The Cariyapitaka (; where ''cariya'' is

Pali Pāli (, IAST: pāl̤i) is a Classical languages of India, classical Middle Indo-Aryan languages, Middle Indo-Aryan language of the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pali Canon, Pāli Can ...

for "conduct" or "proper conduct" and ''pitaka'' is usually translated as "basket"; abbrev. Cp) is a Buddhist scripture, part of the

Pali Canon The Pāḷi Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhism, Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant Early Buddhist texts, early Buddhist canon. It derives mainly from t ...

Theravada ''Theravāda'' (; 'School of the Elders'; ) is Buddhism's oldest existing school. The school's adherents, termed ''Theravādins'' (anglicized from Pali ''theravādī''), have preserved their version of the Buddha's teaching or ''Dharma (Buddhi ...

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. It is included there in the

Sutta Pitaka Sutta may refer to: *The Pali version of the Sanskrit term Sutra **In Buddhism, a discourse of the Buddha: see Sutra ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indi ...

's Khuddaka Nikaya, usually as the last of fifteen books. It is a short verse work that includes thirty-five accounts of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

's former lives (similar to

Jataka The ''Jātaka'' (Sanskrit for "Birth-Related" or "Birth Stories") are a voluminous body of literature native to the Indian subcontinent which mainly concern the previous births of Gautama Buddha in both human and animal form. Jataka stories we ...

tales) when he as a

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...

exhibited behaviors known as "perfections," prerequisites to

buddhahood In Buddhism, Buddha (, which in classic Indo-Aryan languages, Indic languages means "awakened one") is a title for those who are Enlightenment in Buddhism, spiritually awake or enlightened, and have thus attained the Buddhist paths to liberat ...

. This canonical text, along with the

Apadana Apadana (, or ) is a large hypostyle hall in Persepolis, Iran. It belongs to the oldest building phase of the city of Persepolis, in the first half of the 5th century BC, as part of the original design by Darius I, Darius the Great. Its cons ...

and Buddhavamsa, is believed to be a late addition to the Pali Canon and has been described as "hagiographical."

Overview

In the first story (Cp. I), the

says he will illustrate his practice of the perfections (Pali, ''

pāramitā ''Pāramitā'' (Sanskrit, Pali: पारमिता) or ''pāramī'' (Pāli: पारमी) is a Buddhist term often translated as "perfection". It is described in Buddhist commentaries as a noble character quality generally associated with ...

'' or ''pārami'') by stories of his past lives in this current age. The text contains 35 such stories, spanning 356 to 371 verses. The body of the Cariyapitaka is broken into three divisions (''vagga''), with titles correlated to the first three of the ten Theravada ''pāramitā'': * Division I (''dāna pāramitā''): 10 stories for the perfection of offering (''

dāna (Devanagari: , IAST: ) is a Sanskrit and Pali word that connotes the virtue of generosity, charity or giving of alms, in Indian religions and philosophies. In Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, is the practice of cultivating generosi ...

'') * Division II (''sīla pāramitā''): 10 stories for the perfection of conduct (''

sīla Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on the enlightened perspective of the Buddha. In Buddhism, ethics or morality are understood by the term ''śīla'' () or ''sīla'' (Pāli). ''Śīla'' is one of three sections of the Noble Eightfold Path ...

'') * Division III (''nekkhamma pāramitā''):''Nekkhamma pāramitā'' is the title for the third division's (''vagga'') first set of stories and is thus used as the basis for the entire division itself although the division includes stories illustrative of multiple paramitas. See, e.g., the SLTP text, retrieved 08-19-2008 from "Bodhgaya News" at http://www.bodhgayanews.net/tipitaka.php?title=&record=10648 . 15 stories distributed among five other perfections, as follows: ** renunciation (''

nekkhamma ''Nekkhamma'' (; ) is a Pāli word generally translated as "renunciation" or "the pleasure of renunciation" while also conveying more specifically "giving up the world and leading a holy life" or "freedom from lust, craving and desires." In Bud ...

pāramitā''): five stories ** resolute determination (''

adhiṭṭhāna ( from , meaning "foundational" or "beginning" plus meaning "standing"; ) has been translated as "decision," "resolution," "self-determination," "will", "strong determination" and "resolute determination." In the late canonical literature of ...

pāramitā''): one story ** truth (''

sacca ''Sacca'' () is a Pali word meaning "real" or "true". In early Buddhism, Buddhist literature, ''sacca'' is often found in the context of the "Four Noble Truths", a crystallization of Buddhist wisdom. In addition, ''sacca'' is one of the ten pā ...

pāramitā''): six stories ** loving-kindness ('' mettā pāramitā''): two stories ** equanimity ('' upekkhā pāramitā''): one story The three remaining Theravada perfections — wisdom ('' paññā''), energy ('' viriya''), patience (''

khanti Kṣānti (Sanskrit) or (Pāli) is patience, forbearance and forgiveness. It is one of the pāramitās in both Theravāda and Mahāyāna Buddhism. The term can be translated as "patience," "steadfastness," or "endurance," and encompasses mean ...

'') — are mentioned in a closing stanza but no related Cariyapitaka stories have come down to us. Horner suggests that these latter three perfections are "implicit in the collection," referenced in both story titles and contexts.Horner (2000), p. vi: "Indeed they isdom, energy and patienceare implicit in the collection: Wisdom, as implied by the term ''pandita'', in the titles of Cp.I.10, III.5.6, 8; Energy in II.2.3, II.10.2 when the Bodhisatta resolutely determined on the four factors of energy, that great instrument for Awakening, since without it nothing can be achieved; and Patience is recognizable in the story of Wise Temiya, III.6, and in others." Regarding the "four factors of energy," Horner (2000), p. 19 n. 11, identifies them in this canonical passage: "gladly would I be reduced to ''skin, sinews, bone'' and let my body's ''flesh and blood'' dry up" (A.i.50, S.ii.28, M.i.481, identified as "fourfold energy" in MA.iii.194).

Translations

* "The collection of the ways of conduct", in ''Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon'', volume III, 1st edition, tr B. C. Law, 1938 * "Basket of conduct", in ''Minor Anthologies'' III (along with "Chronicle of Buddhas ( Buddhavamsa)"), 2nd edition, tr I. B. Horner, 1975, Pali Text Society

Bristol * Tr Bhikkhu Mahinda (Anagarika Mahendra), Cariyāpiṭaka: Book of Basket of Conduct, Bilingual Pali-English First Edition 2022, Dhamma Publishers, Roslindale MA;

Notes

Sources

* Barua, B.M. (1945). ''Ceylon Lectures.'' Calcutta. Cited in Horner (2000), p. iii, n. 5. * Hinüber, Oskar von (2000). ''A Handbook of Pāli Literature''. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. . * Horner, I.B. (trans.) (1975; reprinted 2000). ''The Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon (Part III): 'Chronicle of Buddhas' (Buddhavamsa) and 'Basket of Conduct' (Cariyapitaka)''. Oxford:

Pali Text Society The Pāli 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 ...

. . (All references in this article to "Horner, 2000" use page numbers associated with this volume's Cariyapitaka, not the Buddhavamsa.) * Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). ''The Pali Text Society’s Pali–English Dictionary''. Chipstead:

. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/. {{Buddhism topics Khuddaka Nikaya

Overview

Translations

See also

Notes

Sources