sutra

American  

[soo-truh] / ˈsu trə /

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.

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sutra British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of sutra

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

Example Sentences

Buddha steps in, imprisoning Monkey under a mountain and forcing him to study sutras for 500 years.

From Los Angeles Times

His re-emergence in the 1980s and his prolific work ever since reflect an expansive family of musical associates and a solitary pursuit of songs as “tenderness sutras,” he once told me.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.

From Los Angeles Times

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

From Los Angeles Times

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.

From Salon