sutra

[soo-truh]

noun

1. Hinduism.,  a collection of aphorisms relating to some aspect of the conduct of life.

2. Pali sutta. Buddhism.,  any of the sermons of Buddha.

3. one of the approximately 4000 rules or aphorisms that constitute Panini's grammar of Sanskrit.

sutra

/ ˈsuːtrə /

noun

1. Hinduism Sanskrit sayings or collections of sayings on Vedic doctrine dating from about 200 _ad onwards

2. (modifier) Hinduism

   1. of or relating to the last of the Vedic literary periods, from about 500 to 100 _bc

      the sutra period

   2. of or relating to the sutras or compilations of sutras of about 200 _ad onwards

3. Buddhism collections of dialogues and discourses of classic Mahayana Buddhism dating from the 2nd to the 6th centuries _a.d

Word History and Origins

Origin of sutra¹

First recorded in 1795–1805, sutra is from the Sanskrit word sūtra

Word History and Origins

Origin of sutra¹

C19: from Sanskrit: list of rules

Example Sentences

To honor the victims, officials also held a candlelit vigil at Monterey Park City Hall, where surviving family members chanted the sutras — words of the Buddha — to bring peace and harmony and heaven.

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“The purpose of sutra calligraphy is to allow the mind to have a meditation object,” he said.

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It wasn't until many years after the Buddha's death that the sutras, or scriptures, were finally translated into Sanskrit — an intellectually complex language of precise conjugations, whose roots extending back to at least 1500 BC.

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The sutras themselves were thought to have supernatural powers and were sometimes deployed as protective talismans.

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You can read injunctions against usury in the Vedic texts of ancient India, in the sutras of Buddhism and in the Torah.

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