Samyukta Agama

Samyukta Agama. (Skt. Saṃyuktāgama; P. Saṃyuttanikāya; T. Yang dag par ldan pa’i lung; C. Za ahan jing; J. Zōagongyō; K. Chap aham kyŏng 雜阿含經).[1] “Connected Discourses”; an agama from the Sanskrit tradition that corresponds to the Samyutta Nikaya of the Pali Canon.

This text is preserved in Chinese translation within the Chinese Canon. Fragments of a Sanskrit recension have also been discovered. Indivial texts from this collection are also found in Tibetan translation.

Within the Chinese Canon

The main version of the Linked Discourses found in the Chinese canon is known as the Saṁyuktāgama (Za ahan jing, 雜阿含經), and is believed to stem from a branch of the Sarvāstivādin school. It was translated by Guṇabhadra (求那跋陀) and Baoyun (寶雲) in CE 435–436 at Waguan Monastery (瓦官寺,) Yangdu (楊都). Like the Pali Saṁyutta Nikāya, it contains over a thousand short suttas organized by topic. The texts, however, became disordered during the transmission in China, and an extraneous passage from a later life of Ashoka was mistakenly included. In the 20th century a series of scholars reconstructed the original sequence. The text as originally found is found in the Taishō edition of the Chinese canon as sutra number 99 at T vol. 2, 1a.

In addition to the main Chinese version of the text (mentioned above), there is also a second, incomplete Chinese translation of a rencension of the Saṃyukta Āgama (別譯雜阿含經 Taishō 100) ascribed to the Kāśyapīya (飲光部) school; this translation is by an unknown translator, from around the Three Qin (三秦) period, 352-431 CE.[4]

The Saṃyukta Āgama is a collection of over 1300 short texts which together represent the early collected core teachings of Buddhism. The Saṃyukta Āgama is the oldest āgama collection and is thought to be the only āgama compiled at the First Buddhist Council in Rājagṛha.

According to the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya Vibhāṣā, the Saṃyukta Āgama differs from other āgama collections in having more information related to the practice of dhyāna. As such, it was the preferred collection of those who practiced meditation. This Saṃyukta Āgama is analogous to the Pali Saṃyutta Nikāya, but it has an entirely different textual lineage, coming from the Sarvāstivādins in India, who used Sanskrit. The text was brought along the Silk Road and then translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in the fifth century by the Indian monk Guṇabhadra.

The text of the Saṃyukta Āgama is divided into three large groups: Sūtra, Geya, and Vyākaraṇa. Of the three, Sūtra is given special significance by later writers and commentators, and contains the very core doctrines and teachings of Buddhism, while Geya and Vyākaraṇa are added supplements.