An Anthropological Outline of the Sutta Nipata: The Contemplative Experience in Early Buddhist Poetry

By examining the Sutta Nipata, considered one of the collections containing the oldest texts of the Pali canon, this study aims to reconstruct social, historical, and anthropological aspects of archaic Buddhist doctrine at the time of its definition in dialectic with the forces of orthodoxy and constituted power in 6th century BCE India. This study also provides important insights into the development and definition of contemplative practices devoted to the search for the 'absolute' (paramattha and brahmavihara), which has often received little attention in meditation studies.