678 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



accessible text, and (unlike the Cariya-pitaka) an exceedingly impor- 

 tant one, and likely to be cited oftener even than the Dlgha. The uni- 

 literal designation J. is therefore recommended not only by its brevity, 

 but also by the importance of the text and the extreme frequency of 

 citation. So weighty are these considerations in themselves, that I 

 hesitated for no little time and thought I might treat Jataka as the 

 sole exception among titles of the Khuddaka-nikaya, and make its 

 designation uniliteral and not biliteral. Finally I became convinced 

 that the practical value of Canon 5 is so great that the considerations 

 just adduced should be allowed no weight at all. 



Once more : Childers's designations of suttas 1 and 16 of the Digha- 

 nikaya, to wit, of the Brahmajala-sutta and the Mahaparinibbana-sutta, 

 are Br. J. S. and Par. S., and, for Buddhaghosa's commentary on those 

 two suttas respectively, Br. J. S. A. and Par. S. A. Even as late as 

 1902, List 10 has M. P. S. for the latter sutta. Now undeniably these 

 two are suttas of transcendent importance, and these designations were 

 entirely excusable, or indeed hardly objectionable, in Childers's time, 

 because printed suttas were then so few that no serious complications 

 arose. But if to-day we were to invent analogous abbreviations for the 

 titles of each one of the 34 suttas of the Digha and of the 152 of the 

 Majjhima, to say nothing of the multitudinous suttas of the Sarjyutta 

 (7762) 18 and Anguttara (9557), 18 the result would prove bewildering, 

 intolerable, futile. We should simply be driven to writing each sutta- 

 title out in full. And yet even this would not suffice : for although 

 "Antelope-shin sutta" (S., I. 16), as a title, is distinctive enough, 

 there are, for instance, more " Loka-suttas " in the Sarjyutta than 

 there are volumes in the edition. 



Again : It is inadvisable to lengthen the list of abbreviations by 

 including designations of such small and insignificant texts as the 

 Cha-kesa-dhatu-varjsa (11 pages in JPTS.1885). 



To make an end : Not even because a given book is of modest com- 

 pass and purpose may its author disregard this canon. Andersen's 

 Glossary is intended merely for the text of his Reader and of the 

 Dhamma-pada. His abbreviations (List 8) are so few that he might 

 naturally ask, Do they not serve well enough, considering how few the 

 volumes are to which I refer 1 The answer is Yes, if that is all there 

 is to the question ; and a most emphatic No, if you are to use his book 

 (where, for example, SN. means Sarjyutta-nikaya) on the same day 

 with various others (see Table II) in which S.N. means Sutta-nipata. 



18 These are Buddhaghosa's numbers (D.cm., I. 23).* Mrs. Davids (S., VI. 

 204-233) indexes about 1150 sutta-titles for the Sarjyutta; and Hardy (A., V. 

 p. vi.) gives 2344 as the number for the Anguttara. 



