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The fourth book of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, the Collection of the Numbered Discourses of the Buddha, collects 783 suttas or discourses whose themes are centered on groups of four topics. For example, suttas are collected that speak of the four elements. Groups of four give rise to repetitions of the type A, B, A and B and not A and not B, or even A, not A, A and not A and not A or not A. They are also used using four of the five precepts, or groups of three to which is added a third component such as belief, for example. Although this is a book made to be read, it is of little or no interest. Only some sutta can be interesting, although there is none that has a theme that is not intensively explained in the Saṃyutta Nikaya. As an anecdote, it is worth noting the suttas AN 4.61 where it says that "with his legitimate wealth he defends himself against the threats of things like fire, floods, rulers, bandits or hateful heirs" and AN 4.120, which tells us that the four dangers are "fire, floods, rulers and bandits". It is not the only time that the Buddha puts the critical focus on the figure of the rulers whose functions are against all ethics, since their work consists precisely in stealing, killing and lying. On the opposite side and marked with a double asterisk (**), we find this time with up to six false suttas. AN 4.76: In Kusinārā, the Buddha says he is sure that in his Saṅgha at least everyone has entered the stream… Ānanda himself being there. This is another sutta with a clear interpolation in defense of the attendant. AN 4.118: Inspirational, which is the precursor to a travel brochure in which the Buddha supposedly invites devotees to make a pilgrimage to the four most emblematic sites… including where he would die. AN 4.127: Incredible things about the Tataghata, some of which are incredible, like the galactic lights. AN 4.129: Incredible things about Ānanda. Another interpolation of propaganda in favor of the assistant. AN 4.130: Four unbelievable and amazing things about a monarch who spins the wheel, in which we again interpolate propaganda in favor of the assistant, equating him with a universal monarch. AN 4.187: With Vassakāra, the gossip. A strange sutta in which a brahmin tells a gossip to the Buddha, which has to do with the plot of the text. In summary, an arduous and exhaustive work of investigation and reconstruction to make known some texts that, truly, do not contain anything that is of real interest.

The Book of Fours - Aṅguttara Nikāya

SKU: AN04
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  • Aṅguttara Nikāya

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