SACRED SCRIPTURE

Only the Tipitaka, or “three baskets,” of

Theravadic Buddhism, which is preserved in
the Pali language, is the earliest known, most
traditional, and most comprehensive early
canon of Buddhist writings.
◦ The first Buddhist council was called to order soon after
Siddhartha's passing or enlightenment in order to repeat the
details of his teaching, or dhamma/dharma. These methods
were first transmitted orally for five centuries before being
written down on palm trees, At the “ fourth Buddhist
council,” which took place in 29 B.C.E., the monks realized
the importance of committing the Pali Canon to writing so
that important Buddhist teachings would survive the monks”
death. Due to Sri Lanka’s king’s bad harvest, he council was
called at he tambapanni, monks chanted Siddhartha’s
teaching as they were written down in palm trees.
◦ The word “Pitaka”, which means “basket” in Pali, refers to the
monk’s storage containers for the palm leaf manuscripts.

◦ The traditional teaching given by Siddhartha on many occasions

is found in the first basket, the sutta pitaka. The sutta pitaka also
contains writings from Siddhartha’s disciples like Sariputta,
Mogallana, and Ananda. It is divided into five collections:
majhimma nikaya (collection of middle length talks), samyutta
nikaya (collection of kindered saying), anguttara nikaya
(collection of discourse grouped according to numbers), and
kuddaka nikaya (smaller collection)
◦ The disciplinary rules for Buddhist monks (bhikkus) and nuns
are found in the second basket,kr, own as the vinaya pitaka
(bhikkunis). The monastic community is bound by a number
of laws and parivara Pali ( epitome of vinaya).

◦ The abhidhamma pitaka, the third basket, is a work on moral

philosophy that is solely a Theravada collection, it contains
the reflective philosophies of Siddhartha’s teaching. It is
made up of seven woks, including dhamma-
◦ Sangani (enumeration of phenomena), vibhanga (the
book of thretisesb katha), punggala panatti (descrption
of individuals), dhatu katha (discussion with allusions
to element), yamaka (the book of pairings), and
patthana (the book of relation).
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