The text of Mahàsatipaññhànasutta presented here has been established through a comparison of 4 editions of the text, none of which are completely satisfactory, though PTS, which was compared last of all, appears to have the more reliable readings, but is greatly marred by excessive ellipsis, and inconsistency.

It may be noted here, that the manuscript tradition does in fact greatly abbreviate the discourses, but that the ola-leafs would have normally be read out aloud by a bhàõaka (recitor) who would have filled in the repetitions, the written text being but an aide-de-memoir to such a person. However nowadays when the texts are being read by people who certainly do not have the texts by heart, it seems more appropriate to print them in full for ease of recitation, a practice that is to be in every way encouraged, as it helps the teaching to sink into the heart.

I have taken a conservative approach in establishing the text, believing that there is unlikely to have been loss in textual matter in such an important work; but that additions are quite likely, especially when they bring the discourse into line with other readings found elsewhere in the Canon. This process of standardisation has probably been at work throughout the history of the textual transmission, but there seems to be no good reason for it to continue now. The additional readings found in the various editions are recorded in the notes.

An important exception to this is in the inclusion of the two lines in the synopsis of the section on the Truths in Dhammànupassanà, and their analysis in what follows. If these lines are not to be included here then they do not occur in the early texts at all, and must have come in from the Suttantabhàjanãyaü analysis of the Truths in the Abhidhamma Vibhaïga, a situation that seems to me inherently unlikely.

 

Texts and Abbreviations

(BJT) Sinhala edition:

Buddha Jayanti Tripiñaka Series, Vol VIII, published Colombo (1976).

Comment: this was the basis of the current text, but there are many problems with the printed edition both in terms of omissions and commissions. Which books and ola-leaf manuscripts were consulted in the preparation of the work is also not mentioned. The text is printed in full apart from the sections on the 2nd and 3rd Noble Truths, in the Ariyasaccapabbaü.

(ChS) Burmese edition:

Mahàsatipaññhàna Suttaü; revised edition Igatpuri, April 1993.

Comment: there is some evidence of standardisation and what appear to be a number of additions in this edition, though the proof-reading is much better than in BJT. The text is printed in full apart from the closing section (Satipaññhànabhàvanànisaüsà), which is greatly abbreviated.

(PTS) European edition:

Pali Text Society; ed. T.W. Rhys Davids and J.E. Carpenter, London 1903, reprinted 1995.

Comment: this text in terms of readings is the best of the texts compared, but it has a number of inconsistencies and some poor proof-reading, and is marred, like most PTS texts, by being greatly abbreviated in places, to such an extent that it would be difficult to reconstruct the text with this alone as a guide.

(Only):

The Only Path to Nibbana, Mahà Satipaññhàna Sutta, by Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero, Singapore, 1999.

Comment: the editor claims this is a re-established text, correcting the text as printed elsewhere. No sources for the readings are given, but it mainly follows PTS. The text as printed contains a number of elementary mistakes and idiosyncratic readings that do not seem to have any real authority. The text is the only one that is printed in full.

 

Translations consulted:

The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, from The Long Discourses of the Buddha, a translation of the Dãgha Nikàya, by Maurice Walshe; Wisdom Publications, Boston 1995.

Comment: a popular, rather abbreviated and simplified (though not neccesarily wrong) translation with basic doctrinal notes.

The Only Path to Nibbana, Mahà Satipaññhàna Sutta, by Ven. Weragoda Sarada Maha Thero, Singapore, 1999.

Comment: there are many inconsistencies in the translation, which is made into rather poor English.

Mahàsatipaññhàna Suttaü, revised edition published Igatpuri, April 1993.

Comment: idosyncratic translation according to the teachings given in the Goenka meditation system.

The Foundations of Mindfulness, from The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, a translation of the Majjhima Nikàya, by Bhikkhu ¥àõamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi.

Comment: translation of the Majjhima version of the discourse, which is easily the best translation commercially available at the present time, clear and accurate, with excellent doctrinal notes drawn mainly from the commentaries by Bhikkhu Bodhi.

The Way of Mindfulness, the Satipaññhàna Sutta And Its Commentary, by Soma Thera (translation of M. 10); 6th revised edition published by W.A.V.E., Kuala Lumpur, 1999.

Comment: the translation is of the Majjhima version of the sutta (MN 10), and the commentarial material from the Atthakathà and òãkà. A very useful work and quite reliable translation of the discourse, but the translations from the commentaries are sometimes merely paraphrases.