Sutra

The Sanskrit word Sūtra ( सूत्र - "thread", "chain" ) refers to a short, easily remembered by his verse teaching text of Indian literature; the corresponding Pali word Sutta ( " Discourse ") refers exclusively to certain parts of the Buddhist scriptures.

Mnemonic character

The oldest Indian texts were transmitted orally, they are much older than the use of writing. Despite excellent mnemonic methods were sought ways to share complex information in compressed, marked sentence -like form. This quest for brevity is responsible for ensuring that the contents are often difficult to understand today. For the former, however, students who received detailed oral explanations at the same time, presented the sutras an effective memory aid dar.

So in order to prevent the distortion of text in the oral passing on from generation to generation, a strict verse form was used. A verse that has a specific metric and rhymes, can not simply change; Irregularities that occur by adding, changing or omitting individual words will be noticed immediately. Added to this was that the lyrics were sung to a melody or speaking in singsong. Disadvantages ( lack of redundancy, as he " seal " indicates also the German word) seem to have been more than offset by advantages ( memorability ).

His most consistent expression found the sutra style in the school of grammarians, especially in Panini, who presented a complete scheme of Sanskrit in a few pages. From the grammarian Patanjali comes the saying, when a sutra author could save half a short syllable, he was so happy as when he is born a son.

Almost all philosophical systems ( Darshanas ) the earlier period found its embodiment in the form of sutras; also an extensive literature review has been handed down.

Hinduism

In Hinduism hot brief excerpts from the Vedas, Sutras. A definition for Sutra is given in Skanda Purana: "A sutra is an aphorism that expresses the essence of all knowledge in a few words. He must universally applicable and faultless in its linguistic presentation to be. "

The famous Brahma Sutra (also called the Vedanta Sutra ) is Vedavyasa attributed. Vedanta means " the end " or " completion of the Veda ". The main purpose of the Sutra and the discussions in the Upanishads is to emphasize the personal aspect of the Absolute Truth. In the Vedanta - sutra the philosophical insights of the Upanishads are summarized. The Sutras of Patanjali form the basis of Raja Yoga.

One who pulls the strings: In the ancient Indian teaching of music and dance Gandharva, as summarized Bharata to the time of Christ in his work Natyashastra, the Sutradhara the master of ceremonies of ritual theater, in the prelude ( Purvaranga ) is the audience welcomed and later the Scenes explained. Such a theater director is characteristic of many Indian theater forms to this day.

Buddhism

The Buddhist teaching was transmitted in the form of orally given and only much later recorded discourses of the Buddha, so is the adoption of all Sutras: "I've heard it " ( Pali: evam me Discourse ). For the recitation of certain texts, there were specialists, so-called Bhāṇaka. Often turns to the Buddha in these suttas, which always revolve around a specific theme, to a group of monks. A situational entry is typical: "I've heard it: At one time the Blessed One was staying in the game park of Isipatana at Varanasi. There, now the Blessed One addressed the five monks, saying ... "

Three large canon collections exist: the Pali canon with his " basket of discourses " ( Suttapitaka ), the Chinese Sanzang (now standardized in the Taishō Tripitaka ) and the Tibetan Kangyur ( Kanjur ). In the various text collections, the sutras are often in different forms; this is due to interpretation of variants of the different Buddhist schools ( Theravada, Mahayana, Vajrayana ).

A quite unique style have the Mahāyāna sutras that go thematically on the exemption routes described in the Pali canon. Some of these works are central to certain schools and directions of the Mahāyāna, such as the Lotus Sutra for the schools of Nichiren Buddhism, or the Great Sukhāvatī Sutra for schools in the Pure Land.

Understanding and research

In the literal sense means Sutra "thread" or "chain", often erroneously interpreted as a "guide". This interpretation is indeed obvious because in Sanskrit carry virtually all " guidance " the word Sutra in the title, such as the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, or the better-known in German-speaking Kamasutra of Vatsyayana. In contrast to the slokas are in the sutras to prose texts, which are extremely brief, to facilitate learning.

The first Vedic Sutras were written in Prakrit, a Central Indian language form and, therefore, a vernacular development of Sanskrit. Pioneer of Prakrit research was in the second half of the 19th century, the German Professor Richard Pischel. As part of its research activities at the University of Halle the first modern systematic grammar of the Prakrit was written; Now, numerous Vedic sutras are translated and published in dissertations, including the Karmapradipa by Friedrich Schrader (1889 ) and Baron Alexander von Staël -Holstein ( 1900).