GUIDE TO TIPITAKA

Of the five Nikćyas, Khuddaka Nikćya contains the largest number of treatises (as listed below) and the most numerous categories of dhamma. Although the word “Khuddaka” literally means “minor” or “small”, the actual content of this collection can by no means be regarded as minor, including as it does the two major divisions of the PiĄaka, namely, the Vinaya PiĄaka and the Abhidhamma PiĄaka according to one system of classification. The miscellaneous nature of this collection, containing not only the discourses by the Buddha but compilations of brief doctrinal notes mostly in verse, accounts of personal struggles and achievements by theras and theris also in verse, the birth stories, the history of the Buddhas etc., may account for its title.