Tripiá¹aka
Translations of Tripiá¹aka | |
---|---|
English | Three Baskets |
Pali | Tipiá¹aka |
Sanskrit |
तà¥à¤°à¤¿à¤ªà¤¿à¤Ÿà¤• Tripiá¹aka |
Bengali | তà§à¦°à¦¿à¦ªà¦¿à¦Ÿà¦• |
Burmese |
ပá€á€‹á€€á€á€º သုံးပုံ [pá¸dəɡaÊ” θóʊɴbòʊɴ] |
Chinese |
ä¸‰è— (pinyin: sÄnzà ng) |
Japanese |
三蔵 (ã•ã‚“ãžã†) (rÅmaji: sanzÅ) |
Khmer | ព្រះážáŸ’រៃបិដក |
Korean |
삼장 (三臧) (RR: samjang) |
Sinhala | à¶à·Šâ€à¶»à·’පිටකය |
Thai | พระไตรปิฎภ|
Vietnamese | Tam tạng |
Glossary of Buddhism |
Tripiá¹aka (Pali: Tipiá¹aka) is a Sanskrit word meaning Three Baskets. It is the traditional term used to describe the Buddhist scriptures.[1] The Tripiá¹aka is divided into three sections, each one containing a "basket" of teachings: the SÅ«tra Piá¹aka (Sanskrit; Pali: Sutta Pitaka), the Vinaya Piá¹aka (Sanskrit and Pali) and the Abhidharma Piá¹aka (Sanskrit; Pali: Abhidhamma Piá¹aka).
The three categories

Tripitaka comprises the three main categories of texts that is the Buddhist canon. The three parts of the PÄli canon are not as contemporary as the traditional Buddhist account seems to suggest: the SÅ«tra Piá¹aka is older than the Vinaya Piá¹aka, and the Abhidharma Piá¹aka represents scholastic developments originated at least two centuries after the other two parts of the canon. The Vinaya Piá¹aka appears to have grown gradually as a commentary and justification of the monastic code (PrÄtimoká¹£a), which presupposes a transition from a community of wandering mendicants (the SÅ«tra Piá¹aka period ) to a more sedentary monastic community (the Vinaya Piá¹aka period). Even within the SÅ«tra Piá¹aka it is possible to detect older and later texts.
Vinaya
Rules and regulations of monastic life that range from dress code and dietary rules to prohibitions of certain personal conducts.
Sutras
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The Buddha delivered all his sermons in local language of northern India. These sermons were collected during 1st assembly just after the death of the Buddha. Later these teachings were translated into Sanskrit.
Abhidharma
Philosophical and psychological discourse and interpretation of Buddhist doctrine.
In Indian Buddhist schools
Each of the Early Buddhist Schools likely had their own recensions of the Tripiá¹aka. According to some sources, there were some Indian schools of Buddhism that had five or seven piá¹akas.[2]
MahÄsÄṃghika
The MahÄsÄṃghika Vinaya was translated by Buddhabhadra and Faxian in 416 CE, and is preserved in Chinese translation (TaishÅ Tripiá¹aka 1425).
The 6th century CE Indian monk ParamÄrtha wrote that 200 years after the parinirvÄṇa of the Buddha, much of the MahÄsÄṃghika school moved north of RÄjagá¹›ha, and were divided over whether the MahÄyÄna sÅ«tras should be incorporated formally into their Tripiá¹aka. According to this account, they split into three groups based upon the relative manner and degree to which they accepted the authority of these MahÄyÄna texts.[3] ParamÄrtha states that the Kukkuá¹ika sect did not accept the MahÄyÄna sÅ«tras as buddhavacana ("words of the Buddha"), while the LokottaravÄda sect and the EkavyÄvahÄrika sect did accept the MahÄyÄna sÅ«tras as buddhavacana.[4] Also in the 6th century CE, Avalokitavrata writes of the MahÄsÄṃghikas using a "Great Ä€gama Piá¹aka," which is then associated with MahÄyÄna sÅ«tras such as the PrajñÄparamitÄ and the DaÅ›abhÅ«mika SÅ«tra.[5]
According to some sources, abhidharma was not accepted as canonical by the MahÄsÄṃghika school.[6] The TheravÄdin DÄ«pavaṃsa, for example, records that the MahÄsÄṃghikas had no abhidharma.[7] However, other sources indicate that there were such collections of abhidharma, and the Chinese pilgrims Faxian and Xuanzang both mention MahÄsÄṃghika abhidharma. On the basis of textual evidence as well as inscriptions at NÄgÄrjunakoṇá¸Ä, Joseph Walser concludes that at least some MahÄsÄṃghika sects probably had an abhidharma collection, and that it likely contained five or six books.[8]
Caitika
The Caitikas included a number of sub-sects including the PÅ«rvaÅ›ailas, AparaÅ›ailas, SiddhÄrthikas, and RÄjagirikas. In the 6th century CE, Avalokitavrata writes that MahÄyÄna sÅ«tras such as the PrajñÄparamitÄ and others are chanted by the AparaÅ›ailas and the PÅ«rvaÅ›ailas.[5] Also in the 6th century CE, BhÄvaviveka speaks of the SiddhÄrthikas using a VidyÄdhÄra Piá¹aka, and the PÅ«rvaÅ›ailas and AparaÅ›ailas both using a Bodhisattva Piá¹aka, implying collections of MahÄyÄna texts within these Caitika schools.[5]
Bahuśrutīya
The BahuÅ›rutÄ«ya school is said to have included a Bodhisattva Piá¹aka in their canon. The Satyasiddhi ÅšÄstra, also called the Tattvasiddhi ÅšÄstra, is an extant abhidharma from the BahuÅ›rutÄ«ya school. This abhidharma was translated into Chinese in sixteen fascicles (TaishÅ Tripiá¹aka 1646).[9] Its authorship is attributed to Harivarman, a third-century monk from central India. ParamÄrtha cites this BahuÅ›rutÄ«ya abhidharma as containing a combination of HÄ«nayÄna and MahÄyÄna doctrines, and Joseph Walser agrees that this assessment is correct.[10]
PrajñaptivÄda
The PrajñaptivÄdins held that the Buddha's teachings in the various piá¹akas were nominal (Skt. prajñapti), conventional (Skt. saṃvá¹›ti), and causal (Skt. hetuphala).[11] Therefore all teachings were viewed by the PrajñaptivÄdins as being of provisional importance, since they cannot contain the ultimate truth.[12] It has been observed that this view of the Buddha's teachings is very close to the fully developed position of the MahÄyÄna sÅ«tras.[11] [12]
SÄrvÄstivÄda
Scholars at present have "a nearly complete collection of sÅ«tras from the SarvÄstivÄda school"[13] thanks to a recent discovery in Afghanistan of roughly two-thirds of DÄ«rgha Ä€gama in Sanskrit. The Madhyama Ä€gama (TaishÅ Tripiá¹aka 26) was translated by Gautama Saṃghadeva, and is available in Chinese. The Saṃyukta Ä€gama (TaishÅ Tripiá¹aka 99) was translated by Guṇabhadra, also available in Chinese translation. The SarvÄstivÄda is therefore the only early school besides the Theravada for which we have a roughly complete SÅ«tra Piá¹aka. The SÄrvÄstivÄda Vinaya Piá¹aka is also extant in Chinese translation, as are the seven books of the SarvÄstivÄda Abhidharma Piá¹aka. There is also the encyclopedic Abhidharma MahÄvibhÄá¹£a ÅšÄstra (TaishÅ Tripiá¹aka 1545), which was held as canonical by the VaibhÄá¹£ika SarvÄstivÄdins of northwest India.
MÅ«lasÄrvÄstivÄda
Portions of the MÅ«lasÄrvÄstivÄda Tripiá¹aka survive in Tibetan translation and Nepalese manuscripts.[14] The relationship of the MÅ«lasÄrvÄstivÄda school to SarvÄstivÄda school is indeterminate; their vinayas certainly differed but it is not clear that their SÅ«tra Piá¹aka did. The Gilgit manuscripts may contain Ä€gamas from the MÅ«lasÄrvÄstivÄda school in Sanskrit.[15] The MÅ«lasÄrvÄstivÄda Vinaya Piá¹aka survives in Tibetan translation and also in Chinese translation (TaishÅ Tripiá¹aka 1442). The Gilgit manuscripts also contain vinaya texts from the MÅ«lasÄrvÄstivÄda school in Sanskrit.[15]
Dharmaguptaka
A complete version of the DÄ«rgha Ä€gama (TaishÅ Tripiá¹aka 1) of the Dharmaguptaka school was translated into Chinese by BuddhayaÅ›as and Zhu Fonian (竺佛念) in the Later Qin dynasty, dated to 413 CE. It contains 30 sÅ«tras in contrast to the 34 suttas of the Theravadin DÄ«gha NikÄya. A. K. Warder also associates the extant Ekottara Ä€gama (TaishÅ Tripiá¹aka 125) with the Dharmaguptaka school, due to the number of rules for monastics, which corresponds to the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya.[16] The Dharmaguptaka Vinaya is also extant in Chinese translation (TaishÅ Tripiá¹aka 1428), and Buddhist monastics in East Asia adhere to the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya.
The Dharmaguptaka Tripiá¹aka is said to have contained a total of five piá¹akas.[10] These included a Bodhisattva Piá¹aka and a Mantra Piá¹aka (Ch. å’’è—), also sometimes called a DhÄraṇī Piá¹aka.[17] According to the 5th century Dharmaguptaka monk BuddhayaÅ›as, the translator of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya into Chinese, the Dharmaguptaka school had assimilated the MahÄyÄna Tripiá¹aka (Ch. 大乘三è—).[18]
MahÄ«Å›Äsaka
The MahÄ«Å›Äsaka Vinaya is preserved in Chinese translation (TaishÅ Tripiá¹aka 1421), translated by BuddhajÄ«va and Zhu Daosheng in 424 CE.
KÄÅ›yapÄ«ya
Small portions of the Tipiá¹aka of the KÄÅ›yapÄ«ya school survive in Chinese translation. An incomplete Chinese translation of the Saṃyukta Ä€gama of the KÄÅ›yapÄ«ya school by an unknown translator circa the Three Qin (三秦) period (352-431 CE) survives.[19]
In the Theravada school
The complete Tripiá¹aka set of the TheravÄda school is written and preserved in Pali in the Pali Canon. Buddhists of the TheravÄda school use the Pali variant Tipitaka to refer what is commonly known in English as the Pali Canon.
In MahÄyÄna schools
The term Tripiá¹aka had tended to become synonymous with Buddhist scriptures, and thus continued to be used for the Chinese and Tibetan collections, although their general divisions do not match a strict division into three piá¹akas.[20] In the Chinese tradition, the texts are classified in a variety of ways,[21] most of which have in fact four or even more piá¹akas or other divisions.
As a title
The Chinese form of Tripiá¹aka, "sÄnzà ng" (三è—), was sometimes used as an honorary title for a Buddhist monk who has mastered the teachings of the Tripiá¹aka. In Chinese culture this is notable in the case of the Tang Dynasty monk Xuanzang, whose pilgrimage to India to study and bring Buddhist text back to China was portrayed in the novel Journey to the West as "Tang Sanzang" (Tang Dynasty Tripiá¹aka Master). Due to the popularity of the novel, the term "sÄnzà ng" is often erroneously understood as a name of the monk Xuanzang. One such screen version of this is the popular 1979 Monkey (TV series).
The modern Indian scholar Rahul Sankrityayan is sometimes referred to as Tripitakacharya in reflection of his familiarity with the Tripiá¹aka.
Notes
- ↑ "Buddhist Books and Texts: Canon and Canonization." Lewis Lancaster, Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd edition, pg 1252
- ↑ Skilling, Peter (1992), The Raksa Literature of the Sravakayana, Journal of the Pali Text Society, volume XVI, page 114
- ↑ Walser 2005, p. 51.
- ↑ Sree Padma. Barber, Anthony W. Buddhism in the Krishna River Valley of Andhra. 2008. p. 68.
- 1 2 3 Walser 2005, p. 53.
- ↑ "Abhidhamma Pitaka." Encyclopædia Britannica. Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2008.
- ↑ Walser 2005, p. 213.
- ↑ Walser 2005, p. 212-213.
- ↑ The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalog (K 966)
- 1 2 Walser 2005, p. 52.
- 1 2 Dutt 1998, p. 118.
- 1 2 Harris 1991, p. 98.
- ↑ Bhikkhu Sujato: The Pali NikÄyas and Chinese Ä€gamas
- ↑ Preservation of Sanskrit Buddhist Manuscripts In the Kathmandu
- 1 2 Memory Of The World Register: Gilgit manuscripts
- ↑ Warder, A.K. Indian Buddhism. 2000. p. 6
- ↑ Baruah, Bibhuti. Buddhist Sects and Sectarianism. 2008. p. 52
- ↑ Walser 2005, p. 52-53.
- ↑ A Dictionary of Buddhism, by Damien Keown, Oxford University Press: 2004
- ↑ Mizuno, Essentials of Buddhism, 1972, English version pub Kosei, Tokyo, 1996
- ↑ Nanjio, Catalogue of the Chinese Translations of the Buddhist Tripitaka, Clarendon, Oxford, 1883
See also
Further reading
- Walser, Joseph (2005), NÄgÄrjuna in Context: MahÄyÄna Buddhism and Early Indian Culture, Columbia Univ Pr, ISBN 978-0231131643
- Dutt, Nalinaksha (1998), Buddhist Sects in India, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0428-7
- Harris, Ian Charles (1991), The Continuity of Madhyamaka and Yogacara in Indian Mahayana Buddhism, Brill Academic Pub, ISBN 9789004094482
External links
Pali Canon:
- Access to Insight has many suttas translated into English
- Tipitaka Network
- List of Pali Canon Suttas translated into English (ongoing)
- The Pali Tipitaka Project (texts in 7 Asian languages)
- The Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project Pali Canons has a searchable database of the Pali texts
- The Vietnamese Nikaaya (continuing, text in Vitenamese)
- Search in English translations of the Tipitaka
Myanmar Version of Buddhist Canon (6th revision):
- Buddhist Bible Myanmar Version (without original Pali text)
Chinese Buddhist Canon:
- Buddhist Text Translation Society: Sutra Texts
- BuddhaNet's eBook Library (English PDFs)
- WWW Database of Chinese Buddhist texts (English index of some East Asian Tripitakas)
- CBETA: Full Chinese language canon and extended canon (includes downloads)
Tibetan tradition:
- Kangyur & Tengyur Projects (Tibetan texts)
Tripitaka collections: