SN, AN). Some scholars regard the three “hagiographic texts (Ap, Bv, Cp)” as the latest part of the Paali canon. The Apadaana has a Sanskrit parallel, which is older!
The classification into “three baskets” (Tipi.taka) is used by Buddhaghosa, but he wrote about 1000 years after Buddha.
Hello @akincana,
I did not include it because I know not about this text.
May I ask you what KhN stands for?
Wit meta,
/\
Sorry, the Sutta Central abbreviation is KN (= Khuddaka Nikaaya). I am used to KhN.
The Sanskrit “Avadaana”, older parallel to the Paali Apadaana was found among the Turfan manuscripts, and edited by Heinz BECHERT for his Ph. D. (Munich, Germany). He in turn trained me for Ph.D. (in Göttingen), so naturally I had to study all his previous writings. Just consult this critical edition. It must be listed in the Sanskrit parallels of Sutta Central. A singular feature of this text is a chapter on negative Karma suffered by the Bodhisatta for previous immoral deeds. … The Apadaana commentary is the latest of all Paali commentaries.
The Buddhava.msa (Chronology of the Buddhas), text no. 14 in KN, has several versions. The version printed in the modern editions of the Paali canon, is just one.
In a temple in Pagan/Bagan, the old capital of Myanmar (Burma), 11-13th century, a different version is inscribed in ink all over the walls of the temple. This version was copied by Pali teachers of the university of Yangon (in the early 1970?), ad printed as a book in Burmese characters. But this book is now long out of print. The version apparently never reached the level of being approved by a Buddhist Synod (Synod V in the 19th century and Synod VI in the 20th century, both held in Myanmar), it probably derives from the Mon tradition. The Mons were the teachers of the Burmese in Pagan.
Vessantara-jaataka also has has extensive variants in different Theravaada countries.
Thank you, I checked on the abbreviations. There are just a few new to me.
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Isn’t it worth moving all this very interesting talk about abbreviations to a specific topic?
I believe many others would benefit from having it properly archived in the history of the forum! 
Hello all (in particular @Coemgenu, @akincana & @sukha ),
As per @Gabriel_L suggestion above, I’ve now shifted the above posts from the “Why are we “here”?” thread to a new one dedicated to EBT abbreviations.
Warm regards!
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