Saṅgītisutta untranslated

Saṅgītisutta. The thirty-third Sutta of the Dīghanikāya (DN.iii.207ff), preached at Ubbhaṭaka, the new Mote Hall of the Mallas of Pāvā. They had invited the Buddha to consecrate it by preaching there, and this he did until late into the night. Then, seeing that his audience wished for more, he asked Sāriputta to continue the preaching while he himself rested. Sāriputta therefore preached the Saṅgītisutta, at the end of which the Buddha expressed his great appreciation of Sāriputta’s exposition.

This Sutta, like the Dasuttara, is arranged in a new plan – which is regularly followed in the Aṅguttaranikāya of grouping the points or chief items brought forward, numerically, in arithmetical progression – in this case 1 to 10. This scheme is a kind of thematic index to the doctrines scattered through the Four Nikāyas.

The Sarvāstivādins held this Sutta in high esteem, and included it (under the name of Saṅgītipariyāya) among the seven books constituting their Abhidhammapiṭaka. The Tibetan recensions attribute the Sutta to Mahā Koṭṭhita. See Takākusu’s article on the Sarvāstivādins (JPTS 1904-5).

The Sutta treats of the dasadhammā (or ten conditions) in much the same way as the Puggalapaññatti deals with the dasapuggalā (ten individuals).