Below is a first post in a series presenting tables listing suttas/sutras in the Chinese Āgamas and Pali Nikāyas that lack corresponding parallels. This post will cover the Chinese Dīrgha Āgama and the Pali Dīgha Nikāya. The Chinese DĀ represents a Dharmaguptaka edition that existed ca. 400 AD.
This list is not 100% definitive for a couple of reasons:
Parallels are not all equal. Sometimes an Āgama and Nikāya sutta are related but have very different contents, other times specific sections, doctrines, or parables have close parallels, but the sutras are quite different otherwise. In this index, I’m setting a fairly high bar for what qualifies as a parallel sutra for simplicity’s sake.
Parallels sometimes exist elsewhere. I’m not counting parallels that are found in a Vinaya or Abhidharma passage (though I’m noting them in comments). E.g., if a given sutra in an Āgama doesn’t have a Nikāya sutta parallel but does have a parallel in the Theravāda Vinaya, I’m counting it as not having a parallel in this comparison.
When a sutra doesn’t have a full parallel or is significantly different than a related sutta in Pali, I’ve placed it in (), and vice versa. A good example of this is MĀ 72, which includes a very long avadāna story not found in the MN parallel (but which has a parallel in the Vinaya).
Dīrgha Āgama Missing Parallels
Sutra
Title
Comment
(DĀ 11)
Increasing One by One
DN 34 cut in half
DĀ 12
Three Categories
Same style as DN 34, but unique content
(DĀ 19)
The Great Congregation
Shares verse content with DN 20 presented as transliterated dhāraṇīs
DĀ 30
Description of the World
A detailed description of Buddhist cosmology
Dīgha Nikāya Missing Parallels
Sutta
Title
Comment
DN 6
With Mahāli
Parallel with (unpublished) Skt DĀ 32
DN 7
With Jāliya
Parallel with (unpublished) Skt DĀ 30
DN 10
With Subha
Parallel with (unpublished) Skt DĀ 42
DN 17
King Mahāsudassana
The avadāna is found in DĀ 2
(DN 22)
The Longer Discourse on Mindfulness Meditation
Parallel to MN10/MĀ 98, absent from DĀ
(DN 30)
The Marks of a Great Man
A different version than MĀ 59
DN 32
The Āṭānāṭiya Protection
Parallel exists in Chinese translation and (unpublished) Skt DĀ 23
Note: The unpublished Sanskrit DĀ is from a Sarvâstivāda canon, which has been largely reconstructed from fragments recovered from Pakistan. Scholars are still preparing the reconstruction for publication. I’m therefore basing the parallels here on what’s been reported in literature thus far summarizing its contents. It’s a larger collection (47 sutras) than the Chinese DĀ (30 sutras) and Pali DN (34 suttas).
In this post, I’ll cover the Chinese Madhyama Āgama, which was from a Sarvâstivāda canon as it existed ca. 400 AD and the Pali Majjhima Nikāya.
It’s interesting to note that MĀ has fewer missing parallels in the Pali Nikāyas while MN appears to more missing parallels, even though it’s a smaller collection.
Many of MN’s missing parallels appear to be texts inspired by later avadāna literature, so the difference may be a matter of time. MĀ is a snapshot in time (ca. 400 AD), but present-day MN perhaps continued to add material. As we know from Tibetan and Chinese sources, the later Mūlasarvâstivāda tradition had collected large amounts of avadāna material by the 7th c. AD. This growth in literary stories may have exerted an influence that we see in MN today.
There also appears to have been an incorporation of SĀ sutras in the final section of MN, but these suttas have sometimes been expanded significantly compared to the Chinese (which was translated ca. 450 AD).
A final factor is also the fact that we lack a Dharmaguptaka version of the MĀ or SĀ. Given how closely DĀ and DN parallel each other, we have to wonder if that close parallel would have continued into the other collections. Thus, the missing parallels in MN when compared to the extant MĀ and SĀ may be partially by chance. The Theravāda and Sarvâstivāda canons were not so closely related.
Madhyama Āgama
Sutra
Title
Comment
MĀ 7
Worldly Merit
MĀ 33
Attendant
MĀ 39
The Prominent Man Ugra (2)
(MĀ 47)
Precepts
Similar to AN 10.3-4 and 11.3-4
(MĀ 48)
Precepts(2)
ditto MĀ 47
MĀ 50
Veneration (2)
ditto MĀ 47
MĀ 54
Knowledge that Ends
MĀ 55
Nirvāṇa
MĀ 60
Four Continents
MĀ 62
Bimbisāra Greets the Buddha
MĀ 65
Parable of the Crow
MĀ 66
Explaining the Origin
MĀ 69
Thirty Parables
MĀ 92
Parable of Blue and White Lotuses
(MĀ 108)
Forest (2)
Similar to MN 17/AN 9.6
MĀ 136
A Trader’s Pursuit of Wealth
MĀ 139
The Path of Stopping
MĀ 147
Learning Virtue
MĀ 159
Akalavana (?)
MĀ 176
The Dhyāna Practitioner
MĀ 177
Teaching
MĀ 197
Upāli
MĀ 218
Aniruddha
MĀ 219
Aniruddha
MĀ 222
Examples
Majjhima Nikāya
Sutta
Title
Comment
MN 12
The Longer Discourse on the Lion’s Roar
Portions can be found in EĀ and SĀ, parallel with Skt DĀ 12
(MN 29)
The Longer Simile of the Heartwood
Much expanded version of EĀ 43.4
MN 30
The Shorter Simile of the Heartwood
(MN 33)
The Longer Discourse on the Cowherd
Several versions exist that differ in content
MN 34
The Shorter Discourse on the Cowherd
(MN 35)
The Shorter Discourse With Saccaka
EĀ 37.10 is a different version
MN 36
The Longer Discourse With Saccaka
Portions are found in DĀ and late avadana lit. (e.g., Mahāvastu), Skt DĀ 20
(MN 41)
The People of Sālā
Much expanded version of SĀ 1042
(MN 42)
The People of Verañja
Nearly identical to MN 41. SĀ 1043 is also a near duplicate of SĀ 1042.
MN 48
The Mendicants of Kosambi
MN 51
With Kandaraka
Parallel with Skt DĀ 38
MN 53
A Trainee
MN 55
With Jīvaka
Parallel with Skt DĀ 43
MN 57
The Ascetic Who Behaved Like a Dog
MN 58
With Prince Abhaya
This story has references in other Chinese sources (e.g. T1509, T1522)
MN 60
Guaranteed
Appears parallel with Skt DĀ 7
(MN 62)
The Longer Advice to Rāhula
Partial parallel to EĀ 17.1
(MN 67)
At Cātumā
Partial parallel with EĀ 45.2
MN 71
To Vacchagotta on the Three Knowledges
MN 76
With Sandaka
MN 85
With Prince Bodhi
Similar stories exist in Chinese Vinayas and late avadāna texts, Skt DĀ 21
MN 92
With Sela
Parallel exists in Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, EĀ 49.6 is a different story with same characters
MN 94
With Ghoṭamukha
MN 95
With Caṅkī
Parallel with Skt DĀ 19
MN 98
With Vāseṭṭha
Verse parallels appear in Chinese Dharmapādas
MN 100
With Saṅgārava
Similar stories exist in late avadāna collections, Skt DĀ 22
MN 102
The Five and Three
Parallel with Skt DĀ 17
MN 103
Is This What You Think Of Me?
MN 105
With Sunakkhatta
Parallel with Skt DĀ 10
MN 110
The Shorter Discourse on the Full-Moon Night
MN 111
One by One
MN 114
What Should and Should Not Be Cultivated
(MN 116)
At Isigili
EĀ 38.7 has more in common with a passage in the Mahāvastu
(MN 118)
Mindfulness of Breathing
Appears to be a late (e.g., listing arhats by name) and greatly expanded version of SĀ 815
MN 131
One Fine Night
(MN 147)
The Shorter Advice to Rāhula
Appears to expand the final part of SĀ 200 into a larger sutta
(MN 151)
The Purification of Alms
Appears to be an expanded and different version of SĀ 236/EĀ 45.6 (closer to SĀ)
What about DN 30 Lakkhana? My understanding is that this has no real parallel, the Chinese versions just describe the marks, but all the verses are unique to Pali?
DN is a bit more coherent, I suppose is the way I would put it. MN has a bunch of suttas that weren’t in the Sarvâstivāda canon, so it has more missing parallels. If we had a Dharmaguptaka canon to check it against, I’d strongly suspect some or all of those missing parallels would be in it.
Thanks, yes, they are very different. I’ve added it to the list. I should take a closer look at that other MĀ parallels to DN.
Another issue really is just size. Big things are important and harder to lose. Everyone’s going to have their version of a Mahāparinibbāna Sutta or a Brahmajala Sutta or a Sāmaññaphala Sutta. But are they going to have a sutta on the four kinds of poets? Or one clarifying that not only greed (lobha) leads to suffering, but desire (rāga) as well? Maybe, maybe not!
So I think typically as Suttas get smaller, there is more variation, at least in the details of the sutta itself, not necessarily in the content as such.
Another way of saying the same thing: in long suttas, the fact that suttas are parallel can disguise a myriad of internal variations in the details of content and organization. The differences are hidden within a sutta. Our idea of a “partial parallel” addresses this to some degree.
