What are the suttas really?

[shanyin]

What are Buddhist Suttras? Are they the words of the Buddha and his followers? Are they stories? Are they non-actual words of Buddha?

[Bristollad]

IMO
They are the written record of orally transmitted recollections of the Buddha's teaching or those which were sanctioned by the Buddha. This is why they start, "Thus I heard..."

Has the content of sutras changed over time? Yes, I think so, more so since they were written down.

A scribe doesn't need to understand or even be able to read what he is copying to copy a text and that allows errors to creep in (think of an 8-year-old copying Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" by hand for instance). And of course, language use changes: when Charles II of England was shown the newly built dome of St. Paul's cathedral in London, he declared it was awful. At that time, it was understood by everyone that he meant that it filled him full of awe. The meaning of the word awful has changed over the last 400 years.

After a little while, an expert comes along to edit, correct and clarify the copies and that can add more (even necessary) changes.

Buddhologists have their own theories about the historicity of texts. I find them mildly interesting but not practice-changing.

[Queequeg]

The Suttas, Sutras, Vinaya, Abhidhamma, Abhidharma, and many commentaries are Buddhavacana.

[Nalanda]

What are Buddhist Suttras? Are they the words of the Buddha and his followers? Are they stories? Are they non-actual words of Buddha?

The Suttas (the one you used in your title, the one with no "r") refers to the "Sutras" of the Theravada school also known as the Pali Canon. This is what is commonly referred to today as "Suttas".

The Pali Canon looks like this. It is also known as the Tipitaka (3 baskets). What are those 3? The Suttas, the Vinayas, the Abhidarmas. The Suttas has several literatures known as the Nikayas. Vinayas are monk rules. Abhidhamma is the elaboration of doctrines. Here's what that all looks like in a simple infographic with their books. It's quite a collection. But that's the "Suttas".

Yes, they are the actual words of the Buddha according to the collection of the Theravada school. Turn back time around 2 thousand years and you'll find that there were over a dozen schools and each had its own collection or its own Canon. Due to climate, most of them did not survive. We do have some that have partially survived from the Sarvastivadin, Dharmaguptaka, Mahasamghika, and other schools. But incomplete.

The Pali Canon had a more favorable climate in Ceylon. (Sri Lanka) So their Canon survives in full to this day and had been the focus of Buddhology (academic scholars who study Buddhism) since the 19th-20th century. You can read the "Suttas" today online at https://suttacentral.net and you can also get the copies of the Nikayas from Amazon.com

So yes, the Pali Canon "Suttas" are the words of the Buddha according to the collection of the Theravada school. But there were/are many others. And some of them survive to this day. The Chinese Canon has the other books of the other ancient schools, albeit incomplete. We have a generous resident translator here who's been translating some of these ancient schools' Canon into beautiful modern English. https://canon.dharmapearls.net/index.html

Since you asked this question in a Mahayana community, you should know that the historical view of Mahayana Buddhists is that these canons (Pali and others) are mostly provisional records. Meaning the Buddha taught them to particular people at a particular time and is not necessarily applicable to all for all times. For the actual teachings of the Buddha, we turn to the Mahayana texts. We often call these "Sutras" (with "r"). Examples of common Mahayana sutras are the Prajnaparamita Sutras (Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, etc), the Lotus Sutra, Vimalakirti Sutra, Flower Garland Sutra, and many more.

[Aemilius]

What are Buddhist Suttras? Are they the words of the Buddha and his followers? Are they stories? Are they non-actual words of Buddha?

The Suttas (the one you used in your title, the one with no "r") refers to the "Sutras" of the Theravada school also known as the Pali Canon. This is what is commonly referred to today as "Suttas".

The Pali Canon looks like this. It is also known as the Tipitaka (3 baskets). What are those 3? The Suttas, the Vinayas, the Abhidarmas. The Suttas has several literatures known as the Nikayas. Vinayas are monk rules. Abhidhamma is the elaboration of doctrines. Here's what that all looks like in a simple infographic with their books. It's quite a collection. But that's the "Suttas".

Yes, they are the actual words of the Buddha according to the collection of the Theravada school. Turn back time around 2 thousand years and you'll find that there were over a dozen schools and each had its own collection or its own Canon. Due to climate, most of them did not survive. We do have some that have partially survived from the Sarvastivadin, Dharmaguptaka, Mahasamghika, and other schools. But incomplete.

The Pali Canon had a more favorable climate in Ceylon. (Sri Lanka) So their Canon survives in full to this day and had been the focus of Buddhology (academic scholars who study Buddhism) since the 19th-20th century. You can read the "Suttas" today online at https://suttacentral.net and you can also get the copies of the Nikayas from Amazon.com

So yes, the Pali Canon "Suttas" are the words of the Buddha according to the collection of the Theravada school. But there were/are many others. And some of them survive to this day. The Chinese Canon has the other books of the other ancient schools, albeit incomplete. We have a generous resident translator here who's been translating some of these ancient schools' Canon into beautiful modern English. https://canon.dharmapearls.net/index.html

Since you asked this question in a Mahayana community, you should know that the historical view of Mahayana Buddhists is that these canons (Pali and others) are mostly provisional records. Meaning the Buddha taught them to particular people at a particular time and is not necessarily applicable to all for all times. For the actual teachings of the Buddha, we turn to the Mahayana texts. We often call these "Sutras" (with "r"). Examples of common Mahayana sutras are the Prajnaparamita Sutras (Heart Sutra, Diamond Sutra, etc), the Lotus Sutra, Vimalakirti Sutra, Flower Garland Sutra, and many more.

The buddhist missionaries that went to Sri Lanka did not carry Dharma books with them. They arrived at Sri Lanka with memorized suttas/sutras in their minds. This took place in the oral period of Dharma. Same with the early buddhist schools on the Indian continent, the basic schisms of the Sangha occurred in the oral period. Some of the buddhist monks that later came to China also had sutras only in their minds. Originally sutras/suttas were oral teachings that were memorized by monks, nuns and the laity. Monks, nuns and laity had titles that indicate how much Dharma they held in their minds, like Tripitakin, a person who had memorized the whole Tripitaka.

[ozymandias]

They're the Buddha's preachings. At least the Sutta pitaka. But I think the last part of the buddhawacana are songs and poems dedicated to prise the Buddha.

The first basket are rules about the Sangha and abhidhamma pitaka are commentaries explaining the materials further.