# Dīgha Nikāya

Source: https://buddhisma2z.com/digha-nikaya/  
Author: Bhante S. Dhammika, *Guide To Buddhism A To Z*  
Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

The Dīgha Nikāya is the first book in the [**Sutta Piṭaka**](https://buddhisma2z.com/sutta-pitaka/), the second division of the [**Tipiṭaka**](https://buddhisma2z.com/tipitaka/), the sacred [**scriptures**](https://buddhisma2z.com/scripture/) of Buddhism. *Dīgha* means ‘long’ and *nikāya* means ‘book’ or ‘collection’ and this name is used because the 34 discourses or [**suttas**](https://buddhisma2z.com/sutta/) in this book are lengthy — the longest being 46 pages in the English translation. Nearly half the discourses in the Dīgha Nikāya take the form of debates or dialogues between the Buddha and others. Some of these [**debates**](https://buddhisma2z.com/debates/) are very lively and give a fascinating glimpse of how the Buddha used logic, dialectic, reason and gentle persuasion to win people to his point of view. As in most of the other divisions in the Tipiṭaka, the discourses in the Dīgha Nikāya do not seem to be arranged in any particular order.

**Further reading:** The Long Discourses of the Buddha, trans. by M.Walshe, 1987.

Subjects: Buddhist Scriptures