The Itivuttaka (PÃÂli: "as it was said") is a Buddhist scripture, part of the PÃÂli Canon of TheravÃÂda Buddhism and is attributed to KhujjuttarÃÂ's recollection of Buddha's discourses. It is included there in the Sutta Piá¹Âaka's Khuddaka NikÃÂya. It comprises 112 short teachings ascribed in the text to the Buddha, each consisting of a prose portion followed by a verse portion. The latter may be a paraphrase of the former, or complementary. Some scholars consider it one of the earliest of all Buddhist scriptures, while others consider it somewhat later.
The title "Itivuttaka" is a compound word, takes its name from each discourse beginning with the PÃÂli word "vuttam" (this was said [by the Buddha]) and concluding with the phrase "iti me sutan-ti" (that is what I heard). This differing vocabulary is said to have been used by Khujjuttaràto imply the discourses are not her own, distinguishing it from other suttas in the PÃÂli Canon which begin with Evaá¹ me sutaá¹ (Thus have I heard).
According to tradition, the Itivuttaka's verses were recollections from the laywoman KhujjuttarÃÂ, a servant of Queen SÃÂmÃÂvati of Kosambi. KhujjuttarÃÂ was often sent by SÃÂmÃÂvati to purchase eight coins worth of flowers, but would only purchase four coins worth, stealing the rest of the money. After the florist invited Buddha to a meal, KhujjuttarÃÂ was invited to participate, attaining the path and fruit of Sotapatti before the discourse had finished. Regretting her dishonesty, she purchased eight coins worth of flowers and confessed to SÃÂmÃÂvati. SÃÂmÃÂvati would forgive her, appointing KhujjuttarÃÂ as a personal attendant, instructing her to visit the monastery near Kosambi each day and relay the Buddha's sermons to the women of the palace, resulting in KhujjuttarÃÂ becoming foremost in learning among laywomen (AN 1.260). On returning from the monastery, the women of the palace were said to place KhujjuttarÃÂ on a high seat in order to show respect to the teaching as she repeated one of the Buddha's discourses. Eventually, ÃÂnanda gave discourse to the women of the palace prompting a gift of 500 robes in gratitude for the Buddha's teaching, which was matched by 500 more robes gifted by King Udena. All five-hundred would become Stream Enterers by the time of their deaths as a result of practice according to the sermons shared by KhujjuttarÃÂ and ÃÂnanda (Ud 7.10).
During the Buddha's lifetime, there was a text known as the Itivuttaka mentioned as one of the nine aá¹ gas (categories) of the Buddha's teaching which predate the modern organisation of the Pali Tipitaka, however it is unclear if this corresponds to the collection we now have under this name. At the First Buddhist Council at Rajagaha, Ananda rehearsed these Suttas in their current form. In Mahayana Buddhism, sayings known as "itivá¹Âttaka" became part of the twelve aá¹ gas. Around the 6th century CE, the commentator DhammapÃÂla wrote the commentary for the Itivuttaka as part of the Paramatthadëpanë, a series of commentaries.
Due to the short length of the discourses and its encouraging tone, the Itivuttaka is one of the most popular and widely-translated pieces of TheravÃÂda literature. A Latin-script edition of the Itivuttaka edited by Ernst Windisch was first published by the Pali Text Society in 1889. The first English translation was published as Sayings of Buddha by Justin Hartley Moore in 1908. In 1935, the Pali Text Society would publish F. L. Woodward's Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon, Part II which would include his translations of both the UdÃÂna and Itivuttaka. In 2000, Peter Masefield would publish a more literal translation for the Pali Text Society which would aim at presenting the text as seen through the eyes of fifth-century TheravÃÂda orthodoxy. In 2001, ṬhÃÂnissaro Bhikkhu would publish his translation under the title This Was Said by the Buddha. In 2017, Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thera would release a translation as This Was Said By the Buddha from the Sinhala. In 2018, AnagÃÂrika Mahendra (later Bhikkhu Mahinda) would publish his translation as Book of This Was Said.
While the PÃÂli edition has been the standard for Western translations, there are existing parallels in other languages. These include:
The Itivuttaka is a short book which resembles the Aá¹ guttara NikÃÂya in structure, as it is organised according to four unequal sections based on the number of items in each saying. Ernst Windisch gave a numbering system to the Pali text which is still used used by the Pali Text Society to this day (giving all the Suttas a number in sequence) in order to make referencing them easier. Other ways of numbering the Itivuttaka are using the traditional approach of three levels of groups, or by verse and chapter. Another similarity with the Aá¹ guttara NikÃÂya is the text having the prose section followed by a verse, which ṬhÃÂnissaro Bhikkhu claims is "apparently one of the Buddha's techniques for helping his listeners remember his message". ṬhÃÂnissaro also notes that while the overall text is not as literary as the Dhammapada or Udana, text utilises each NipÃÂta ending on a strong literary rasa (savor) which portrays something astonishing.
The following English translations are from Bhikkhu Sujato's translation (2020) while using Pali from the World Tripitaka Edition.