Āgama

Āgamas are collections of early Buddhist discourses preserved mainly in Chinese translation. They parallel the Pali Nikāyas and preserve teachings attributed to the Buddha and his early communities.

Early Buddhist texts: Writings and oral-textual collections that preserve teachings and traditions from early Buddhism. Āgamas belong to the textual inheritance of Buddhism’s early schools.
Parallel texts: Texts in separate traditions that share substantial content or structure and can be compared historically. Āgama passages can often be set beside related Pali discourses.
Dharmaguptaka: An early Buddhist school whose Vinaya and other texts were influential in East Asia. The Chinese Dīrgha Āgama is commonly associated with this school.
Dīrgha Āgama: A Chinese collection of long Buddhist discourses, broadly parallel to the Pali Dīgha Nikāya. It preserves the long-discourse division of the Āgama corpus.
Early Buddhism: The formative centuries of Buddhist communities and teachings following the historical Buddha. Āgamas are central evidence for reconstructing this early period.
Sūtra: A Buddhist discourse, traditionally presented as a teaching of the Buddha or another authoritative figure. Individual Āgama texts are chiefly discourses of this kind.
Oral transmission: The preservation and communication of material through recitation and memory rather than writing alone. Early discourse collections developed within traditions that relied on recitation.
Sarvāstivāda: An influential early Buddhist school known for its Abhidharma traditions and extensive scriptural transmission. Several Chinese Āgama collections are associated with Sarvāstivāda transmission.
Madhyama Āgama: A Chinese collection of middle-length Buddhist discourses, broadly parallel to the Pali Majjhima Nikāya. Its collection offers a major source for comparing middle-length teachings.
Comparative Buddhism: The study of Buddhist traditions through comparison of their texts, doctrines, practices, and histories. Āgama–Nikāya comparisons reveal both shared inheritances and school-specific developments.

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