See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/315857264

Tipiṭaka

Chapter · March 2017

DOI: 10.1007/978-94-024-0852-2_376

CITATIONS READS

0 9,104

1 author:

Karam Tej Sarao

University of Delhi
98 PUBLICATIONS 59 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Karam Tej Sarao on 17 December 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Title: Tipiṭaka

Affiliation:
Professor K.T.S. Sarao
Department of Buddhist Studies
University of Delhi
Delhi-110007, INDIA.
Ktssarao@hotmail.com

Synonyms: Tripiṭaka, Piṭakas, Buddhist Canon.

Definition: A traditional term used by different Buddhist sects to describe their canons of
scriptures.

Main Text:
The Tipiṭaka (Sk: tripiṭaka) (tī/tri= three+piṭaka= baskets), as the name suggests,
traditionally consists of three “baskets” of teachings: a Vinaya Piṭaka, a Sutta Piṭaka (Sk:
Sūtra Piṭaka), and an Abhidhamma Piṭaka (Sk: Abhidharma Piṭaka). Most likely, each of the
early Buddhist schools had their own recensions of the Tipiṭaka. However, apart from
Theravāda, Sarvāstivāda is the only early school which has a nearly complete Sūtra Piṭaka,
Vinaya Piṭaka, and Abhidharma Piṭaka. Portions of the Mūlasarvāstivādin Tripiṭaka also
survive in their Tibetan translation as well as in Nepalese manuscripts. Dīrgha Āgama,
Ekottara Āgama, and Vinaya of the Dharmaguptaka School are extant in Chinese translations.
The Dharmaguptaka Tripiṭaka is said to have contained a total of five piṭakas. These
included a Bodhisattva Piṭaka and a Mantra/Dhārāṇī Piṭaka. Traditionally, the term Tipiṭaka
has generally been used as an epithet for the Chinese and Tibetan collections of the Buddhist
scriptures, although strictly speaking, the general divisions of the Chinese and Tibetan
collections cannot be put together into three piṭakas in the way as has been done in
Theravāda. In fact, in the Chinese tradition, the Buddhist texts have been categorized in such
a manner that most of them have been put together in four or even more piṭakas. The Chinese
form of Tripiṭaka, (sānzàng) was also occasionally employed as a titular designation for such
Buddhist monks who had become mastered the teachings given in the Tripiṭaka.
The Vinaya Piṭaka consists of texts that deal with the rules of conduct governing the
daily affairs within the saṃgha‒ the Buddhist Order consisting of ordained monks (bhikkhus)
and nuns (bhikkhunīs). Apart from providing a list of the rules, the Vinaya Piṭaka also
includes the stories behind the origin of each of these rules, offering in detail an account of
the Buddha's prescription on issues relating to the maintenance of communal harmony within
a large and diverse community of monks and nuns. Different portions of the Vinaya Piṭaka
are the Suttavibhaṅga, the Khandhaka, the Parivāra, and the Pātimokkha. The Suttavibhaṅga
is a wide-ranging methodical commentary on all the rules of the Vinaya. Each of the rules has
been given along with an explanatory story in which the background to the origin of a
particular rule has been narrated. This itself is followed by the promulgated rule along with
additional conditions and the word by word explanation of the entire rule. The Khandhaka
consists of the Mahāvagga and the Cullavagga. The Mahāvagga consists of ten chapters in
which an uninterrupted account is given of the period following the Buddha’s enlightenment,
his first sermon at Sārnath, and stories of how some of his disciples joined the saṃgha and
themselves attained enlightenment. In the Mahāvagga are also included the rules relating to
ordination, recitation of the Pātimokkha, and the different procedures that monks and nuns
are expected to observe during formal assemblies of the saṃgha. The Cullavagga, as the
name suggests, is the minor of the two divisions and consists of twelve chapters. The first
nine chapters relate to disciplinary procedures, different transgressions, prescribed
punishments, and expiation etc. In the tenth chapter duties of the nuns are dealt with. The last
two chapters relate to the first two Buddhist Councils that took place after the death of the
Buddha. The Parivāra is a manual of instructions. It is a generally accepted view that the
Parivāra is a later addition to the Vinaya Piṭaka. Pātimokkha contains in summary all the
monastic rules, and it is intimately linked to the observance of uposatha at which the
recitation of the Pātimokkha takes place.
With the passage of time, as Buddhism spread into different regions and cultures, and
as different schools of Buddhism came into origin, different Vinayas also came into
existence. Three of these Vinayas are still in use. They are largely the same in substance and
have only minor differences. The Vinaya of the Theravādin Buddhists in Sri Lanka,
Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos, consists of 227 rules for the monks and 311 for the
now con-existent nuns. The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya followed by the Buddhists in China,
Taiwan, South Korea, and Vietnam has 250 rules for the monks and 348 rules for the nuns.
The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya Buddhists followed by the Buddhists in Tibet and Mongolia
consists of 253 rules for the monks and 364 rules for nuns, though in theory, as the nuns’
order was never introduced in Tibet.
The Sutta Piṭaka (Sk: Sūtra Piṭaka) contains more than 10,000 suttas attributed to
Śākyamuni Buddha or his close companions. It has five nikāyas (subdivisions or
collections)‒ Dīgha Nikāya, Majjhima Nikāya, Saṃyutta Nikāya, Aṅguttara Nikāya, and
Khuddaka Nikāya. The Dīgha Nikāya consists of thirty-four long discourses. The Majjhima
Nikāya has 152 medium-length discourses. There are 2,889 (but according to the commentary
7,762) shorter suttas in the Saṃyutta Nikāya arranged in fifty-odd groups by subject, person
etc. The Aṅguttara Nikāya, according to the commentary, consists of 9,565 short discourses
arranged numerically from ones to elevens. The Khuddaka Nikāya, a miscellaneous
collection of works in prose or verse, consists of Khuddakapāṭha, Dhammapada, Udāna,
Itivuttaka, Sutta-Nipāta, Vimānavatthu, Petavatthu, Theragāthā, Therīgāthā, Jātaka,
Niddesa, Paṭisambhidāmagga, Apadāna, Buddhavaṃsa, and Cariyapiṭaka. Apart from these,
Nettippakaraṇa, Petakopadesa, and Milindapañha are also included in the Burmese edition
of the Tipiṭaka.
The Abhidhamma Piṭaka (literally “higher dhamma”) is a collection of texts in which
the fundamental doctrinal principles specified in the Sutta Piṭaka are systematically
restructured and organized. The Abhidhamma Piṭaka consists of seven books:
Dhammasaṅgaṇī, Vibhaṅga, Dhātukathā, Puggalapaññatti, Kathāvatthu, Yamaka, and
Paṭṭhāna. In the Dhammasaṅgaṇī, dhammas are enumerated, defined, and classified. The
Vibhaṅga consists of the analysis of eighteen topics by various methods. The Dhātukathā
deals with interrelations between ideas mostly from the Vibhaṅga. The Puggalapaññatti
consists of explanations of types of person, arranged numerically in lists from ones to tens.
The Kathāvatthu comprises of over 200 debates on points of doctrine. The Yamaka consists
of ten chapters each chapter dealing with a different topic. The Paṭṭhāna deals with an
analysis of twenty-four types of conditions.

Cross-references: Abhidhamma Piṭaka, Aṅguttara Nikāya, Dhammapada, Dīgha Nikāya,

Faxian, Itivuttaka, Jātaka, Khuddaka Nikāya, Majjhima Nikāya, Milindapañha, Saṃyutta
Nikāya, Sarvāstivāda, Sutta-Nipāta, Theragāthā, Therīgāthā, Theravāda, Udāna, Vinaya
Piṭaka, Xuanzang.

References
(1) Chau, Thich Minh (1991) The Chinese Madhyama Āgama and the Pāli Majjhima Nikāya:
A Comparative Study, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi
 (2) Chizen, Akanuma (1991) Comparative Catalogue of Chinese Ᾱgamas and Pali Nikāyas.
Reprint, Satguru Publications, Delhi

(3) Jayawardhana, S (1993) Handbook of Pāli Literature, Karunaratne, Colombo

(4) Keown, Damien (2004) A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, London

(5) Lamotte, Étienne (1988) History of Indian Buddhism, Peters Press, Louvain, Paris

(6) Law, B C (1930) Chronology of the Pāli Canon, Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental
Research Institute, Poona, vol. 12, Pt. 2: 171-201

(7) Mizuno, Kogen (1972) Essentials of Buddhism: basic terminology and Concepts of
Buddhist Philosophy and Practice, 1st Eng. ed., Kosei Publishing Co, Tokyo

(8) Nanjio (1883) Catalogue of the Chinese Translations of the Buddhist Tripiṭaka,
Clarendon, Oxford

(9) Walser, Joseph (2005) Nāgārjuna in Context: Mahāyāna Buddhism and Early Indian
Culture, Columbia University Press, New York

(10) Warder, A K (1970) Indian Buddhism, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi

(11) Webb, Russell (1975) An Analysis of the Pāli Canon, Buddhist Publication Society,
Kandy

View publication stats