The second "book," or collection, of the Sutta Pitaka, containing discourses of medium length.
It consists of eighty bhánaváras and is divided into three sections of fifty suttas each (Pannása), the last pannása containing fifty two suttas.
At the First Council the duty of learning the Majjhima Nikáya and of handing it down intact was entrusted to the "school" of Sáriputta (DA.i.15).
Buddhaghosa wrote a commentary to the Majjhima Nikáya, which is called the Papańca Súdaní, and Sáriputta of Ceylon wrote its tíká.
The Majjhima Nikáya was also called the Majjhima Sangíti (E.g., MA.i.2; MT.193, 305).
When the Sásana (Buddhism) disappears, the Majjhima predeceases the Digha Nikáya. MA.ii.881.