Nikaya, Nikāya, Nikâya: 22 definitions
Introduction:
Nikaya means something in Buddhism, Pali, Hinduism, Sanskrit, the history of ancient India, Jainism, Prakrit, Hindi. If you want to know the exact meaning, history, etymology or English translation of this term then check out the descriptions on this page. Add your comment or reference to a book if you want to contribute to this summary article.
Alternative spellings of this word include Nikay.
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In Buddhism
Theravada (major branch of Buddhism)
Nikaya means "body" or collection.
Theravāda is a major branch of Buddhism having the the Pali canon (tipitaka) as their canonical literature, which includes the vinaya-pitaka (monastic rules), the sutta-pitaka (Buddhist sermons) and the abhidhamma-pitaka (philosophy and psychology).
Mahayana (major branch of Buddhism)
Nikāya (निकाय) refers to the “two assemblies (of gods)”, according to the Gaganagañjaparipṛcchā: the eighth chapter of the Mahāsaṃnipāta (a collection of Mahāyāna Buddhist Sūtras).—Accordingly, “What then, son of good family, is the recollection of gods (devānusmṛti), which is authorized by the Lord for Bodhisattvas? It is the recollection of two assemblies of gods (deva-nikāya). What are these two? The gods of the Pure Abode, and the Bodhisattvas hindered by only one birth, who dwell in the Tuṣita Heaven. In that the Bodhisattva recollects the gods of the Pure Abode. Further, the Bodhisattvas who are hindered by only one birth, and who dwell in the Tuṣita Heaven recollect ten qualities as the summit. What are those ten qualities?”
Mahayana (महायान, mahāyāna) is a major branch of Buddhism focusing on the path of a Bodhisattva (spiritual aspirants/ enlightened beings). Extant literature is vast and primarely composed in the Sanskrit language. There are many sūtras of which some of the earliest are the various Prajñāpāramitā sūtras.
General definition (in Buddhism)
Nikāya is a Pāḷi word and literally means "volume". It is similar to the Sanskrit word Agama meaning "basket". It is also used to mean "collection", "assemblage", "class" or "group" in both the Pāḷi and Sanskrit languages. It is most commonly used in reference to the Buddhist texts of the Sutta Piṭaka, but can also refer to the monastic divisions of Theravāda Buddhism. In addition, the term Nikāya schools is sometimes used in contemporary scholarship to refer to the early Buddhist schools, of which the Theravāda is one.
In the Theravāda canon (in particular, the "Discourse Basket" or Sutta Piṭaka) the meaning of nikāya is used to describe groupings of discourses. For example, the Sutta Piṭaka is broken up into five nikāyas:
- the Dīgha Nikāya, the collection of long (Pāḷi: dīgha) discourses
- the Majjhima Nikāya, the collection of middle-length (majjhima) discourses
- the Samyutta Nikāya, the collection of thematically linked (samyutta) discourses
- the Anguttara Nikāya, the "gradual collection" (discourses grouped by content enumerations)
- the Khuddaka Nikāya, the "minor collection"
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".
India history and geography
Nikāya.—(EI 7), a religious corporation. (EI 18; LL), a Buddhist school or community; a frater- nity of Buddhist monks. Cf. Kaulika-nikāya (LL), a guild of the Kaulikas or weavers. (CII 1), a class or group. Note: nikāya is defined in the “Indian epigraphical glossary” as it can be found on ancient inscriptions commonly written in Sanskrit, Prakrit or Dravidian languages.
The history of India traces the identification of countries, villages, towns and other regions of India, as well as mythology, zoology, royal dynasties, rulers, tribes, local festivities and traditions and regional languages. Ancient India enjoyed religious freedom and encourages the path of Dharma, a concept common to Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism.
Languages of India and abroad
Pali-English dictionary
nikāya : (m.) a group; sect; a collection.
Nikāya, (Sk. nikāya, ni+kāya) collection (“body”) assemblage, class, group; 1. generally (always —°): eka° one class of beings DhsA. 66; tiracchāna° the animal kingdom S. III, 152; deva° the assembly of the gods, the gods D. II, 261 (60); M. I, 102; S. IV, 180; A. III, 249; IV, 461; PvA. 136; satta° the world of beings, the animate creation, a class of living beings S. II, 2, 42, 44; M. I, 49 (tesaṃ tesaṃ sattānaṃ tamhi tamhi s. -nikāye of all beings in each class); Vbh. 137; PvA. 134.—2. especially the coll. of Buddhist Suttas, as the 5 sections of the Suttanta Piṭaka, viz. Dīgha°, Majjhima°, Saṃyutta°, Aṅguttara° (referred to as D. M. S. A. in Dictionaryquotations), Khuddaka°; enumerated PvA. 2; Anvs p. 35; DhA. II, 95 (dhammāsanaṃ āruyha pañcahi nikāyehi atthañ ca kāraṇañ ca ākaḍḍhitvā). The five Nikāyas are enumerated also at Vism. 711; one is referred to at SnA 195 (pariyāpuṇāti master by heart). See further details under piṭaka. Cp. nekāyika. (Page 352)
nikāya (နိကာယ) [(pu) (ပု)]—
[ni+ci+ṇa．ci caye,niciyate chādīyateti nikāyo,yamhicissa kādeso nipātanā．,ṭī．2va6-7．sadhammīnaṃ samānadhammānameva jantūnaṃ gaṇo nikāyo nāma,yathā ]]bhikkhunīkāyo]] ti．ci caye,ṇo．nibbisesena cinoti avayaveti nikāyo．,ṭī．632．nikāyo geharāsisu．．11va4．ni+ciku,samānaprā-ṇisaṅgheç nivāse ca．thoma．(nikāya-saṃ,ṇikāya-prā)]
[နိ+စိ+ဏ။ စိ စယေ၊ နိစိယတေ ဆာဒီယတေတိ နိကာယော၊ ယမှိစိဿ ကာဒေသော နိပါတနာ။ ဓာန်၊ဋီ။၂ဝ၆-၇။ သဓမ္မီနံ သမာနဓမ္မာနမေဝ ဇန္တူနံ ဂဏော နိကာယော နာမ၊ ယထာ ＂ဘိက္ခုနီကာယော＂ တိ။ စိ စယေ၊ ဏော။ နိဗ္ဗိသေသေန စိနောတိ အဝယဝေတိ နိကာယော။ ဓာန်၊ဋီ။၆၃၂။နိကာယော ဂေဟရာသိသု။ ဓာန်။၁၁ဝ၄။နိ+စိဃဉ်ကုတွမ်၊ သမာနဓမ်ပြာ-ဏိသင်္ဃေ,နိဝါသေ စ။ ထောမ။ (နိကာယ-သံ၊ ဏိကာယ-ပြာ)]
[Pali to Burmese]
nikāya—
(Burmese text): (၁) တည်နေရာ၊ အိမ်။ (၂) အပေါင်းအစု၊ ဂိုဏ်း-နိကာယ်။ (က) သတ္တဝါအပေါင်းအစု၊ သတ္တနိကာယ်။ (ခ) အာပတ်အပေါင်းအစု။ (ဂ) ရဟန်းအပေါင်းအစု။ (ဃ) ဗြဟ္မာအပေါင်းအစု။
(Auto-Translation): (1) Location, home. (2) Group, congregation - category. (a) Animal group, species. (b) Water group. (c) Monk group. (d) Brahmin group.
Pali is the language of the Tipiṭaka, which is the sacred canon of Theravāda Buddhism and contains much of the Buddha’s speech. Closeley related to Sanskrit, both languages are used interchangeably between religions.
Sanskrit dictionary
Nikāya (निकाय).—[ni-ci-ghañ kutvam]
1) A heap, an assemblage, a class, multitude, flock, group in general; Mv.1. निकाय इति सङ्घात् औत्तराधर्येणावस्थित उच्यते (nikāya iti saṅghāt auttarādharyeṇāvasthita ucyate) | ŚB. on MS. 8.1.19; तप्तहेमनिकायाभं शितिकण्ठं त्रिलोचनम् (taptahemanikāyābhaṃ śitikaṇṭhaṃ trilocanam) (vīkṣya) Bhāg. 4.24.25.
2) A congregation, school, an association of persons who perform like duties.
3) A house, habitation dwelling-place; Manusmṛti 1.36; काशीनिकायः (kāśīnikāyaḥ) &c.
4) The body.
5) Aim, butt, mark.
6) The Supreme Being.
7) Ved. Air, wind; Vāj.15.5.
Derivable forms: nikāyaḥ (निकायः).
Nikāya (निकाय).—(1) (as in Sanskrit, but nt., in Sanskrit m.) collection, group: yena…deva-nikāyaṃ tenopasaṃkrameyaṃ Mahāvastu i.54.13; Buddha is saptabhiś ca nikāyaiḥ saṃpuraskṛto Divyāvadāna 159.15; (2) (= Pali id.) ‘collection’ of sūtras in the Buddhist canon, or more loosely, the canon collectively: nikāya-gati-saṃbhavāt Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra 292.13, from (having their) origin in the course of the canon, and °gati-gotrā(ḥ) 16, said of the abhijñā (psychic powers, Suzuki) as acquired by orthodox canonical lore; Suzuki misunderstands the meaning, which is made clear by naikāyika, q.v., shortly after; (3) school (of religious opinion), in nikāyāntarīya, q.v. (orig. and lit., no doubt, canon as under 2). The four Nikāyas of the Pali canon are usually called Āgamas in [Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit].
Nikāya (निकाय).—m.
(-yaḥ) An assemblage of persons performing like duties, a congregation, an audience. 2. A flock, a multitude. 3. A butt, a mark. 4. A house, habitation. 5. The Supreme Being. 6. The body. E. ni in or within, ci to collect, affix ghañ, and ka substituted for the radical initial.
--- OR ---
Nikāya (निकाय) or Nikāyya.—m.
(-yaḥ) A house. E. ni in or within, ci to collect, affix ṇyat kutvam .
Nikāya (निकाय).—i. e. ni-ci + a, m. 1. An assemblage, a class, [Mānavadharmaśāstra] 1, 36. 2. A multitude, [Bhāgavata-Purāṇa, (ed. Burnouf.)] 4, 24, 25. 3. A house, a dwelling-place, [Rāmāyaṇa] 4, 44, 31.
Nikāya (निकाय).—[masculine] group, class, troop, assemblage, multitude.
1) Nikāya (निकाय):—[=ni-kāya] m. (√1. ci) a heap, an assemblage, a group, class, association ([especially] of persons who perform the same duties), [Manu-smṛti; Mahābhārata] etc.
2) [v.s. ...] congregation, school, [Buddhist literature]
3) [v.s. ...] collection (of, [Buddhist literature] Sūtras, there are 5 [Monier-Williams’ Buddhism 62, 63])
4) [v.s. ...] habitation, dwelling, hiding-place, [Rāmāyaṇa] (cf. [Pāṇini 3-3, 41])
5) [v.s. ...] the body, [Śvetāśvatara-upaniṣad]
6) [v.s. ...] the air, wind, [Vājasaneyi-saṃhitā xv, 5 (Mahidh.) ]
7) [v.s. ...] aim, mark, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
8) [v.s. ...] the Supreme Being, [cf. Lexicographers, esp. such as amarasiṃha, halāyudha, hemacandra, etc.]
1) Nikāya (निकाय):—(yaḥ) 1. m. Congregation; a flock; a house; a mark or butt; the Supreme Being.
2) (yyaḥ) 1. m. A house.
Nikāya (निकाय):—(von 1. ci mit ni); Accent eines auf nikāya ausgehenden comp. [Pāṇini’s acht Bücher 6, 2, 94.]
1) Gruppe, Klasse, Verein [Pāṇini’s acht Bücher 3, 3, 42.] [Amarakoṣa 2, 5, 42.] [Trikāṇḍaśeṣa 3, 3, 314.] [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 1413.] [Anekārthasaṃgraha 3, 491.] [Medinīkoṣa y. 86.] [Halāyudha 4, 1.] de.āndevanikāyāṃśca (u. devanikāya falsch erklärt) [Manu’s Gesetzbuch 1, 36.] devanikāyānāṃ sendrāṇāṃ ca divaukasām [Mahābhārata 1, 4804. 2, 482.] [SUNDOP. 3, 29.] [Harivaṃśa 183.] sarvadevanikāyāśca siddhāśca paramarṣayaḥ [Mahābhārata 4, 1772. 9, 2499.] divaukasāṃ nikāyāśca śataśo nye samāgatāḥ [Harivaṃśa 7215.] caturvidhāmartya [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi 63.] nikāyā bhūtasaṃghānām [Mahābhārata 9, 2473. 2497.] bhūtanikāyāḥ [7, 2409. 2420.] sarvasattva [Bhāgavatapurāṇa 3, 5, 8.] sakalajīva [5, 1, 27.] bhikṣuka [Pāṇini’s acht Bücher 3, 3, 42,] [Scholiast] mauṇḍi, brāhmaṇa [6, 2, 94, Scholiast] Schule [Hiouen-Thsang I, 204.] sabhāga [Vyutpatti oder Mahāvyutpatti 59.] Haufe, Menge überh. [Medinīkoṣa] mahāṃgomayanikāyaḥ [Pāṇini’s acht Bücher 3, 3, 41,] [Scholiast] taptahema [Bhāgavatapurāṇa 4, 24, 25.] —
2) Wohnort [Vopadeva’s Grammatik 26, 174.] [Trikāṇḍaśeṣa] [Hemacandra’s Anekārthasaṃgraha] [Medinīkoṣa] kāśī [Pāṇini’s acht Bücher 3, 3, 41,] [Scholiast] [Hemacandra’s Abhidhānacintāmaṇi.94.] Schlupfwinkel: tasya sarvanikāyeṣu nirjhareṣu guhāsu ca . rāvaṇaḥ saha vaidehyā mārgitavyastatastataḥ [Rāmāyaṇa 4, 44, 31.] —
3) Körper (nach []): yathānikāyam [ŚVETĀŚV. Upakośā 3, 7.] —
4) Wind (nach [Mahīdhara]) [Vājasaneyisaṃhitā 15, 5.] —
5) Ziel [Hemacandra’s Anekārthasaṃgraha] [Medinīkoṣa] —
6) die Allseele diess.
Nikāya (निकाय):—m. —
1) Gruppe , Klasse , Verein. —
2) *Schule (buddh.). —
3) Haufe , Menge. —
4) Schlupfwinkel. —
5) *Wohnort. —
6) der Körper. —
7) Wind. —
8) *Zeit. —
9) *die Allseele.
Nikāya (निकाय) in the Sanskrit language is related to the Prakrit word: Ṇikāya.
Sanskrit, also spelled संस्कृतम् (saṃskṛtam), is an ancient language of India commonly seen as the grandmother of the Indo-European language family (even English!). Closely allied with Prakrit and Pali, Sanskrit is more exhaustive in both grammar and terms and has the most extensive collection of literature in the world, greatly surpassing its sister-languages Greek and Latin.
Hindi dictionary
Nikāya (निकाय) [Also spelled nikay]:—(nm) a body; system.
...
Prakrit-English dictionary
1) Ṇikāya (णिकाय) in the Prakrit language is related to the Sanskrit word: Nikāca.
2) Ṇikāya (णिकाय) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Nikāya.
3) Ṇikāya (णिकाय) also relates to the Sanskrit word: Nikāca.
Prakrit is an ancient language closely associated with both Pali and Sanskrit. Jain literature is often composed in this language or sub-dialects, such as the Agamas and their commentaries which are written in Ardhamagadhi and Maharashtri Prakrit. The earliest extant texts can be dated to as early as the 4th century BCE although core portions might be older.
Kannada-English dictionary
Nikāya (ನಿಕಾಯ):—
1) [noun] a heap; an assemblage; a multitude, flock; a group in general.
2) [noun] one’s normal place of dwelling; a house; habitation.
3) [noun] the physical structure of a human being or animal; the body.
4) [noun] a target; an aim.
5) [noun] the Supreme Being; the God.
6) [noun] air; wind.
7) [noun] any of the five divisions of the Buddhist scripture 'ಸುತ್ತಪಿಟಕ [suttapitaka]'.
Kannada is a Dravidian language (as opposed to the Indo-European language family) mainly spoken in the southwestern region of India.
Nepali dictionary
Nikāya (निकाय):—n. 1. group; body (of a person); 2. a unit; 3. residence; 4. body; 5. aim; target; 6. house; organization;
Nepali is the primary language of the Nepalese people counting almost 20 million native speakers. The country of Nepal is situated in the Himalaya mountain range to the north of India.
See also (Relevant definitions)
Partial matches: The, The, Mi, Kaya, Ci, Te, Ni, Ce, Na, Nikaya.
Starts with (+2): Nikayabheda, Nikayadhara, Nikayadvayaggahana, Nikayam, Nikayan, Nikayana, Nikayanama, Nikayantara, Nikayantaragata, Nikayantaraladdhi, Nikayantaraladdhidosa, Nikayantaraladdhisankarapariharana, Nikayantarika, Nikayantariya, Nikayasadda, Nikayasamaggi, Nikayasamgraha, Nikayasamudayagata, Nikayasangaha, Nikayasantaka.
Full-text (+994): Devanikaya, Yathanikayam, Jivanikaya, Khuddakanikaya, Shatrunikaya, Majjhima Nikaya, Maundinikaya, Anguttara-nikaya, Dighanikaya, Vinicchinati, Kukkutanikaya, Nikayasadda, Padanikaya, Upaddhanikaya, Uppannanikaya, Apattinikaya, Asuranikaya, Mulanikaya, Adinikaya, Tavatimsadevanikaya.
Relevant text
Search found 155 books and stories containing Nikaya, Ni-ci-na, Ni-ci-ṇa, Ni-kaya, Ni-kāya, Nikāya, Nikâya, Ṇikāya, Nikayas, The nikayas; (plurals include: Nikayas, nas, ṇas, kayas, kāyas, Nikāyas, Nikâyas, Ṇikāyas, Nikayases, The nikayases). You can also click to the full overview containing English textual excerpts. Below are direct links for the most relevant articles:
Philosophy of language in the Five Nikayas (by K.T.S. Sarao)
5. Paññā (‘wisdom’) as a Light and a Sharp Sword < [Chapter 4 - Philosophy of Language in the Five Nikāyas]
10. The Characteristic of Non-Self (anattā) < [Chapter 4 - Philosophy of Language in the Five Nikāyas]
8. The Dependent Origination (paṭiccasamuppāda) < [Chapter 4 - Philosophy of Language in the Five Nikāyas]
Dasabhumika Sutra (translation and study) (by Hwa Seon Yoon)
Part 2 - Bhumi Doctrine and the Theravada Scheme Leading to Nibbana < [Chapter 1 - Introduction]
Part 1.10 - Upekkha or Upeksa Paramita (the perfection of Equanimity) < [Chapter 3 - Study: Paramitas or Perfections]
Part 3.4 - Linguistic features of the Dasabhumika Sutra < [Chapter 1 - Introduction]
The Catu-Bhanavara-Pali (critical study) (by Moumita Dutta Banik)
(5) Isigili Sutta < [Chapter 3 - Subject Matter of the Second Bhanavara]
(16) Dhajagga Sutta < [Chapter 2 - Subject Matter of the First Bhanavara]
Efficiency of Paritta (Buddhist protecting charms) < [Chapter 1 - Introduction]
Vasudevahindi (cultural history) (by A. P. Jamkhedkar)
Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh (early history) (by Prakash Narayan)
Small Traders < [Chapter 2 - Economic and Urban Processes]
Hanging Nations of Gohapati < [Chapter 2 - Economic and Urban Processes]
Embodied Transcendence: The Buddha’s Body in the Pāli Nikāyas < [Volume 12, Issue 3 (2021)]
Educational Applications of Buddhist Meditations on Death < [Volume 11, Issue 6 (2020)]
Teaching, Learning and the Buddha < [Volume 14, Issue 9 (2023)]