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{{Short description|Pāḷi word meaning "volume"}}
{{Italic title|reason=[[:Category:Pali words and phrases]]}}
{{Buddhism|terse=1}}
{{About|the word nikāya in general|the non-derogatory substitute for Hinayana|Nikaya Buddhism}}'''''Nikāya''''' ({{lang|pi|निकाय}}) is a [[Pali|Pāli]] word meaning "volume". It is often used like the [[Sanskrit]] word ''[[Āgama (Buddhism)|āgama]]'' ({{lang|sa|आगम}}) to mean "collection", "assemblage", "class" or "group" in both Pāḷi and Sanskrit.<ref>Rhys Davids & Stede (1921-25), p. 352, entry for "Nikāya" at [https://archive.today/20120708040221/http://dsal.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/getobject.pl?c.2:1:6.pali] (retrieved 2007-11-06).</ref> It is most commonly used in reference to the Pali [[Buddhist texts]] of the [[Tripitaka]] namely those found in the [[Sutta Pitaka|Sutta Piṭaka]]. It is also used to refer to monastic lineages, where it is sometimes translated as a 'monastic fraternity'.

The term [[Nikaya Buddhism|''Nikāya'' Buddhism]] is sometimes used in contemporary scholarship to refer to the Buddhism of the [[early Buddhist schools]].

==Text collections==
{{Seealso|Pali Canon|Sutta Piṭaka}}
In the [[Pāli Canon]], particularly, the "Discourse Basket" or ''Sutta Piṭaka'', the meaning of ''nikāya'' is roughly equivalent to the English ''collection'' and is used to describe groupings of discourses according to theme, length, or other categories.  For example, the ''Sutta Piṭaka'' is broken up into five nikāyas:
* the [[Digha Nikaya|Dīgha Nikāya]], the collection of long (Pāḷi: ''dīgha'') discourses
* the [[Majjhima Nikaya|Majjhima Nikāya]], the collection of middle-length (''majjhima'') discourses
* the [[Samyutta Nikaya|Samyutta Nikāya]], the collection of thematically linked (''samyutta'') discourses
* the [[Anguttara Nikaya|Anguttara Nikāya]], the "gradual collection" (discourses grouped by content enumerations)
* the [[Khuddaka Nikaya|Khuddaka Nikāya]], the "minor collection"

In the other early Buddhist schools the alternate term ''āgama'' was used instead of nikāya to describe their ''Sutra Piṭaka''s. Thus the non-[[Mahayana|Mahāyāna]] portion of the Sanskrit-language ''Sutra Piṭaka'' is referred to as "the Āgamas" by Mahāyāna Buddhists. The Āgamas survive for the most part only in [[Classical Tibetan]] and [[Chinese language|Chinese]] translation. They correspond closely with the Pāḷi nikāyas.<ref>{{cite book|last=Potter|first=Karl H.|title=Abhidharma Buddhism to 150 A.D. - Volume 7 of The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1996|page=24|ISBN=9788120808959}}</ref>

==Monastic divisions==
{{Seealso|Theravada#Monastic orders}}{{Theravada Buddhism|Orders}}
Among the Theravāda nations of Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka, ''nikāya'' is also used as the term for a monastic division or lineage; these groupings are also sometimes called "monastic fraternities" or "frateries".  Nikāyas may emerge among monastic groupings as a result of royal or government patronage (such as the [[Dhammayuttika Nikaya|Dhammayuttika Nikāya]] of Thailand), due to the national origin of their ordination lineage (the [[Siam Nikaya|Siam Nikāya]] of [[Sri Lanka]]), because of differences in the interpretation of the monastic code, or due to other factors (such as the [[Amarapura Nikaya|Amarapura Nikāya]] in Sri Lanka, which emerged as a reaction to caste restrictions within the Siam Nikāya).  These divisions do not rise to the level of forming separate sects within the Theravāda tradition, because they do not typically follow different doctrines or monastic codes, nor do these divisions extend to the laity.

{{Burmese monastic orders 2016}}
In Myanmar, all the monastic orders are called gaing ({{lang|my|ဂိုဏ်း}}) or [[gana|gaṇa]] ({{lang|my|ဂဏ}}) instead of nikāya, although some orders include Nikāya ({{lang|my|နိကာယ}}) in addition to Gaing in their names. No new gaings have been allowed other than the [[Buddhist sects in Myanmar#The nine sects of Sangha|nine legally recognized gaings]] under the 1990 Law Concerning Sangha Organizations.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gutter |first1=Peter |year=2001 |title=Law and Religion in Burma |journal=Legal Issues on Burma Journal |publisher=Burma Legal Council |page=10 |issue=8 |url=http://www.blc-burma.org/pdf/liob/liob8.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314215506/http://www.blc-burma.org/pdf/liob/liob8.pdf |archive-date=March 14, 2012 }}</ref> The largest of these is the [[Thudhamma Gaing]], which was founded in the 1800s during the [[Konbaung dynasty]].

== Nikaya Buddhism ==
{{Main|Nikaya Buddhism}}
The term Nikāya Buddhism was coined by [[Masatoshi Nagatomi|Masatoshi Nagatomifake]]  as a non-derogatory substitute for [[Hinayana]], meaning the [[early Buddhist schools]].<ref>[[Robert Thurman]] and Masatoshi Nagatomi of [[Harvard University]]: "'Nikaya Buddhism' is a coinage of Professor Masatoshi Nagatomi of Harvard University who suggested it to me as a usage for the eighteen schools of Indian Buddhism, to avoid the term 'Hinayana Buddhism,' which is found offensive by some members of the Theravada tradition."{{cite journal |last1=Thurman |first1=Robert |date=1981 |title=The emptiness that is compassion: an essay on Buddhist ethics |journal=Religious Traditions |volume=4 |page=fn 10}}</ref> Examples of these groups are [[pre-sectarian Buddhism]] and the early Buddhist schools. Some scholars exclude pre-sectarian Buddhism when using the term. The term [[Theravada]] refers to Buddhist practices based on these early teachings, as preserved in the [[Pāli Canon]].

==See also==
* [[Āgama (Buddhism)]]
* [[Early Buddhist schools]]
* [[Nikaya Buddhism]]
* [[Pali Canon|Pāḷi Canon]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* [[T.W. Rhys Davids|Rhys Davids, T.W.]] & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). ''The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary''. Chipstead: [[Pali Text Society]]. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.

{{Buddhism topics}}
{{Theravada Buddhist orders}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Theravada]]
[[Category:Pāli Canon]]
[[Category:Tripiṭaka]]