The Udàna is a small book in the Khuddaka Nikàya, the fifth part of the Sutta Piñaka, the second division of the Tipiñaka, the sacred scriptures of Buddhism. The Udàna consists of 80 discourses that tell the circumstances and reasons why the Buddha uttered the short verse at the end of most. The word udàna means `inspired utterance' or `uplifting utterance' and refers to the fact that the Buddha uttered each verse spontaneously.