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The Book of Accounts is the third book of the Digha Nikāya, the Collection of the Long Discourses of the Buddha. Like the previous ones and because of their length, they are not speeches delivered by the Buddha. In this case, they are extensive suttas designed to support the missionary work of the bhikkhus among an audience outside the Teachings. The Book of Accounts collects eleven suttas, mostly lists of items, in which the last two stand out, Convocation of the Saṅgha and Superior to Ten, which are very useful enumerations to memorize the main points of the doctrine. Apart from these two suttas, DN 24 stands out: About Pāṭikaputta, an amusing derision story about a fool. DN 28: Inspiring confidence, it is an enumeration of how well the Buddha explains the teaching and its superiority over the others. The DN 29: An impressive speech, continues in that line. The rest, following the pattern of this Nikāya, are bogus suttas, not even falsified. They are marked with a double asterisk (**). From beating up other ascetics and Brahmins to entering into mythomania that is excessive even for Eastern tastes, either of universal monarchs, or of thirty-two brands that, brought together in a single person, make that "great man" appear to us as a phenomenon of fair. And there is no lack of an enumeration of good things and bad things similar to a list of commandments, ending with a kind of protection spell. The last two suttas alone make this book worth it.

The Book of Counts - Digha Nikāya3

SKU: DN3
€4.00Price
  • Collection of Long Discourses of the Buddha (Book 3)

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