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

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

"The essence of Buddhism is the conviction that we have within us at each moment the ability to overcome any problem or difficulty", notably through chanting the "Nam-myoho-renge-kyo" Sutra, the Soka Gakkai website says.

From BBC • Nov. 18, 2023

“The Heart Sutra is all about living a life that is free of the commitments that create suffering.”

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 2, 2023

This is a page from the Diamond Sutra, the world’s first block-printed book, made in China in 868.

From Textbooks • Apr. 19, 2023

I still remember first time I saw Snow Beach live was like Just Blaze was rocking it at this place, Sutra.

From Salon • Mar. 6, 2021

Ramanuga, on the other hand, explains that the knowledge spoken of in this Sutra means "the knower"; that the soul is not knowledge, but that which can and does know.

From The World's Greatest Books — Volume 13 — Religion and Philosophy by Hammerton, John Alexander, Sir