sutra
Americannoun
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Hinduism. a collection of aphorisms relating to some aspect of the conduct of life.
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Pali sutta. Buddhism. any of the sermons of Buddha.
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one of the approximately 4000 rules or aphorisms that constitute Panini's grammar of Sanskrit.
noun
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Hinduism Sanskrit sayings or collections of sayings on Vedic doctrine dating from about 200 ad onwards
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(modifier) Hinduism
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of or relating to the last of the Vedic literary periods, from about 500 to 100 bc
the sutra period
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of or relating to the sutras or compilations of sutras of about 200 ad onwards
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Buddhism collections of dialogues and discourses of classic Mahayana Buddhism dating from the 2nd to the 6th centuries a.d
Etymology
Origin of sutra
First recorded in 1795–1805, sutra is from the Sanskrit word sūtra
Explanation
A sutra is a literary rule or aphorism, or a collection of them. Sanskrit literature includes many collections of sutras. The literary meaning of the word sutra is a bit different from the way Buddhists and Jains define it. In Buddhism, sutras are like scriptures, containing the teachings of the Buddha. Similarly, in Jainism, sutras are the sermons of a spiritual teacher. In Sanskrit, sutra means "thread," and traditional ancient literary sutras attempted to weave knowledge, threadlike, around and into their few simple words or syllables.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“The purpose of sutra calligraphy is to allow the mind to have a meditation object,” he said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2023
On display here is a cylindrical bronze sutra container whose corroded green surface indicates it was buried underground.
From Washington Post • Apr. 25, 2023
He purposefully chose a version of the sutra that had been translated into Esperanto, a synthetic language created in the late 1880s in an attempt to facilitate universal communication.
From New York Times • Aug. 18, 2017
After Prakash placed the holy wedding necklace, the mangal sutra, around her neck, Karmen clasped hands with him.
From Salon • Jan. 19, 2013
This sutra exists in no fewer than six texts, around each of which has gathered some interesting mythology.
From The Religions of Japan From the Dawn of History to the Era of Méiji by Griffis, William Elliot
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
