An Analysis Of The Pāli Canon – Edited By Russell Webb (eng)

Preface

An Analysis of the Pali Canon was originally the work of A.C. March, the founder-editor of Buddhism in England (from 1943, The Middle Way), the quarterly journal of The Buddhist Lodge (now The Buddhist Society, London). It appeared in the issues for Volume 3 and was later off- printed as a pamphlet. Finally, after extensive revision by I.B. Horner (the late President of the Pali Text Society) and Jack Austin, it appeared as an integral part of A Buddhist Student’s Manual, published in 1956 by The Buddhist Society to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary of its founding. The basic analysis of the Tipiṭaka appeared in The Mahā Bodhi, 37:19–42 (Calcutta 1929), and was reprinted in K.D.P. Wickremesinghe’s Biography of the Buddha (Colombo 1972).

In the present edition, the basic analysis of the Canon has been left in its original state although some minor corrections had to be made. However, it has been found possible to fully explore the Saṃyutta and Aṅguttara Nikāyas together with three important texts from the Khuddaka Nikāya: Udāna, Itivuttaka, and Suttanipāta. It was deemed unnecessary to give similar treatment to the Dhammapada, as this popular anthology is much more readily accessible. The Paṭisambhidāmagga has also been analysed.

The index (except for minor amendments) was originally prepared by G.F. Allen and first appeared in his book The Buddha’s Philosophy. In this edition it has been simplified by extensive substitution of Arabic for Roman numerals.

The Bibliography, a necessary adjunct in view of the reference nature of the whole work, has, however, been completely revised as a consequence of the vast output of books on the subject that have come on to the market over the past few decades. Indeed, it was originally intended to make this an exhaustive section of Pali works in the English language, past and present. A number of anthologies, however, include both suttas in their entirety and short extracts from the texts. In such cases the compiler has, where the works in question appear, only indicated the complete suttas, as it is hardly likely that brief passages in such (possibly out-of-print) books will be referred to by the student who can now so easily turn to complete texts. Moreover, to keep the Bibliography to a manageable size, it was also necessary to omit a number of anthologies which include selected translations available from other, more primary sources.

It is thus hoped that this short work will awaken in the reader a desire to study the original texts themselves, the most authoritative Buddhist documents extant. Space has precluded a detailed study of the Tipiṭaka from the standpoints of language and chronology, but the source books mentioned in the Bibliography will more than compensate for this omission.

Russell Webb Bloomsbury, London March 1991