TRIPITAKA

Origins

The Buddha persistently questioned how there could be any real lasting
happiness if people was always subjected to impermanence and
unsatisfactoriness.After examining dispassionately in detail the universal law of
impermanence and the realities of nature. He proceeded to reveal a
comprehensive guide to a wholesome and meaningful living. His ultimate
realization of the truth is what is understood as Buddhahood which is elightment,
awakening, or illumination a state where ignorance is totally removed from one’s
mind. Buddha expounded the sublime Dhamma which is refered as tripitaka1.
The Tripitaka was not written during the life of the Buddha The Tripitaka is the
earliest collections of Buddhist scripture. Tripitaka was not written down until
about the 1st century BCE.there were two languages used which were pali and
Sanskrit. The Tripitaka is the doctrinal foundation of Theravada Buddhism.The
meaning of tripitaka is three baskets because it is organized into three major
sections.the sutra of tripitaka is believed to be more then ten thousand separate
texts Here is the story generally accepted by Buddhists about how the Tripitaka
originated:

The First Buddhist Council

About three months after the death of thehistorical Buddha, ca. 480 BCE, 500 of
his disciples gathered in Rajagaha, in what is now northeast India. This gathering
came to be called the First Buddhist Council. The purpose of the Council was to
review the Buddha's teachings and take steps to preserve them.

The Council was convened by Mahakasyapa, an outstanding student of the

Buddha who became leader of the sangha after the Buddha's death.
Mahakasyapa had heard a monk remark that the death of the Buddha meant
monks could abandon the rules of discipline and do as they liked. So, the
Council's first order of business was to review the rules of discipline for monks
and nuns.

A venerable monk named Upali was acknowledged to have the most complete
knowledge of the Buddha's rules of monastic conduct. Upali presented all of the
Buddha's rules of monastic discipline to the assembly, and his understanding
was questioned and discussed by the 500 monks. The assembled monks
eventually agreed that Upali's recitation of the rules was correct, and the rules as
Upali remembered them were adopted by the Council.

Then Mahakasyapa called on Ananda, a cousin of the Buddha who had been the
Buddha's closest companion. Ananda was famous for his prodigious memory.
Ananda recited all of the Buddha's sermons from memory, a feat that surely took
several days. (Ananda began all of his recitations with the words "Thus I have
heard," and so all Buddhist sutras begin with those words.) The Council agreed
that Ananda's recitation was accurate, and the collection of sutras Ananda
recited was adopted by the Council.

The Third Buddhist Council

According to some accounts, the Third Buddhist Council was convened about
250 BCE to clarify Buddhist doctrine and stop the spread of heresies. (Other
accounts preserved in some schools record an entirely different Third Buddhist
Council.) It was at this council that the entire Pali Canon version of the Tripitaka
was recited and adopted in final form.

Tripitaka contains three baskets which is:

-The Vinaya-pitaka which means Basket of Discipline.

- The Sutra-pitaka,"Basket of Sutras.

-The Abhidharma-pitaka, Basket of Special Teachings.2

The Vinaya-pitaka

The Vinaya Pitaka, the first division of the Tipitaka, is the textual framework upon
which the monastic community (Sangha) is built. It includes not only the rules
governing the life of every Theravada bhikkhu (monk) and bhikkhuni (nun), but
also a host of procedures and conventions of etiquette that support harmonious
relations, both among the monastics themselves, and between the monastics
and their lay supporters, upon whom they depend for all their material needs.

When the Buddha first established the Sangha, the community initially lived in
harmony without any codified rules of conduct. As the Sangha gradually grew in
number and evolved into a more complex society, occasions inevitably arose
when a member would act in an unskillful way. Whenever one of these cases
was brought to the Buddha's attention, he would lay down a rule establishing a
suitable punishment for the offense, as a deterrent to future misconduct. The
Buddha's standard reprimand was itself a powerful corrective:

It is not fit, foolish man, it is not becoming, it is not proper, it is unworthy of a

recluse, it is not lawful, it ought not to be done. How could you, foolish man,
having gone forth under this Dhamma and Discipline which are well-taught,
[commit such and such offense]?... It is not, foolish man, for the benefit of un-
believers, nor for the increase in the number of believers, but, foolish man, it is to
the detriment of both unbelievers and believers, and it causes wavering in some.

The monastic tradition and the rules upon which it is built are sometimes naïvely
criticized — particularly here in the West — as irrelevant to the "modern" practice
of Buddhism. Some see the Vinaya as a throwback to an archaic patriarchy,
based on a hodge-podge of ancient rules and customs — quaint cultural relics
that only obscure the essence of "true" Buddhist practice. This misguided view
overlooks one crucial fact: it is thanks to the unbroken lineage of monastics who
have consistently upheld and protected the rules of the Vinaya for almost 2,600
years that we find ourselves today with the luxury of receiving the priceless
teachings of Dhamma. Were it not for the Vinaya, and for those who continue to
keep it alive to this day, there would be no Buddhism.

It helps to keep in mind that the name the Buddha gave to the spiritual path he
taught was"Dhamma-vinaya" — the Doctrine (Dhamma) and
Discipline (Vinaya) — suggesting an integrated body of wisdom and ethical
training. The Vinaya is thus an indispensable facet and foundation of all the
Buddha's teachings, inseparable from the Dhamma, and worthy of study by all
followers — lay and ordained, alike. Lay practitioners will find in the Vinaya
Pitaka many valuable lessons concerning human nature, guidance on how to
establish and maintain a harmonious community or organization, and many
profound teachings of the Dhamma itself. But its greatest value, perhaps, lies in
its power to inspire the layperson to consider the extraordinary possibilities
presented by a life of true renunciation, a life lived fully in tune with the Dhamma.

Contents
• I. Suttavibhanga — the basic rules of conduct (Patimokkha) for bhikkhus
and bhikkhunis, along with the "origin story" for each one.
• II. Khandhaka
o A. Mahavagga — in addition to rules of conduct and etiquette for
the Sangha, this section contains several important sutta-like texts,
including an account of the period immediately following the Buddha's
Awakening, his first sermons to the group of five monks, and stories of
how some of his great disciples joined the Sangha and themselves
attained Awakening.
o B. Cullavagga — an elaboration of the bhikkhus' etiquette and
duties, as well as the rules and procedures for addressing offences that
may be committed within the Sangha.
• III. Parivara — A recapitulation of the previous sections, with summaries of
the rules classified and re-classified in various ways for instructional
purposes.
Sutta pitaka

The Sutta Pitaka, the second division of the Tipitaka, consists of more than
10,000 suttas (discourses) delivered by the Buddha and his close disciples
during and shortly after the Buddha's forty-five year teaching career, as well as
many additional verses by other members of the Sangha. More than one
thousand sutta translations are available on this website.

The suttas are grouped into five nikayas, or collections:

Digha Nikaya
The "Long" Discourses (Pali digha = "long") consists of 34 suttas,
including the longest ones in the Canon. The subject matter of these
suttas ranges widely, from colorful folkloric accounts of the beings
inhabiting the deva worlds to down-to-earth practical meditation
instructions and everything in between. Recent scholarship suggests that
a distinguishing trait of the Digha Nikaya may be that it was "intended for
the purpose of propaganda, to attract converts to the new religion." [1]
Majjhima Nikaya
The "Middle-length" Discourses (Pali majjhima = "middle") consists of 152
suttas of varying length. These range from some of the most profound and
difficult suttas in the Canon (e.g., MN 1) to engaging stories full of human
pathos and drama that illustrate important principles of the law of kamma
(e.g., MN 57, MN 86).
Samyutta Nikaya
The "Grouped" Discourses (Pali samyutta = "group" or "collection")
consists of 2,889 relatively short suttas grouped together by theme into
56 samyuttas.

Anguttara Nikaya
The "Further-factored" Discourses (Pali anga = "factor" + uttara =
"beyond," "further") consists of several thousand short suttas, grouped
together into eleven nipatas according to the number of items of Dhamma
covered in each sutta. For example, the Eka-nipata("Book of the Ones")
contains suttas about a single item of Dhamma; the Duka-nipata("Book of
the Twos") contains suttas dealing with two items of Dhamma, and so on.

Khuddaka Nikaya
The "Division of Short Books" (Pali khudda = "smaller," "lesser"),
consisting of fifteen books (eighteen in the Burmese edition):

1. Khuddakapatha — The Short Passages

2. Dhammapada — The Path of Dhamma
3. Udana — Exclamations
4. Itivuttaka — The Thus-saids
5. Sutta Nipata — The Sutta Collection
6. Vimanavatthu — Stories of the Celestial Mansions
7. Petavatthu — Stories of the Hungry Ghosts
8. Theragatha — Verses of the Elder Monks
9. Therigatha — Verses of the Elder Nuns
10. Jataka — Birth Stories

11. Niddesa — Exposition

12. Patisambhidamagga — Path of Discrimination

13. Apadana — Stories

14. Buddhavamsa — History of the Buddhas

15. Cariyapitaka — Basket of Conduct

16. Nettippakarana (Burmese Tipitaka only)

17. Petakopadesa (Burmese Tipitaka only)
18. Milindapañha — Questions of Milinda (Burmese Tipitaka
only)