The Buddha's teachings, or the Dhamma-vinaya manifested by the Buddha, comprise 9 principal elements:

Sutta                     All sutta, such as Mankalasutta, including the Vinaya-pitaka and niddesa.
Geyya                    All sutta that include gatha (verses) such as Sagatha-vagga.
Veyyakarana         The Abhidhamma-pitaka, the sutta without gatha, and the Buddha's teachings that cannot be classified as the other 8 principal elements.
Gatha                    Dhammapada, Theragatha, Therigatha and gatha exclusively that are not called sutta in the Sutta-nipata.
Udana                   The 82 sutta exclaimed by the Buddha with Somanassa-nana (enlightened delight)
Itivuttaka              The 110 sutta beginning with Vuttam Hetam Bhagavata (True to the Buddha's teachings).
Jataka                   Past lives of the Buddha and his disciples, such as the Apannaka-jataka, altogether 550.
Abbhutadhamma   The sutta with acchariya-abbhutadhamma  (unprecedented supreme qualities)
Vedalla                  The sutta in the form of questions and answers generating knowledge and pleasure, such as Culavedallasutta.

 The Buddha's teachings comprising 84,000 dhammakhandha (articles), 82,000 of which the Venerable Ananda learned from the Buddha and 2,000 from the Bhikkhu such as the Venerable Sariputta.  A dhammakhandha is an item of dhamma, which could be a sutta, a question or an explanation.

The Vinaya-pitaka is composed of 5 books:
 Maha-vibhanga
 Bhikkhuni-vibhanga
 Maha-vagga
 Cula-vagga
 Parivara
The Atthakatha (commentary) explaining texts in the Vinaya-pitaka is Samantapasadika.

The Sutta-pitaka is composed of 5 nikaya (sections):
Digha-nikaya, a collection of the 34 long sutta divided into 3 vagga (chapters):
 Sila-khandha-vagga
 Maha-vagga
 Patika-vagga
The Atthakatha of the Digha-nikaya is Sumankalavilasini.

 Majjhima-nikaya, a collection of 152 medium sutta divided into 3 pannasaka:
Mula-pannasaka            comprises 5 vagga, each vagga 10 sutta, making altogether 50 sutta.
Majjhima-pannasaka     comprises 5 vagga, each vagga 10 sutta, making altogether 50 sutta.
Upari-pannasaka           comprises 5 vagga, 4 vagga with 10 sutta each, the fifth vagga with 12 sutta, making altogether 52 sutta.
 The Atthakatha of the Majjhima-nikaya is Papancasudani.

 Samyutta-nikaya categorizes the sutta into 5 great vagga:
  Sagatha-vagga             with 11 samyutta
  Nidana-vagga               with 9 samyutta
  Khandhavara-vagga     with 13 samyutta
  Salatana-vagga            with 10 samyutta
  Mahavara-vagga          with 12 samyutta
 The Atthakatha of the Samyutta-nikaya is Saratthapakasini.

 Anguttara-nikaya categorises the sutta according to the number of topics into 11 nipata:
  Eka-nipata             with 1 topic
  Duka-nipata          with 2 topics
  Tika-nipata            with 3 topics
  Catukka-nipata      with 4 topics
  Pancaka-nipata     with 5 topics
  Chakka-nipata       with 6 topics
  Sattaka-nipata       with 7 topics
  Atthaka-nipata      with 8 topics
  Navaka-nipata       with 9 topics
  Dasaka-nipata       with 10 topics
  Ekadasaka-nipata  with 11 topics
The Atthakatha of the Anguttara-nikaya is Manorathapurani.

 Khuddaka-nikaya comprises the Buddha's teachings other than those included in the previous 4 nikaya.  It includes Khuddakapata, Dhammapada, Udana, Itivuttaka, Sutta-nipata, Vimanavatthu, Petavatthu, Theragatha, Therigatha, Jataka, Maha-niddesa, Cula-niddesa, Patisambhida-magga, apadana, Buddhavamsa and Cariya-pitaka.
  The Atthakatha of the Khuddaka-nikaya are
Paramatthajotika             The commentary of Khuddakapata and Sutta-nipata.
Dhammapadatthakatha     The commentary of Dhammapada.
Paramatthadipani             The commentary of Udana, Itivuttaka, Petavatthu, Theragatha, Therigatha, Cariya-pitaka.
Paramatthadipani             The commentary of Vimanavatthu
(Vimalatthavilasini)
 Jatakatthakatha              The commentary of Jataka
Saddhammapajjotika        The commentary of Maha-niddesa, Cula-niddesa
Saddhammapakasini         The commentary of Patisambhida-magga
Visuddhajanavilasini          The commentary of apadana
Madhuratthavilasini          The commentary of Buddhavamsa

The Abhidhamma-pitaka is composed of 7 books:
Dhammangani-pakarana        of which the commentary is Atthasalini
Vibhanga-pakarana                  of which the commentary is Sammohavinodani
Dhatukatha-pakarana
Puggalapannatti-pakarana
Kathavatthu-pakarana            _ of which the commentary is Paramatthadipani
Yamaka-pakarana                                   Pancapakaranatthakatha
Patthana-pakarana

Most of the commentaries of the Tipitaka were translated and revised by the Venerable Buddhaghosacaraya from the original Atthakatha in Singhalese namely the Maha-atthakatha, the Maha-paccari and the Kurunadi, dated back to the time of the Venerable Mahindathera, the son of Asoka the Great, who introduced Buddhism to Sri Lanka.

Other than the Tika (sub-commentary), which explains passages in the Atthakatha and Atthayojana, namely the Saratthadipani (Tika for the Vinaya-
 pitaka), the Saratthamanjusa (Tika for the Sutta-pitaka), Paramatthapakasini (Tika for the Abhidhamma-pitaka) and AnuTika, which explains the terms in the Tika), Buddhist books written by venerable thera of later years worthy of attention are:

Milindapanha                           written by the Venerable Pitakaculabhaya circa B.E. 500
Visuddhimagga                        written by the Venerable Buddhaghosacaraya circa B.E. 1000
Abhidammatthasangaha          written by the Venerable Anuruddhacaraya circa B.E. 1000
Sarattha-sangaha                    written by the Venerable Nandacaraya circa B.E. 1000
Paramatthamanjusa                (Tika explaining Visuddhimagga) written by the venerable     Dhammapalacaraya
Saccasankhepa                         written by the Venerable Dhammapalacaraya
Abhidammatthavibhavinitika     (explaining Abhidammatthasangaha) written by the Venerable Sumankalacaraya
Mohavicchedani                        (explaining Dhammangani-pakarana and Vibhanga-pakarana) written by the Venerable Kassapa circa B.E. 1703-1773
Mankalatthadipani                    (explaining Mankalasutta) written by the Venerable Sirimankalacaraya, a native of Chiang Mai
 
 

May 25, 2000