TRIPITAKA (TRIPITAKA). — T. means the three baskets, that is, the three collections constituting the Pāli Buddhist Canon: Vinaya-pitaka, or basket of discipline; Sutta-pitaka, or basket of sermons; and Abhidhamma-pitaka, or basket of metaphysics.
The T. is written in Pāli, the literary language derived from a dialect related to Sanskrit that was spoken in Magadha, present-day Bihār, in the sixth century B.C., and was therefore called Māgadhī. A native of Magadha, the Buddha will have preached in Māgadhī, and it was in the same dialect that the first, limited Canon must have been disseminated. According to tradition, it was composed by the elder Kaśyapa and other personal disciples of the Buddha, gathered in council at Rājagṛha (present-day Rājgir) a few months after the death of the Perfect One (Tathāgata).
This first council is said to have limited itself to establishing the disciplinary rules of the monastic Order and the text of the sermons, in order to prevent distortions of the Enlightened One’s word capable of provoking dissension within the community. The Abhidhamma-pitaka, which is an emanation of the Sutta-pitaka, insofar as it aims to give an abstract and systematic form to the teachings contained in the sermons, freeing them from occasional and accessory elements, is less ancient than the other two pitakas. The chroniclers of Ceylon assign it to the third century because its final chapter, entitled Kathāvatthu (points of controversy), is attributed to Tissa Moggalliputta, head of the Third Council (243 B.C.). But the prevailing view is that the Abhidhamma-pitaka, a work of scholastic character, is the product of a centuries-long elaboration, which came to an end when the Canon was committed to writing. The importance of the Third Council lies in its having initiated that work of propagation which made Buddhism a universal religion. Mahinda went to Ceylon as a missionary; he was the son of King Aśoka Priyadarsin (ca. 294–232 B.C.), a follower and protector of Buddhism. The embellishments of the legend, according to which Mahinda arrived on the island in flight together with other monks, should not prevent his journey to Ceylon from being regarded as a historical fact. There he expounded and disseminated the Canon sanctioned by the Third Council, which, like the earlier Canon, remained entrusted to the memory of the Sinhalese monks and was transmitted orally. It was committed to writing during the reign of Vattagamani, in the first century B.C. Sinhalese Buddhists believe that the present T., the canonical text of Hīnayāna Buddhism (v. BUDDHISMO) in Ceylon, Burma, Cambodia, Siam, and Laos, is identical with that sanctioned by the First Council a few months after the Buddha’s death. This conflicts with the same tradition, which states that at Rājagṛha only the first two pitakas were composed, and not in Pāli, but in Māgadhī, the dialect spoken by the Buddha and his
disciples. The question whether the language of the T. reached Ceylon already transformed into Pāli, the sacred language, or underwent its evolution during the 160 years between Mahinda’s arrival on the island and the writing down of the Canon is insoluble for lack of evidence. It is certain that the language of the T. was regarded as sacred, and that this character, together with the difference between the dialect of Ceylon, which was Sinhalese, protected the Canon from all contamination. As for the meaning of the word «pāli» (f.), opinions differ, but the simplest explanation may perhaps be the one that gives the word the meaning of «series», deriving from its original meaning of line. «Series of texts, and the language in which they are written». The T. is in fact a compendium of texts, often not only heterogeneous but also belonging to different periods.
Vinaya-pitaka, «the basket of discipline», contains: I. the Sutta-vibhanga, or «classification of the rules»; II. the Khandhaka, or «chapters»; and III. the Parivāra, or «accessory section». The Sutta-vibhanga includes the text of the Pātimokha, the monastic penal code of 227 articles, of which it is the commentary; it not only explains the sins included therein, but also states on what occasion the Buddha himself indicated the fault and prescribed the corresponding sanction. The Pātimokha is divided into two parts, one concerning monks and the other nuns; the sins are of two kinds: those entailing expulsion from the Order and those capable of expiation. The Parivāra is a kind of summary index of the preceding two works, to which it was added at a much later date. Every month, on the evening of the new moon and the full moon, the monks and nuns of the district gathered in a monastery or elsewhere for a solemn session. No one was to be absent. The oldest monk or nun, respectively, presided over the assembly and addressed those present with the ritual words: «Let whoever has committed a sin confess it; let whoever is not guilty remain silent». The list of sins was read out, beginning with the most serious and ending with those remitted through simple public confession. The Chapters, divided into two sections (vagga), the great (Mahā-vagga) and the small (Culla-vagga), may be regarded as a supplement to the Sutta-vibhanga, since they deal with the admission of monks and nuns into the Order, the conduct they must maintain, their manner of dress, and so forth. Precepts and counsels are here likewise attributed to the Buddha and preceded by a narrative, undoubtedly invented. These narratives are of little importance even from a literary standpoint, but the chapters concerning the legendary life of the Buddha are of far greater interest. In fine archaic language, the Mahā-vagga (I, 1–24) relates how the Buddha attained clairvoyance (badhi) and gained his first disciples by effecting conversions, among which the most important were those of Sāriputta and Moggalliana, destined to share primacy in the Order with the Perfect One. The Mahā-vagga has also transmitted the text of the sermon at Benares, the Enlightened One’s first, as well as other important information, such as the visit he made to his father and consort, during which he admitted his son to the Order at the age of only seven. The foundation of the female Order, at the request of the widowed stepmother, is instead related in the Culla-vagga.
Sutta-pitaka, «the basket of discourses (and dialogues)», is the richest source of information concerning the religion (dhamma) professed by the Buddha and his disciples. It consists of five collections (nikāya). The first contains 34 long discourses; the second, those of medium length, 152; the third is the collection of grouped discourses, in which the suttas sharing particular characteristics (theme, speaker, protagonist, etc.) are gathered into 56 groups, each with a title appropriate to its character; the fourth collection is that of the «Plus One», in which the treatment concerns first single themes, then pairs, then groups of three, continually increasing by one up to eleven, in chapter XI, the last. The chapter on paired themes deals, for example, with the two reasons for dwelling in the forest, the two kinds of Buddha, and so forth; that on ternary themes concerns the three messengers of the gods, the three kinds of silence, and so forth; the fifth and final collection, comprising 15 works, is improperly called that of the brief texts, because, together with short poems, it contains some of the most voluminous works of Pāli literature. Whereas the first nikāyas, predominantly
Didactic in character, the first nikāya are in prose, interrupted here and there by stanzas that are quotations or teachings in verse, intended as mnemonic aids; in the fifth, poetry predominates and, in more than one text—such as the Dhammaapada, “words on religion,” the Thera- and Theri-gāthā, stanzas of the monks and nuns, and the Suttanipāta, a collection of sermons—deserves the name of true, great poetry. In the Sutta-pitaka, the following are noteworthy for their particular importance: the Mahāpari nibhāna-sutta (I, 16), or “great discourse on absolute nirvāpa (v.) (of the Buddha),” which is a detailed account of the last three months of the life of the Enlightened One; the group of dialogues on causal connection (III, 12); and the Jātaka (V, 10), or account of the Buddha’s previous births, some of which are represented in bas-reliefs on the Stūpa of Bharhut and Sānchi, dating from the 3rd century B.C.