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''Tipiṭaka'' () or ''Tripiṭaka'' () or ''තිපිටක'' (), meaning "Triple Basket",
is the traditional term for ancient collections of
Buddhist sacred scriptures.
The
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school.
During th ...
maintained by the
Theravāda tradition in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
, the
Chinese Buddhist Canon maintained by the
East Asian Buddhist tradition, and the
Tibetan Buddhist Canon
The Tibetan Buddhist canon is a loosely defined list of sacred texts recognized by various sects of Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to sutrayana texts from Early Buddhist schools (mostly Sarvastivada) and Mahayana sources, the Tibetan canon incl ...
maintained by the
Tibetan Buddhist tradition are some of the most important ''Tripiṭaka'' in contemporary Buddhist world.
''Tripiṭaka'' has become a term used for many schools' collections, although their general divisions do not match a strict division into three piṭakas.
[Mizuno, ''Essentials of Buddhism'', 1972, English version by Ritik Bhadana, Tokyo, 1996]
Etymology
''Tripiṭaka'' (Sanskrit: त्रिपिटक), or ''Tipiṭaka'' (
Pāli
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or '' Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhi ...
), means "Three Baskets".
It is a compound Sanskrit word of ''tri'' (त्रि) or Pāli word ''ti'', meaning "three", and ''piṭaka'' (पिटक) or ''piṭa'' (पिट), meaning "basket".
The "three baskets" were originally the receptacles of the
palm-leaf manuscript
Palm-leaf manuscripts are manuscripts made out of dried palm leaves. Palm leaves were used as writing materials in the Indian subcontinent and in Southeast Asia reportedly dating back to the 5th century BCE. Their use began in South Asia and ...
s on which were preserved the collections of texts of the
Suttas
Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...
, the
Vinaya, and the
Abhidhamma, the three divisions that constitute the Buddhist Canons. These terms are also spelled without diacritics as ''Tripiṭaka'' and ''Tipiṭaka'' in scholarly literature.
[Tipitaka]
Encyclopædia Britannica (2015)
Textual categories
The ''Tripiṭaka'' is composed of three main categories of texts that collectively constitute the Buddhist canon: the ''
Sutra Piṭaka'', the ''
Vinaya Piṭaka
The ' (Sanskrit, Pali; ) is a Buddhist scripture, one of the three parts that make up the Tipiṭaka (lit. ''Three Baskets''). The other two parts of the Tipiṭaka are the Sutta Piṭaka and Abhidhamma Piṭaka.
Its primary subject matter i ...
'', and the ''
Abhidhamma Piṭaka''.
The Vinaya Piṭaka appears to have grown gradually as a commentary and justification of the monastic code (Prātimokṣa), which presupposes a transition from a community of wandering mendicants (the Sūtra Piṭaka period) to a more sedentary monastic community (the Vinaya Piṭaka period). The
Vinaya focuses on the rules and regulations, or the morals and ethics, of monastic life that range from dress code and dietary rules to prohibitions of certain personal conducts.
[Korean Buddhism has its own unique characteristics different from other countries](_blank)
, koreapost.com, Jun 16, 2019.
Sutras were the doctrinal teachings in aphoristic or narrative format. The
historical Buddha delivered all of his sermons in
Magadhan
The Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Māgadhan languages, are spoken throughout the eastern Indian subcontinent (East India and Assam, Bangladesh), including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal, Tripura, Assam, and Odisha; alongs ...
. These sermons were rehearsed orally during the meeting of the
First Buddhist council just after the Parinibbana of the Buddha. The teachings continued to be transmitted orally until eventually being written down in the first century BCE. Even within the Sūtra Piṭaka it is possible to detect older and later texts.
Earlier Tripitakas
Each of the
early Buddhist Schools
The early Buddhist schools are those schools into which the Buddhist monastic saṅgha split early in the history of Buddhism. The divisions were originally due to differences in Vinaya and later also due to doctrinal differences and geograp ...
likely had their own versions of the ''Tripiṭaka''. According to some sources, there were some Indian schools of Buddhism that had five or seven piṭakas. According to
Yijing
The ''I Ching'' or ''Yi Jing'' (, ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. Originally a divination manual in the Western Zho ...
, an 8th-century Chinese pilgrim to India, the
Nikaya Buddhist schools kept different sets of canonical texts with some intentional or unintentional dissimilarities. Yijing notes four main textual collections among the non-Mahayana schools:
* The
Mahāsāṃghika
The Mahāsāṃghika ( Brahmi: 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of the Great Sangha", ) was one of the early Buddhist schools. Interest in the origins of the Mahāsāṃghika school lies in the fact that their Vinaya recension appears in ...
''Tripiṭaka'' (amounting to 300,000
slokas
Shloka or śloka ( sa, श्लोक , from the root , Macdonell, Arthur A., ''A Sanskrit Grammar for Students'', Appendix II, p. 232 (Oxford University Press, 3rd edition, 1927). in a broader sense, according to Monier-Williams's dictionary, is ...
)
* The
Sarvāstivāda
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (Sanskrit and Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, ) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy ...
''Tripiṭaka'' (also 300,000 slokas)
* The
Sthavira ''Tripiṭaka'' (also 300,000 slokas)
* The
Saṃmitīya
The Pudgalavāda (Sanskrit; English: "Personalism"; Pali: Puggalavāda; ) was a Buddhist philosophical view and also refers to a group of Nikaya Buddhist schools (mainly known as Vātsīputrīyas) that arose from the Sthavira nikāya.Williams, ...
''Tripiṭaka'' (in about 200,000 slokas)
Yijing notes that though there were numerous sub-schools and sects, the sub-sects shared the ''Tripiṭaka'' of their mother tradition (which he termed the "four principal schools of continuous tradition" or the "arya" traditions).
[Zhihua Yao (2012) ''The Buddhist Theory of Self-Cognition,'' p. 9. Routledge.] However, this does not mean that the various sub-schools did not possess their own unique ''Tripiṭaka''.
Xuanzang
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
is said to have brought to China the ''Tripiṭaka'' of seven different schools, including those of the above-mentioned schools as well as the
Dharmaguptaka,
Kāśyapīya
Kāśyapīya (Sanskrit: काश्यपीय; Pali: ''Kassapiyā'' or ''Kassapikā''; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools in India.
Etymology
The name ''Kāśyapīya'' is believed to be derived from Kāśyapa, one of the original missionar ...
, and
Mahīśāsaka.
According to
A. K. Warder
Anthony Kennedy Warder (8 September 1924 – 8 January 2013) was a British Indologist. His best-known works are ''Introduction to Pali'' (1963), ''Indian Buddhism'' (1970), and the eight-volume ''Indian Kāvya Literature'' (1972–2011).
Life
Wa ...
, the Tibetan historian
''Bu-ston'' said that around or before the 1st century CE there were eighteen schools of Buddhism each with their own ''Tripiṭaka'' transcribed into written form.
However, except for one version that has survived in full and others, of which parts have survived, all of these texts are lost to history or yet to be found.
Mahāsāṃghika
The ''
Mahāsāṃghika
The Mahāsāṃghika ( Brahmi: 𑀫𑀳𑀸𑀲𑀸𑀁𑀖𑀺𑀓, "of the Great Sangha", ) was one of the early Buddhist schools. Interest in the origins of the Mahāsāṃghika school lies in the fact that their Vinaya recension appears in ...
Vinaya'' was translated by
Buddhabhadra and
Faxian
Faxian (法顯 ; 337 CE – c. 422 CE), also referred to as Fa-Hien, Fa-hsien and Sehi, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India to acquire Buddhist texts. Starting his arduous journey about age 60, h ...
in 416 CE, and is preserved in Chinese translation (
Taishō Tripiṭaka
The Taishō Tripiṭaka (; Japanese: ''Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō''; “ Taishō Revised Tripiṭaka”) is a definitive edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon and its Japanese commentaries used by scholars in the 20th century. It was edited by ...
1425).
The 6th century CE Indian monk
Paramārtha wrote that 200 years after the
parinirvāṇa of the Buddha, much of the Mahāsāṃghika school moved north of
Rājagṛha, and were divided over whether the
Mahāyāna sūtras should be incorporated formally into their ''Tripiṭaka''. According to this account, they split into three groups based upon the relative manner and degree to which they accepted the authority of these Mahāyāna texts. Paramārtha states that the
Kukkuṭika
The Kukkuṭika (Sanskrit; ) were an early Buddhist school which descended from the Mahāsāṃghika.
Etymology
It is likely that the name ''Kukkuṭika'' or ''Kukkulika'' originated from the Kukkuṭrārāma monastery at Pāṭaliputra, which ...
sect did not accept the Mahāyāna sūtras as ''
buddhavacana
Buddhist texts are those religious texts which belong to the Buddhist tradition. The earliest Buddhist texts were not committed to writing until some centuries after the death of Gautama Buddha. The oldest surviving Buddhist manuscripts a ...
'' ("words of the Buddha"), while the
Lokottaravāda
The Lokottaravāda (Sanskrit, लोकोत्तरवाद; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools according to Mahayana doxological sources compiled by Bhāviveka, Vinitadeva and others, and was a subgroup which emerged from the Mahāsā ...
sect and the
Ekavyāvahārika
The Ekavyāvahārika ( sa, एकव्यावहारिक; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools, and is thought to have separated from the Mahāsāṃghika sect during the reign of Aśoka.
History
Relationship to Mahāsāṃghika
Tāra ...
sect did accept the Mahāyāna sūtras as ''buddhavacana''. Also in the 6th century CE, Avalokitavrata writes of the Mahāsāṃghikas using a "Great Āgama Piṭaka," which is then associated with Mahāyāna sūtras such as the ''
Prajñāparamitā'' and the ''
Daśabhūmika Sūtra''.
According to some sources, abhidharma was not accepted as canonical by the Mahāsāṃghika school. The Theravādin ''
Dīpavaṃsa
The ''Dīpavaṃsa'' ( sa, दीपवंस, , "Chronicle of the Island") is the oldest historical record of Sri Lanka. The chronicle is believed to be compiled from Atthakatha and other sources around the 3rd to 4th century CE. Together with ...
'', for example, records that the Mahāsāṃghikas had no abhidharma. However, other sources indicate that there were such collections of abhidharma, and the Chinese pilgrims
Faxian
Faxian (法顯 ; 337 CE – c. 422 CE), also referred to as Fa-Hien, Fa-hsien and Sehi, was a Chinese Buddhist monk and translator who traveled by foot from China to India to acquire Buddhist texts. Starting his arduous journey about age 60, h ...
and
Xuanzang
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
both mention Mahāsāṃghika abhidharma. On the basis of textual evidence as well as inscriptions at
Nāgārjunakoṇḍā, Joseph Walser concludes that at least some Mahāsāṃghika sects probably had an abhidharma collection, and that it likely contained five or six books.
Caitika
The
Caitika
Caitika () was an early Buddhist school, a sub-sect of the Mahāsāṃghika. They were also known as the Caityaka sect.
The Caitikas proliferated throughout the mountains of South India, from which they derived their name. In Pali writing ...
s included a number of sub-sects including the Pūrvaśailas, Aparaśailas, Siddhārthikas, and Rājagirikas. In the 6th century CE, Avalokitavrata writes that Mahāyāna sūtras such as the ''Prajñāparamitā'' and others are chanted by the Aparaśailas and the Pūrvaśailas. Also in the 6th century CE,
Bhāvaviveka speaks of the Siddhārthikas using a Vidyādhāra Piṭaka, and the Pūrvaśailas and Aparaśailas both using a
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
Piṭaka, implying collections of
Mahāyāna
''Mahāyāna'' (; "Great Vehicle") is a term for a broad group of Buddhism, Buddhist traditions, Buddhist texts#Mahāyāna texts, texts, Buddhist philosophy, philosophies, and practices. Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in India (c. 1st century BC ...
texts within these Caitika schools.
Bahuśrutīya
The
Bahuśrutīya
Bahuśrutīya (Sanskrit) was one of the early Buddhist schools, according to early sources such as Vasumitra, the ''Śāriputraparipṛcchā'', and other sources, and was a sub-group which emerged from the Mahāsāṃghika sect.
Etymology
The nam ...
school is said to have included a Bodhisattva Piṭaka in their canon. The ', also called the ', is an extant abhidharma from the Bahuśrutīya school. This abhidharma was translated into Chinese in sixteen fascicles (Taishō Tripiṭaka 1646). Its authorship is attributed to Harivarman, a third-century monk from central India. Paramārtha cites this Bahuśrutīya abhidharma as containing a combination of
Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna doctrines, and Joseph Walser agrees that this assessment is correct.
Prajñaptivāda
The
Prajñaptivādins held that the Buddha's teachings in the various piṭakas were nominal (Skt. ''prajñapti''), conventional (Skt. '), and causal (Skt. ''hetuphala''). Therefore, all teachings were viewed by the Prajñaptivādins as being of provisional importance, since they cannot contain the ultimate truth. It has been observed that this view of the Buddha's teachings is very close to the fully developed position of the Mahāyāna sūtras.
Sārvāstivāda
Scholars at present have "a nearly complete collection of sūtras from the
Sarvāstivāda
The ''Sarvāstivāda'' (Sanskrit and Pali: 𑀲𑀩𑁆𑀩𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀺𑀯𑀸𑀤, ) was one of the early Buddhist schools established around the reign of Ashoka (3rd century BCE).Westerhoff, The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy ...
school" thanks to a recent discovery in Afghanistan of roughly two-thirds of Dīrgha Āgama in Sanskrit. The Madhyama Āgama (
Taishō Tripiṭaka
The Taishō Tripiṭaka (; Japanese: ''Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō''; “ Taishō Revised Tripiṭaka”) is a definitive edition of the Chinese Buddhist canon and its Japanese commentaries used by scholars in the 20th century. It was edited by ...
26) was translated by Gautama Saṃghadeva, and is available in Chinese. The Saṃyukta Āgama (Taishō Tripiṭaka 99) was translated by
Guṇabhadra
Gunabhadra (394–468) ( sa, गुणभद्र, ) was a monk and translator of Mahayana Buddhism from Magadha, Central India. His biography is contained in the work of a Chinese monk called Sengyou entitled ''Chu sanzang ji ji''.
Life
Gun ...
, also available in Chinese translation. The Sarvāstivāda is therefore the only early school besides the Theravada for which we have a roughly complete Sūtra Piṭaka. The Sārvāstivāda Vinaya Piṭaka is also extant in Chinese translation, as are the seven books of the Sarvāstivāda Abhidharma Piṭaka. There is also the encyclopedic ''
Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra
The ''Abhidharma Śāstra'' ( sa, अभिधर्म महाविभाष शास्त्र) is an ancient Buddhist text. It is thought to have been authored around 150 CE. It is an encyclopedic work on Abhidharma, scholastic Buddhist ...
'' (Taishō Tripiṭaka 1545), which was held as canonical by the Vaibhāṣika Sarvāstivādins of northwest India.
Mūlasārvāstivāda
Portions of the
Mūlasārvāstivāda Tripiṭaka survive in Tibetan translation and Nepalese manuscripts. The relationship of the Mūlasārvāstivāda school to Sarvāstivāda school is indeterminate; their vinayas certainly differed but it is not clear that their Sūtra Piṭaka did. The Gilgit manuscripts may contain Āgamas from the Mūlasārvāstivāda school in Sanskrit.
The Mūlasārvāstivāda Vinaya Piṭaka survives in
Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
translation and also in Chinese translation (Taishō Tripiṭaka 1442). The Gilgit manuscripts also contain vinaya texts from the Mūlasārvāstivāda school in Sanskrit.
Dharmaguptaka
A complete version of the Dīrgha Āgama (Taishō Tripiṭaka 1) of the
Dharmaguptaka school was translated into Chinese by Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian (竺佛念) in the
Later Qin
The Later Qin (; 384–417), also known as Yao Qin (), was a state ruled by the Qiang ethnicity of the Sixteen Kingdoms during the Jin dynasty (266–420) in China. The Later Qin is entirely distinct from the Qin dynasty, the Former Qin and the W ...
dynasty, dated to 413 CE. It contains 30 sūtras in contrast to the 34 suttas of the Theravadin Dīgha Nikāya.
A. K. Warder
Anthony Kennedy Warder (8 September 1924 – 8 January 2013) was a British Indologist. His best-known works are ''Introduction to Pali'' (1963), ''Indian Buddhism'' (1970), and the eight-volume ''Indian Kāvya Literature'' (1972–2011).
Life
Wa ...
also associates the extant ''
Ekottara Āgama
The Ekottara Āgama (Sanskrit; ) is an early Indian Buddhist text, of which currently only a Chinese translation is extant (Taishō Tripiṭaka 125). The title ''Ekottara Āgama'' literally means "Numbered Discourses," referring to its organizati ...
'' (''Taishō Tripiṭaka'' 125) with the Dharmaguptaka school, due to the number of rules for monastics, which corresponds to the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya. The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya is also extant in Chinese translation (''Taishō Tripiṭaka'' 1428), and Buddhist monastics in
East Asia
East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...
adhere to the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya.
The Dharmaguptaka Tripiṭaka is said to have contained a total of five piṭakas. These included a
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood.
In the Early Buddhist schools ...
Piṭaka and a
Mantra
A mantra ( Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ...
Piṭaka (Ch. 咒藏), also sometimes called a
Dhāraṇī Piṭaka. According to the 5th-century Dharmaguptaka monk Buddhayaśas, the translator of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya into Chinese, the Dharmaguptaka school had assimilated the Mahāyāna Tripiṭaka (Ch. 大乘三藏).
Mahīśāsaka
The
Mahīśāsaka Vinaya is preserved in Chinese translation (Taishō Tripiṭaka 1421), translated by Buddhajīva and
Zhu Daosheng in 424 CE.
Kāśyapīya
Small portions of the of the
Kāśyapīya
Kāśyapīya (Sanskrit: काश्यपीय; Pali: ''Kassapiyā'' or ''Kassapikā''; ) was one of the early Buddhist schools in India.
Etymology
The name ''Kāśyapīya'' is believed to be derived from Kāśyapa, one of the original missionar ...
school survive in Chinese translation. An incomplete Chinese translation of the Saṃyukta Āgama of the Kāśyapīya school by an unknown translator circa the Three Qin (三秦) period (352-431 CE) survives.
Pali Canon
![Tipitaka2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Tipitaka2.jpg)
The
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school.
During th ...
is the complete Tripiṭaka set maintained by the
Theravāda
''Theravāda'' () ( si, ථේරවාදය, my, ထေရဝါဒ, th, เถรวาท, km, ថេរវាទ, lo, ເຖຣະວາດ, pi, , ) is the most commonly accepted name of Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school' ...
tradition as written and preserved in
Pali
Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...
.
The dating of the ''Tripiṭaka'' is unclear.
Max Müller
Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...
states that the current structure and contents of the Pali Canon took shape in the 3rd century BCE after which it continued to be transmitted orally from generation to generation until finally being put into written form in the 1st century BCE (nearly 500 years after the lifetime of Buddha).
The Theravada chronicle called the ''
Dipavamsa'' states that during the reign of
Valagamba of Anuradhapura
Valagamba (Sinhala: වළගම්බා), also known as Wattagamani Abhaya and Valagambahu, was a king of the Anuradhapura Kingdom of Sri Lanka. Five months after becoming king, he was overthrown by a rebellion and an invasion from South India, b ...
(29–17 BCE) the monks who had previously remembered the Tipiṭaka and its commentary orally now wrote them down in books, because of the threat posed by famine and war. The ''
Mahavamsa'' also refers briefly to the writing down of the canon and the commentaries at this time. According to Sri Lankan sources more than 1000 monks who had attained
Arahant
In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated ...
ship were involved in the task. The place where the project was undertaken was in
Aluvihare,
Matale
Matale ( Sinhala: මාතලේ, ta, மாத்தளை, translit=Māttaḷai) is the administrative capital city of the Matale District. It is the most urbanised and populated centre in the district. Matale is also the second largest muni ...
, Sri Lanka.
The resulting texts were later partly translated into a number of East Asian languages such as Chinese, Tibetan and Mongolian by ancient visiting scholars, which though extensive are incomplete.
Each Buddhist sub-tradition had its own Tripiṭaka for its monasteries, written by its
sangha
Sangha is a Sanskrit word used in many Indian languages, including Pali meaning "association", "assembly", "company" or "community"; Sangha is often used as a surname across these languages. It was historically used in a political context t ...
, each set consisting of 32 books, in three parts or baskets of teachings: (“Basket of Discipline”), (“Basket of Discourse”), and ''
Abhidhamma Piṭaka'' (“Basket of Special
r Further
R, or r, is the eighteenth Letter (alphabet), letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabe ...
Doctrine”).
The structure, the code of conduct and moral virtues in the Vinaya basket particularly, have similarities to some of the surviving
Dharmasutra texts of Hinduism. Much of the surviving Tripiṭaka literature is in Pali, with some in Sanskrit as well as other local Asian languages.
The Pali Canon does not contain the Mahayana Sutras and Tantras as Mahayana schools were not influential in Theravada tradition as in East Asia and Tibet. Hence, there is no major Mahayana (neither Hinayana or Pratyekabuddhayana) schools in Theravada tradition. The Tantric schools of Theravada tradition use Tantric texts independently, and not as the part of the Collection.
Some of the well known preserved Pali Canons are the Chattha Sangayana Tipitaka, Buddha Jayanthi Tripitaka, Thai Tipitaka, etc.
Chinese Buddhist Canon
![Korea-Haeinsa-Tripitaka Koreana-04](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Korea-Haeinsa-Tripitaka_Koreana-04.jpg)
The
Chinese Buddhist Canon is the ''Tripiṭaka'' set maintained by the East Asian Buddhist tradition is written and preserved in Chinese.
Wu and Chia state that emerging evidence, though uncertain, suggests that the earliest written Buddhist Tripiṭaka texts may have arrived in China from India by the 1st century BCE.
An organised collection of Buddhist texts began to emerge in the 6th century CE, based on the structure of early bibliographies of Buddhist texts. However, it was the 'Kaiyuan Era Catalogue' by
Zhisheng in 730 that provided the lasting structure. Zhisheng introduced the basic six-fold division with sutra, vinaya, and abhidharma belonging to Mahāyāna, Pratyekabuddhayana and Sravakayana . It is likely that Zhisheng's catalogue proved decisive because it was used to reconstruct the Canon after the persecutions of 845 CE, however it was also considered a "perfect synthesis of the entire four-hundred-year development of a proper Chinese form of the Canon."
[Storch 2014: 123.]
Some of the well known preserved Chinese Canons are the Taisho Tripitaka, Tripitaka Koreana, etc.
Tibetan Buddhist Canon
![Khumjung-Gomba-12-Tripitaka-2007-gje](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d8/Khumjung-Gomba-12-Tripitaka-2007-gje.jpg)
The
Tibetan Buddhist canon
The Tibetan Buddhist canon is a loosely defined list of sacred texts recognized by various sects of Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to sutrayana texts from Early Buddhist schools (mostly Sarvastivada) and Mahayana sources, the Tibetan canon incl ...
is a collection of
sacred texts recognized by various sects of
Tibetan Buddhism
Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...
. In addition to
sutrayana
Sūtrayāna ( sa, सूत्रयान) is the Indo-Tibetan three-fold classification of yanas. A yana is a Buddhist mode of practice that leads to the realization of emptiness. The three yanas of the Sutrayana are Sravakayana or Pratyeka ...
texts, the Tibetan canon includes
tantric texts. The Tibetan Canon underwent a final compilation in the 14th century by
Buton Rinchen Drub.
The Tibetan Canon has its own scheme which divided texts into two broad categories:
*
Kangyur
The Tibetan Buddhist canon is a loosely defined collection of sacred texts recognized by various schools of Tibetan Buddhism, comprising the Kangyur or Kanjur ('Translation of the Word') and the Tengyur or Tanjur ( Tengyur) ('Translation of Trea ...
(
Wylie: ''bka'-'gyur'') or "Translated Words or
Vacana
Vachana sahitya is a form of rhythmic writing in Kannada (see also Kannada poetry) that evolved in the 11th century and flourished in the 12th century, as a part of the Sharana movement. Madara Chennaiah, an 11th-century cobbler-saint who live ...
", consists of works supposed to have been said by the Buddha himself. All texts presumably have a Sanskrit original, although in many cases the Tibetan text was translated from Chinese from Chinese Canon, Pali from Pali Canon or other languages.
*
Tengyur
The Tengyur or Tanjur or Bstan-’gyur (Tibetan: "Translation of Teachings") is the Tibetan collection of commentaries to the Buddhist teachings, or "Translated Treatises".
The Buddhist Canon
To the Tengyur were assigned commentaries to b ...
(
Wylie: ''bstan-'gyur'') or "Translated Treatises or
Shastra
''Shastra'' (, IAST: , ) is a Sanskrit word that means "precept, rules, manual, compendium, book or treatise" in a general sense.Monier Williams, Monier Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Article on 'zAstra'' The wo ...
s", is the section to which were assigned commentaries, treatises and abhidharma works (both Mahayana and non-Mahayana). The Tengyur contains 3626 texts in 224 Volumes.
Some of the well known Tibetan Canons are the Dege, Jiang, Lhasa, etc.
As a title
The Chinese form of , "sānzàng" (三藏), was sometimes used as an honorary title for a Buddhist monk who has mastered the teachings of the Tripiṭaka. In Chinese culture, this is notable in the case of the Tang Dynasty monk
Xuanzang
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
, whose pilgrimage to India to study and bring Buddhist texts back to China was portrayed in the novel ''
Journey to the West
''Journey to the West'' () is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most popul ...
'' as "Tang Sanzang" (Tang Dynasty Tripiṭaka Master). Due to the popularity of the novel, the term "sānzàng" is often erroneously understood as a name of the monk
Xuanzang
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
. One such screen version of this is the popular 1979
Monkey (TV series)
, also known by its English title ''Monkey'', is a Japanese television drama based on the 16th-century Chinese novel ''Journey to the West'' by Wu Cheng'en. Filmed in Northwest China and Inner Mongolia, the show was produced by Nippon TV and ...
.
The modern Indian scholar
Rahul Sankrityayan
Rahul Sankrityayan (born Kedarnath Pandey; 9 April 1893 – 14 April 1963) was an Indian writer and a polyglot who wrote in Hindi. He played a pivotal role in giving travelogue a 'literary form'. He was one of the most widely travelled scholars ...
is sometimes referred to as ''Tripiṭakacharya'' in reflection of his familiarity with the .
See also
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Āgama (Buddhism)
In Buddhism, an āgama (आगम Sanskrit and Pāli, Tibetan ལུང་ (Wylie: lung) for "sacred work"Monier-Williams (1899), p. 129, see "Āgama," retrieved 12 Dec 2008 from "U. Cologne" at http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MWS ...
*
Early Buddhist Texts
Early Buddhist texts (EBTs), early Buddhist literature or early Buddhist discourses are parallel texts shared by the early Buddhist schools. The most widely studied EBT material are the first four Pali Nikayas, as well as the corresponding Chines ...
*
Buddhist texts
*
Pāli Canon
The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school.
During th ...
*
Tripiṭaka tablets at Kuthodaw Pagoda
Stone tablets inscribed with the ''Tripiṭaka'' (and other Buddhist texts) stand upright in the grounds of the Kuthodaw Pagoda ( means 'royal merit') at the foot of Mandalay Hill in Mandalay, Myanmar (Burma). The work was commissioned by King ...
*
Tripiṭaka Koreana
*
Zhaocheng Jin Tripiṭaka
*
Pali Text Society
The Pali Text Society is a text publication society founded in 1881 by Thomas William Rhys Davids "to foster and promote the study of Pāli texts".
Pāli is the language in which the texts of the Theravada school of Buddhism are preserved. The ...
*
Dhamma Society Fund
Dhamma Society Fund, formally known as The M.L. Maniratana Bunnag Dhamma Society Fund under the Patronage His Holiness Somdet Phra Ñāṇasaṃvara the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand, is a charitable organisation in the Buddhist Theravāda Tradi ...
*
Xuanzang
Xuanzang (, ; 602–664), born Chen Hui / Chen Yi (), also known as Hiuen Tsang, was a 7th-century Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator. He is known for the epoch-making contributions to Chinese Buddhism, the travelogue of ...
Notes
Further reading
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*
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External links
Pali Canon:
British Library has digitised four Sinhalese palm leaf manuscripts(Sinhalese Manuscripts Pilot Digitisation Project)
has many suttas translated into
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
Sutta CentralEarly Buddhist texts, translations, and parallels (Multiple Languages)
Tipiṭaka Network(ongoing)
The Pali Tipiṭaka Project(texts in 7 Asian languages)
has
(continuing, text in Vietnamese)
Search in English translations of the Tipiṭakahas summaries of the entire Tipiṭaka in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
Tipiṭaka Online
Myanmar Version of Buddhist Canon (6th revision):
Buddhist Bible Myanmar Version(without original Pali text)
Chinese Buddhist Canon:
Buddhist Text Translation Society: Sutra Texts(English PDFs)
(English index of some East Asian Tripiṭakas)
Tripiṭaka Titles and Translations in EnglishCBETA: Full Chinese language canon and extended canon(includes downloads)
Tibetan tradition:
Kangyur & Tengyur Projects(Tibetan texts)
Kangyur & Tengyur Translating Projects(Tibetan texts)
Tripiṭaka collections:
Sri Lankan version of Tipiṭaka:
Buddha Jayanthi Edition of Tipiṭaka in Sinhala(Sri Lankan version)
Tipiṭaka in Sinhala(Sri Lankan version)
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