• Khuddaka Nikāya

Sometimes called Khuddaka Gantha. The fifth and last division of the Sutta Pitaka.

It consists of fifteen independent treatises, some belonging to the earlier period, while others may be ascribed to the later stratum of the Pāli Canon. This Nikāya is composed for the most part in verse, and contains all the most important collections of Pāli poetry.

The fifteen books are:

1. Khuddaka-Pātha

2. Dhammapada

3. Udāna

4. Itivuttaka

5. Sutta Nipāta

6. Vimāna-Vatthu

7. Peta-Vatthu

8. Theragāthā

9. Therīgāthā

10. Jātaka

11. Niddesas (Mahā- and Culla-)

12. Patisambhidā Magga

13. Apadāna

14. Buddhavamsa

15. Cariyāpitaka (Sp.i.18; DA.i.17).

According to another classification the whole of the Vinaya Pitaka and the Abhidhamma Pitaka and all the teachings of the Buddha, not included in the remaining four Nikāyas, are regarded as forming the Khuddaka Nikāya (DA.i.23; Sp.i.27).

The Dīghabhānakas refused to accept the authenticity of the Khuddaka-Pātha, Cariyāpitaka, and the Apadāna, and included the other books as part of the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

The Majjhimabhānakas did not accept the Khuddaka-Pātha but acknowledged the rest, and included them in the Sutta Pitaka (DA.i.15).

According to Burmese tradition four other later books are added to this list: Milindapañha, Suttasangaha, Petakopadesa, and Nettippakarana. Bode, op. cit., 4.