The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2119 page)

 
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Sa
yutta Nik
ya
.

The ‘unified collection’, the third collection (
nik
ya
) of the
S
tra
/Sutta-pitaka, containing more than 7,000 discourses.

 
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(Skt.,
san
tana
, ‘eternal’, +
dharma
, ‘law’). In Hinduism, the absolute and eternal law (
dharma
) as opposed to relative duty (
svadharma
). San
tana dharma applies to everyone, including
outcastes
. According to
Y
jñavalkvasm
ti
, absolute dharma includes purity, good will, mercy, and patience. Later texts such as
V
mana
Pur
a
list the ten limbs of the eternal dharma as non-injury, truth, purity, not stealing, charity, forbearance, self-restraint, tranquillity, generosity, and asceticism.
In modern Indian usage, san
tana dharma is often equated with ‘Hinduism’ as a name, stressing the eternal foundation of it.