Twelve branches of the excellent teaching 十二分教

Twelve branches of the excellent teaching (Skt. dvādaśāṅgapravacana; Tib. གསུང་རབ་ཡན་ལག་བཅུ་གཉིས་, Wyl. gsung rab yan lag bcu gnyis) —
十二分教（意譯爲「十二佛語」），又稱十二部經、十二分聖教。《佛學大辭典》：「一切經分為十二種類之名。據智度論三十三之說，一、修多羅Sūtra，此云契經。經典中直說法義之長行文也。契經者，猶言契於理契於機之經典。二、祇夜Geya，譯作應頌，又作重頌。應於前長行之文重宣其義者，即頌也。凡定字句之文體，謂為頌。三、伽陀Gāthā，譯作諷頌又作孤起頌。不依長行，直作偈頌之句者。如法句經是也。四、尼陀那Nidāna，此譯因緣。經中說見佛聞法因緣，及佛說法教化因緣之處。如諸經之序品，即因緣經也。五、伊帝目多Itivrtaka，此譯本事。佛說第子過去世因緣之經文。如法華經中藥王菩薩本事品是也。六、闍多伽Jātaka，此譯本生。佛說自身過去世因緣之經文也。七、阿浮達摩Adbhuta-dharma，新云阿毘達磨。此譯未曾有。記佛現種種神力不思議事之經文也。八、阿波陀那Avadāna，此譯譬喻。經中說譬喻之處也。九、優婆提舍Upadeśa，此譯論義。以法理論義問答之經文也。十、優陀那Udāna，此譯自說。無問者，佛自說之經文。如阿彌陀經是也。十一、毗佛略Vaipulya，此譯方廣。說方正廣大之真理之經文也。十二、和伽羅Vyākaraṇa，譯授記。於菩薩授成佛之記之經文也。此十二部中修多羅與祇夜及伽陀三者，為經文上之體裁。餘九部從其經文所載之別事而立名。」

1. 契經sutras (Skt. sūtra, Tib. མདོའི་སྡེ་, Wyl. mdo'i sde)
2. 重頌poetic summaries (Skt. geya, Tib. དབྱངས་ཀྱིས་བསྙད་པའི་སྡེ་, Wyl. dbyangs kyis bsnyad pa sde)
3. 授記prophecies (Skt. vyākaraṇa, Tib. ལུང་བསྟན་པའི་སྡེ་, Wyl. lung bstan pa'i sde)
4. 諷頌discourses in verse (Skt. gāthā, Tib. ཚིགས་སུ་བཅད་པའི་སྡེ་, Wyl. tshigs su bcad pa'i sde)
5. 自說intentional statements (Skt. udāna, Tib. ཆེད་དུ་བརྗོད་པའི་སྡེ་, Wyl. ched du brjod pa'i sde)
6. 因緣contextual accounts (Skt. nidāna, Tib. གླེང་གཞིའི་སྡེ་, Wyl. gleng gzhi'i sde)
7. 譬喻testimonies of realization (Skt. avadāna, Tib. རྟོགས་པ་བརྗོད་པའི་སྡེ་, Wyl. rtogs pa brjod pa'i sde)
8. 本事historical explanations (Skt. itivṛttaka, Tib. དེ་ལྟ་བུ་བྱུང་བའི་སྡེ་, Wyl. de lta bu byung ba'i sde)
9. 本生accounts of former lives (Skt. jātaka, Tib. སྐྱེས་པའི་རབས་ཀྱི་སྡེ་, Wyl. skyes pa'i rabs kyi sde)
10. 方廣detailed explanations (Skt. vaipulya, Tib. ཤིན་ཏུ་རྒྱས་པའི་སྡེ་, Wyl. shin tu rgyas pa)
11. 未曾有wondrous discourses (Skt. abidhutadharma, Tib. རྨད་དུ་བྱུང་བའི་ཆོས་ཀྱི་སྡེ་, Wyl. rmad du byung ba'i chos kyi sde)
12. 論義definitive explanations (Skt. upadeśa, Tib. གཏན་ལ་ཕབ་པའི་སྡེ་, Wyl. gtan la phab pa'i sde)

These are said to be the twelve text categories within the Tripitaka, and include all the teachings of the Buddha.

Explanation

On the day of his parinirvana, the Buddha reminded his disciples that the dharma teachings had been imparted in twelve aṅgas, or branches, each a means of evoking a different response and realization.

1. Sūtra. Discourses on a single topic. Seeing ten advantages of this type of teaching, the Buddha often taught in this way. Sutra teachings are well-suited for presenting a single topic; they easily evoke the listener's response, they increase respect for the dharma, supporting the rapid application of the teachings to one's life, they enable the teachings to penetrate deeply, they inspire serene joy based on faith in the Buddha, faith in the Dharma, and faith in the Sangha; they support supreme happiness even in this lifetime; they please the minds of the wise through exegesis; and they are recognized as extremely wise.
2. Geya. Discourses in verse. These are the stanzas often found at the beginning or end of a sutra. Sometimes an idea not discussed within the sutra will be explicated in verse.
3. Vyākaraṇa. Prophecies. Thse are discussions of the past lives and future possibilities of the assembly of the Sangha. They serve to clarify points presented in a sutra.
4. Gāthā. Verse summaries. These teachings are given in metred verse within sutras. They recapitulate the main themes and are easy to remember.
5. Udāna. Words spoken not to instruct particular individuals but to maintain the dharma. These teachings are said to have been spoken by the Buddha with a very joyful heart.
6. Nidāna. Explanations following a specific incident. In these teachings, the Buddha gives a principle or guideline and explains the reason for it.
7. Avadāna. Life stories of buddhas, bodhisattvas, disciples, and various individuals.
8. Itivṛttaka. Historical accounts such as geneologies.
9. Jātaka. Accounts of previous lives of the Buddha.
10. Vaipulya. Lengthy sutras with complex organisation. These include the sutras of the Mahayana, with teachings that are especially profound and vast.
11. Abidhutadharma. Accounts of wondrous accomplishments of the Buddha, the disciples, and the bodhisattvas.
12. Upadeśa. Topics of specific knowledge. These are exact, profound, and subtle instructions on the nature of reality.

Sūtra, geya, vyākaraṇa, gāthā, and udāna teachings make up the sutra collection of the First Turning. The aṅgas of vaipulya and abidhutadharma appear in the Second and Third Turning teachings. These express the extensive vision and wondrous accomplishments of the buddhas and bodhisattvas.

Alternative translations

From Ways of Enlightenment by Dharma Publishing

Twelve Branches of Scripture

1. Single topic discourses
2. Discourses in verse
3. Prophecies
4. Verse summaries
5. Spoken to maintain the dharma
6. Guidelines following a specific incident
7. Life stories
8. Historical accounts
9. Previous lives of the Buddha
10. Long complex sutras
11. Wondrous acts
12. Topics of specific knowledge