Reply To: Validity of Āgamās

#53610
pathfinder
Participant

There are also other key suttas, such as mahasatipatthana sutta 念處經

They convey quite a lot of similarity, but have some structural differences. For example, the agama version of the mahasatipatthana sutta did not include the 4 noble truths and 5 aggregates in dhammanupassana. By the way, they also had the practice of breathing in the kayanupassana section, using the word 入 which means inhaling.

Ajahn Brahmali has talked about in a 4 part satipatthana series how, based on comparative studies, certain sections were added in the Pali section too, such as anapana section and situational awareness section. You can see him talk about it here at 29.33. He claims that based on comparative studies, the part on contemplating impurities is the most consistent across sources. Although it is stated that the nikayas were compiled in the first Buddhist Council based on the pali canon, he says that historians found texts being added later on too, suggesting that this may not entirely be true.

He has also shown that the situational awareness section could have been added in as it was not originally described as Sati in other suttas. You can watch it here at 42.07.

By the way, I recommend watching this 4 part series if you have the time, it builds good context around the sutta. Satipatthana Session 1 – Ajahn Brahmali – 20200101