Abstract:

The meaning of its title, ‘Section with Verses’, may appear sufficient to explain why the Sagātha-vagga was identified as a discrete entity within the Samyuttanikāya. However, this article looks beyond that simple explanation, to discover whether some other rationale may underlie this grouping of samyuttas. It examines evidence that the compiling of the Sagātha-vagga was probably based on a familiar, although doctrinally marginal, piece of Buddhist teaching, namely the ‘eight Assemblies’.

Author: Roderick S. Bucknell