The Twenty-Four Buddhas – 116
The nine constituents of the Buddha’s Dispensation (
navaṅga-satthu-
sāsana
) are: 1) Discourses (
Sutta
) such as the Discourse on the Supreme
Net (
Brahma-jāla-sutta
, DN 1)
,
the Discourse on the Fruits of the Ascetic
Life (
Sāmañña-phala-sutta
, DN 2) etc. in plain prose; 2) Mixed Poems and
Prose (
Geyya
) such as these in the Thematic Discourses about Devas
(
Devatā-saṁyutta
, SN 1); 3) teaching without any verses (
veyyākaraṇa
)
such as the Basket of the Abstract Teaching (
Abhidhamma-piṭaka
); 4)
teaching with verses only (
gāthā
) such as the Dhamma Verses
(
Dhammapada
)
,
the Verses of the Elder Monks (
Thera-gāthā
)
,
the Verses
of the Elder Nuns (
Therī-gāthā
); 5) Exalted Utterances (
Udāna
) in 80
60
discourses; 6) 112
61
discourses beginning with the expression: “Thus said
(
Iti-vuttaka
) the Fortunate One”; 7) 550 Birth Stories (
Jātaka
);
62
8)
discourses describing the marvellous attributes (
abbhūta-dhamma
) of
persons such as Ānanda, etc.; 9) discourses with questions and answers
(
vedalla
) such as the Long Discourse giving an Elaboration (
Mahā-
vedalla-sutta
, MN 43)
,
the Small Discourse giving an Elaboration (
Cūḷa-
vedalla-sutta
, MN 44)
,
the Discourse of Right View (
Sammā-diṭṭhi-sutta
,
MN 9).
What should be particularly mentioned is this: Having attained omniscience,
Buddha Sumana was desirous of fulfilling Brahma’s request. In order to liberate
beings, such as humans, Devas and Brahmas, from the bondage of existences and
to protect those who were robbed of their treasures of meritorious deeds by the
defilements, he built the deathless city of Nibbāna with the walls of morality
(
sīla
), the moats of concentration (
samādhi
) that encircled the city and adorned
it with the gate of insight knowledge (
vipassanā-ñāṇa
), the doors of mindfulness
(
sati
), the grand pavilions and mansions, etc., of absorption attainments
(
samāpatti
) and it was inhabited by the noble citizens of a group of things on the
side of Awakening (
Bodhi-pakkhiya-dhamma
).
Having thus built the city of Nibbāna, Buddha Sumana created the unbroken,
straight, tidy, beautiful, broad, and long boulevard of the four methods of
steadfast mindfulness (
satipaṭṭhāna
). On either side of the boulevard, he laid out
peaceful and pleasant rows of shops of Dhamma where those who wanted the
precious fourfold fruitions (
phala
), fourfold analytical knowledges
60
[Text reads 28, but this is a mistake].
61
[Text reads 12, but this is again a mistake].
62
[There are listed 547, but some are repetitions so the actual number is smaller].