Apadāna draft

Apadāna. The thirteenth division of the Khuddakanikāya. It is a Buddhist Vitae Sanctorum and contains 547 biographies of monks and forty biographies of nuns, all mentioned as having lived in the time of the Buddha. The Commentary gives details of eleven more Theras not found in the text: Yasa, Nadī Kassapa, Gayā Kassapa, Kimbila, Vajjiputta, Uttara, Apara Uttara, Bhaddaji, Sivika, Upavāṇa and Raṭṭhapāla.

In addition to these, there are two introductory chapters, the Buddhāpadāna and the Paccekabuddhāpadāna, dealing with the Buddha and the Pacceka Buddhas respectively. It is worth noting that the Buddhāpadāna contains no account of the Buddha’s life, either as Gotama or earlier, as Bodhisatta (see, however, Pubbakammapiloti). Nor does the Paccekabuddhāpadāna contain any life-histories. The stanzas are what might be more appropriately described as udāna, and appear in the Khaggavisāṇasutta of the Suttanipāta. Cp. the Mahāpadānasutta (DN.ii.1ff), where the word Apadāna is used as meaning the legend or life-story of a Buddha or a Great One – in this case the seven Buddhas. Or does Mahāpadāna mean the Great Story, i.e. the story of the Dhamma and its bearers and promulgation: cp. the title of the Mahā Vastu (Dial.ii.3).

Most of the stories are found in the Paramatthadīpanī, the Commentary to the Theragāthā and Therīgāthā, extracted from the Apadāna with the introductory words, “tena vuttaṁ Apadāne.” But in numerous instances the names under which the verses appear in the Paramatthadīpanī differ from those subjoined to the verses in the Apadāna. In several cases it is a matter of the Commentary giving a name while the Apadāna gives only a title, e.g., Usabha Thera (Thag­a.i.320), called Kosumbaphaliya (Ap.ii.449); and Isidinna (Thag­a.i.312), called (Ap.ii.415) Sumanavījaniya.

Sometimes the stories are duplicated in the Apadāna itself, the same story occurring in two places with a very slight alteration in words, even the name of the person spoken of being the same. Most often no reason can be assigned for this, except, perhaps, careless editing, e.g., Annasaṁsāvaka Ap.i.78 and again Ap.i.261; see also the Introduction to the PTS Edition.

The Apadāna is regarded as one of the very latest books in the Canon, one reason for this view being that while later books like the Buddhavaṁsa mention only twenty-four Buddhas previous to Gotama, the Apadāna contains the names of thirty-five. It is very probable that the different legends in the collection are of different dates. On these and other matters connected with the Apadāna, see Rhys Davids article in ERE and Muller’s Les Apadānas du Sud (Congress of Orientalists, Leyden, 1895).

According to the Sumaṅgalavilāsinī (i.15. See also Przyluski: La Legende de l’Empereur Açoka, pp. viii f., 214), the Dīghabhāṇakas, who included the Khuddakanikāya in the Abhidhammapiṭaka, did not recognise the Apadāna. The Majjhimabhāṇakas included it in the Khuddakanikāya, which they regarded as belonging to the Suttapiṭaka. There is a Commentary to the Apadāna called the Visuddhajanavilāsinī.

According to Gv (p. 69) the Commentary on the Apadāna was written by Buddhaghosa at the request of five monks.