Evaṃ me sutaṃ

[Sekha]

Can anyone help explaining why these words are found at the beginning of some suttas and not others?

[Mawkish1983]

My understanding is that those suttas were remembered by Ven. Ananda at the First Buddhist Council. It was sort of his 'thing'.

[David N. Snyder]

Evaṃ me sutaṃ (Thus, have I heard), Ven. Ananda's thing, as Mawkish said, for remembering the teachings, keeping the tradition oral until the Tipitaka was written down.

I found this article:

http://www.andrew-may.com/zendynamics/thus.htm

Some pertinent parts:

Almost all suttas in the Pali Canon open with the words Evam me sutam ("Thus [was] heard by me"), usually rendered "Thus have I heard". These words are invariably followed by Ekam samayam ("at one time" or "on one occasion"), after which comes either Bhagava ("the Lord") or the name of a leading disciple, and a statement of where he stayed or what he did. In fact these words "Thus have I heard" are so well known as an introduction to Pali suttas that Wisdom Publications gave this title to my translation of the Digha Nikaya which they brought out in 1987.

Now, in the new translation of the Udana by Peter Masefield, we find for each sutta the curious opening locution "So was there heard by me on one occasion when the Lord (was staying, etc.)".

One of these, which is not perhaps quite decisive, is that in the Itivuttaka the solitary Pali sutta text which does not have this formula, is replaced by a more elaborate formulation. Here, each small sutta opens with the words Vuttam hetam bhagavata vuttam-arahata ti me sutam, which Woodward renders: "This was said by the Exalted One, said by the Arahant; so have I heard". This formula is followed by the direct words of the Buddha with no mention of "on one occasion".

[Sekha]

well thank you,

but still the question remains...

[Bankei]

Does any one know, are there any later works, ie non-canonical, that begin with these words, evam me suttam....?

[Sekha]

I would be surprised. It wouldn't make any sense.

[Cittasanto]

well thank you,

but still the question remains...

does it?
the words are there to indicate that the sutta was recited initially at the first council by Ananda. if it doesn't say Evaṃ me sutaṃ it wasn't credited to Ananda rather someone else, who may be un-named, or named as in the case of Venerable Upāli who uses tena samayena.

It is certainly not impossible that some of the suttas were recited by another, later to be credited to Ananda or another, or that some are a later addition, or anthology type text, but the words are there to indicate Ananda.

[Sekha]

yes, I know about Ananda.

So you are suggesting Ananda did not account for all the suttas of the sutta pitaka? I thought so. Because of the story of his 8th condition to become the Buddha's attendant, by which he has heard all the suttas uttered by the Buddha for the remaining time of his life.

In that case, it would be an explanation

thank you

[Cittasanto]

how many conditions?
I thought there were less?

there is another option which isn't in the range [edit - should say, my knowledge of ] of this sub-forum so appologies

the phrase may indicate the finalisation at the council approved by the sangha as what was said and formally recited for the first time by Ananda, as I believe there is reference to some monks disagreeing with the choice of phrases . . . . maybe one of our Venerable friends may shed light on this? I do believe it was one of their posts which mentioned something like that anyway.

[Sekha]

for Ananda's conditions you may look up here: http://www.buddhistelibrary.org/buddhis ... 12lbud.htm

thank you for contributing. Hoping one Bhante will come to rescue us from ignorance

[Cittasanto]

chears,

if I see a post by the venerable I have in mind, I'll PM him

[Paññāsikhara]

Can anyone help explaining why these words are found at the beginning of some suttas and not others?

If you give a brief outline of which texts have "evam me sutam" at the start, and which do not, that may give you a clue.

The issue of how Ananda heard these is also there:
1. Ananda recites at the convocation, saying "thus it was heard by me", meaning that he heard it when the Buddha said that teaching.
2. Ananda recites at the convocation, saying "thus it was heard by me", meaning that somebody told him that the Buddha gave such a teaching.

Even the 8th condition may imply that all those teachings given before Ananda became attendant would either not have been heard, or at most, are type #2 above. Those teachings given whilst attendant, but not present, would also be #2. Only those where he was present would be #1.

Viz "the case of Venerable Upāli who uses tena samayena" is vis-a-vis "ekam samaye", not vis-a-vis "evam me sutam" I think.

Now, for the "ekam samaye", there are differences of opinion:
1. "Thus it was heard by me at one time. The Buddha was staying at ..., with ...", etc.
2. "Thus it was heard by me. At one time, the Buddha was staying at ..., with ...", etc.

Now, #1 is possibly more like type #2 above, when it is heard later after the fact.

Don't know whether or not that answers the question, but maybe some food for thought. ...

[mythree]

"Evam Me sutam" Means thus have i heard according to my pali knowledge...as its said by Ven.Ananda @ the 1st Buddhist Council. in sanskrit Evam Me Sutam = Evam Maya Shratum ... you can see it in some mahayana sutras begins like that.but i think as most of the mahayana sutras are written down after the Asoka period they add up the Evam Maya shratum part to show that this particular sutra was also preached at the 1st council.

[tiltbillings]

Does any one know, are there any later works, ie non-canonical, that begin with these words, evam me suttam....?

The 14th cent CE text called the Anagatavamsa is a rare example.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/bits/bits102.htm

[yuttadhammo]

Ananda: evaṃ me sutaṃ = lit. "thus by me [it has been] heard"
Khujjuttara: vuttañhetaṃ bhagavatā, vuttamarahatāti me sutaṃ = "this too was spoken by the Blessed One; spoken by the Arahant thus (iti) by me [it has been] heard."
Upali: tena samayena = "during that time"

According to the commentarial tradition, the suttas or discourses of the Itivuttaka were collected by the woman lay-disciple Khujjuttara from sermons given by the Buddha while he was staying at Kosambi. Khujjuttara was a servant of Samavati, the consort of King Udena. She had become a stream-enterer after meeting the Buddha and subsequently converted the women of the palace headed by Samavati to the teaching. She used to go regularly to listen to the Buddha and then later repeated what she had heard to the other women. The collection of these sayings became the Itivuttaka. It is said that the emphatic statements at the beginning and end of each of the suttas, reproduced here only in the first and last, were made by Khujjuttara to stress that they were the Buddha's words and not her own.

Whether or not this story is true, the Itivuttaka is the only book in the Pali Canon that introduces and concludes its suttas in this fashion, and it is from the opening statement that the title is derived: "This was said (vuttam) by the Lord ... so (iti) I heard" -- hence Itivuttaka, "The So-was-said" or "Sayings."

http://www.vipassana.com/canon/khuddaka ... .php#intro