Majjhima Nikāya

The second "book," or collection, of the Sutta Pitaka, containing discourses of medium length.

It consists of eighty bhānavāras and is divided into three sections of fifty suttas each (Pannāsa), the last pannāsa containing fifty two suttas.

At the First Council the duty of learning the Majjhima Nikāya and of handing it down intact was entrusted to the "school" of Sāriputta (DA.i.15).

Buddhaghosa wrote a commentary to the Majjhima Nikāya, which is called the Papañca Sūdanī, and Sāriputta of Ceylon wrote its tīkā.

The Majjhima Nikāya was also called the Majjhima Sangīti (E.g., MA.i.2; MT.193, 305).

When the Sāsana (Buddhism) disappears, the Majjhima predeceases the Digha Nikāya. MA.ii.881.

Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, G P Malalasekera (1899-1973), which is available as printed version from

Majjhima Nikāya

The second collection of the Sūtra Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon. It contains 152 suttas including some of the best known ones in the canon such as the Alagaddūpama Sutta (see raft parable), Aṇgulimāla Sutta (see Aṇgulimāla) and Mahāsīhanāda Sutta. At the First Council (see Council of Rājagṛha), held shortly after the Buddha's death, the duty of learning and preserving the Majjhima Nikāya was entrusted to Śāriputra's disciples. A commentary to the Majjhima Nikāya by the title of Papañcasūdanī was composed by Buddhaghoṣa in the 5th century ce, and Sāriputta of Sri Lanka later compiled its subcommentary.

A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)