Ekottara Agama

The Ekottara Āgama (Sanskrit; traditional Chinese: 增壹阿含經; ; pinyin: zēngyī-ahánjīng) is an early Indian Buddhist text, of which currently only a Chinese translation is extant (Taishō Tripiṭaka 125). The title Ekottara Āgama literally means "Numbered Discourses," referring to its organizational principle. It is one of the four Āgamas of the Sanskritic Sūtra Piṭaka located in the Chinese Buddhist Canon.

A complete version of the Ekottara Āgama was translated by Dharmanandi in 384 CE, and edited by Gautama Saṃghadeva in 398 CE. Some believed that it came from the Sarvāstivāda school, but more recently the Mahāsāṃghika branch has been proposed as well. According to A.K. Warder, the Ekottara Āgama references 250 Prātimokṣa rules for monks, which agrees only with the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, which is also located in the Chinese Buddhist canon. He also views some of the doctrine as contradicting tenets of the Mahāsāṃghika school, and states that they agree with Dharmaguptaka views currently known. He therefore concludes that the extant Ekottara Āgama is that of the Dharmaguptaka school.

According to Étienne Lamotte, the Ekottara Āgama was translated from a manuscript that came from northwest India, and contains a great deal of Mahāyāna influence. This may agree with the 5th century Dharmaguptaka monk Buddhayaśas, the translator of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya and Dīrgha Āgama, who wrote that the Dharmaguptakas had assimilated the Mahāyāna Tripiṭaka (Ch. 大乘三藏). According to Venerable Sheng Yen, the Ekottara Āgama includes teachings of the Six Pāramitās, a central concept in the bodhisattva path, and in the Mahāyāna teachings.

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