Three Baskets

From Buddhist Encyclopedia

• Chinese :  三藏
• Cantonese:   Sarm Tzorng
• Mandarin: sanzàng
• Pali :  tipitaka
• Sanskrit :  tripitaka
• Thai :  พระไตรปิฎก
• Tibetan :  sde snod gsum

Buddhist Texts can be categorized in a number of ways, but the most fundamental division is that between canonical and non-canonical texts. Canonical texts, also called the (Sanskrit: sutra) or (Pali: sutta), are held to be, literally or metaphorically, the actual words of Gautama Buddha. Non-canonical texts are the various commentaries on canonical texts and other treatises on the Dharma, as well as collections of quotations, histories, grammars, etc.

The Pali term Tipitaka is commonly used to refer to the Pali Canon, while the Sanskrit term Tripitaka (Chinese: 三藏 sanzàng) is also widely used as a title given to a master who has perfected in the study of the teachings of a Buddha.

The term Three Baskets in its orginal Pali or Sanskrit, has appear both in the Pali Canon and the Mahayana Sutras to also refer to the teachings of previous Buddhas before Gautama Buddha.

In the Buddhist Encyclopedia (Buddhism.2be.net}, the Three Baskets includes the authentic teachings of the Theravada and the Mahayana traditions, including the Vajrayana.

The Three Baskets were categorised in the Pali Canon into three general categories:-

• The Vinaya, is the code of ethics to be obeyed by the sangha.
• The Sutra, consists discourses given by the Buddhas.
• The Abhidharma, is the underlying doctrinal principles, explained in a more systematic and psychological framework. In Mahayana and Vajrayana texts, this basket also contains treatises that are referred to as shastras.

Other Buddhist schools had different groups of pitaka's. For instance the Mahasangika's had five pitaka's.

Recently an important archaeological discovery was made, consisting of the earliest known Buddhist manuscripts, recovered from somewhere near ancient Gandhara in northwest Pakistan. These fragments, written on birch bark, are dated to the 1st century and have been compared to the Dead Sea scrolls in importance. Donated to the British Library in 1994, they are now being studied in a joint project at the University of Washington.

Pali Canon (Tipitaka)

About 83 B.C., during the reign of the Singhala King Vatta Gamani Abhaya, a council of arahants was held, and the Three Baskets was committed to writing in the Pali language at Aluvihara in Sri Langka. It was written on ola leaves, and is known as the Pali Canon. Today, the Pali Canon also includes some later literatures and commentaries, is preserved in three collections and a systematic corresponding subdivisions:-

• Vinaya Pitaka
• Sutta Pitaka, is classified into 5 collection (Nikaya):-
  • Digha Nikaya (Collection of Long Discourses) has 34 suttas, grouped into 3 sections (vagga):-
    • Silakkhandha Vagga, Section concerning Morality has 13 suttas.
    • Maha Vagga, has 10 suttas.
    • Patika Vagga, has 11 suttas.
  • Majjhima Nikaya(Collection of Middle-length Discourses) has 152 suttas.
  • Samyutta Nikaya,(Collection of grouped Discourses) has 2889 suttas, grouped into 5 sections (vagga):-
    1. Sagatha Vagga, Section of Verses.
    2. Nidana Vagga, Section on Causation.
    3. Khandha Vagga, Section on the Aggregates.
    4. Salayatana Vagga, Section on the Six Sense Bases.
    5. Maha Vagga, the Great Section.
  • Anguttara Nikaya
  • Khuddaka Nikaya, is a collection of 15 books.
• Abhidhamma Pitaka, is a set of precise philosophical psychology defined by Ven. Sariputra according to the higher dharma taught by the Buddha to his mother along with other devas, brahmas and bodhisatvas that had gathered in the Tavatimsa heaven from many thousand of other world systems during the 7th year after the Buddha's enlightenment. There are 7 chapters:-
  • Dhamma Sangani
  • Vibhanga
  • Dhatu Katha
  • Kathavatthu
  • Yamaka
  • Patthana. The Buddha had been penetrated the Abhidhamma during the 4th week after his enlightenment. It was when he pondered on the Patthana part of the Abhidharma that aura of six coloured rays emitted from his body. (See Buddhist Flag).

• Pali Sutta in English with notes

Mahayana Canon

Mahayana Canon are a very huge collection of texts that includes:-

• The Vinaya. Some are of the very early schools such as the Mulasarvastivada and Dharmaguptaka.
• Agama, literally means that which has come down, i.e. that which has been handed down to the people of the present from the past, refer to a class of sutras which correspond to the Sutta Pitaka of the Pali Canon.
• Mahayana Sutras. A few was found written in Kharosthi script dated earlier than the Pali Canon. Others were written in Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan, of which many were composed at the time of the Buddha and stored in the heavenly realm of the nagas. It was about 500 years later that Nagajurna and other Bodhisattvas, who brought the dharma from the heavenly realms and commited them into writings.

The Sandhi-nirmocana Sutra of the Mahayana Canon reveal that the Buddha's dharma may be divided into three general hierarchical categories, known as the Three Turnings of the Wheel of Dharma, which is:-

• The Early Turning, initiated by the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta as in the Pali Canon
• Turning of the Prajnaparamita, (Perfection of Wisdom)
• The Yogacara Turning.

Partial List of the Mahayana Sutras

• Texts of Indian origin
  • Lalitavistara Sutra
  • Lankavatara Sutra
  • Lotus Sutra(妙法蓮華經)
  • Perfection of Wisdom sutras (Prajnaparamita sutras)
    • Diamond Sutra(金剛經)
    • Heart Sutra(心經)
  • Ten Stages Sutra
  • Vimalakirti-nirdesa Sutra(維摩詰經)

• Texts of Chinese origin
  • Perfect Enlightenment Sutra (Yuanjue Jing)
  • Sutra of Hui Neng (Liuzutan Jing)

• Other texts
  • Amitabha Sutra (Smaller Pure Land Sutra)
  • Avatamsaka Sutra (Flower Garland Sutra)
  • Contemplation Sutra
  • Infinite Life Sutra(無量壽經)
  • Mahaparinirvana Sutra(大涅槃經)
  • Shurangama Sutra
  • Sutra in Forty-Two Sections
  • Sutra of Golden Light
  • Sutra of The Great Vows of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva (地藏菩薩本願經)
  • Ullambana Sutra
  • The Dharani Sutra of Hundred Thousand Seals
  • The Dharani Sutra of Peaceful Home