Buddhavacana
Vinaya Pitaka
Sutta Pikata
Abhidhamma Pitaka
Damien Keown (c 1951-Present CE)
Matthew Meghaprasara. (c19??-present)
"Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction" and the OUP "Dictionary of Buddhism " By Damien Keown
"New Guide to the Tipitaka" -By Matthew Meghaprasara.
The Tipitaka is the most important text in Buddhism. Yet as Meghaprasara says its treatment is not the same as other scriptures as the ‘Buddha recommended that on investigates for oneself the truth of any doctrine’. Keown says it is for "Cultivating the virtues." so that "Ethics is given a central place." Specifically the ethics of the Vihara Monks and Nuns "To regulate in all detail the life within the community." and he to questions its scriptural status as "No more than an authoritative guide to the teachings of the Buddha." Like a raft to be discarded once one has crossed over the stream of Samsara.
The word of the Buddha
The Tipitaka is understood to contain the original teachings of the Buddha and is thought of as the Buddhavacana (Word fo the Buddha). It signifies the teachings attributed directly to the Buddha, encompassing his discourses, sermons, and sayings. These teachings are considered the authoritative source of Buddhist doctrine and practice.
The term "Buddhavacana" emphasizes the importance and authenticity of the Buddha's teachings as the primary and most reliable source for understanding Buddhist principles and practices. It distinguishes the Buddha's words from later commentaries, interpretations, or writings by other Buddhist teachers and scholars.
The status of the Tipitaka
The Tipitaka thus holds a central and revered status in Theravada Buddhism, serving as the authoritative scripture and foundation for Buddhist doctrine and practice. Its significance and status can be understood in various aspects
It holds canonical authority and is regarded as the direct words of the Buddha (Buddhavacana).
The Tipitaka provides the doctrinal foundation for Theravada Buddhism, encompassing teachings on ethics, meditation, philosophy, and the path to enlightenment. It offers guidance for both lay followers and monastic communities on how to lead a virtuous life and attain liberation.
Monks and nuns in Theravada monastic institutions study the Tipitaka extensively as part of their education and training. The Vinaya Pitaka provides guidelines for monastic discipline, the Sutta Pitaka contains the Buddha's teachings, and the Abhidhamma Pitaka offers systematic and analytical insights into Buddhist doctrine.
The Tipitaka is also revered in Theravada Buddhist rituals and ceremonies. Recitations as devotion from the Tipitaka are often performed during religious festivals, ceremonies, and meditation retreats. Its presence is felt in daily chants and prayers in monasteries and temples.
Throughout history, efforts have been made to preserve and transmit the Tipitaka. Monastic communities, scholars, and lay supporters have played crucial roles in copying, translating, and disseminating the Tipitaka across different regions and languages.
The Tipitaka continues to be studied, practiced, and revered by Theravada Buddhists around the world. It remains relevant as a source of inspiration, guidance, and wisdom.
The collection and formation of the Titaka.
The Tipitaka is ot a single authored text, compiled centuries after the Buddha's death. It was transmitted orally for generations before written down. Different versions and interpretations exist across Theravada traditions.
"Oral transmission ensured flexibility and adaptation to different contexts." (D.T. Suzuki)
"Written versions helped preserve teachings but may contain later additions." (Walpola Rahula -What the Buddha Taught )
First Buddhist Council (circa 483 BCE): Soon after the Buddha's passing, the First Buddhist Council was held in Rajagaha to recite and compile the Buddha's teachings. Ven. Upali recited the Vinaya, and Ven. Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka.
Second Buddhist Council (circa 383 BCE): This council was convened primarily to address disagreements over the monastic rules. It led to the formation of two separate schools of thought, which later evolved into the Theravada and Mahasanghika traditions.
Third Buddhist Council (circa 250 BCE): Emperor Ashoka convened this council in Pataliputra to purify and consolidate the Buddha's teachings. The Tipitaka was reviewed, and the Abhidhamma Pitaka was systematized during this council.
Fourth Buddhist Council (1st century BCE): This council was held in Sri Lanka under the patronage of King Vattagamani Abhaya. It was aimed at preserving the Tipitaka and promoting its study. The Tipitaka was written down in Pali script during this council, ensuring its preservation and dissemination.
Meghaprasara on:
1st council:
Sutta and Vinaya "approved unanimously" by 500 arhats.
2nd council:
"settle a serious dispute over the ten points".
3rd council:
"Rid the Sangha of corruption."
The Tipitaka, also known as the "Three Baskets," is the foundational scripture of Theravada Buddhism and one of the earliest and most comprehensive collections of Buddhist teachings
The Vinaya Pitaka contains the rules and regulations for the monastic community (Sangha). It provides guidelines on monastic discipline, ethical conduct, and the daily life of monks and nuns. The Vinaya texts were initially transmitted orally among the early Buddhist monks and nuns.
"Vinaya reflects early monastic needs and may not be directly applicable to laypeople". Keown, "Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction"
The Sutta Pitaka consists of the Buddha's discourses, sermons, and teachings. It is the largest basket and contains a vast collection of texts ranging from short sayings to lengthy discourses. The Suttas were memorized and recited by monks and nuns and were eventually written down.
"Suttas may contain later embellishments, requiring critical analysis." Keown, "The Nature of Buddhist Ethics
"Suttas offer timeless wisdom and guidance on ethical living and meditation." Rahula, "The Heritage of the Bhikkhu":
The Abhidhamma Pitaka contains systematic and analytical expositions of Buddhist doctrine. It delves into the philosophical and psychological aspects of the Buddha's teachings. The Abhidhamma texts were developed later than the other two baskets and represent a more scholastic and analytical approach to Buddhist teachings
"Abhidhamma provides deeper insights into Buddhist thought and practice." Rahula, "What the Buddha Taught"
"Abhidhamma may be too complex and abstract for general understanding" (D.T. Suzuki "Manual of Zen Buddhism," Part III, Chapter 1
The interpretation of the Tipitaka, or the "Three Baskets" of Buddhist scriptures, has been a dynamic and evolving process throughout the history of Buddhism. Given its vast scope and depth, the Tipitaka's teachings have been understood and interpreted in various ways by scholars, monks, and practitioners across different Buddhist traditions and cultures.
In Theravada Buddhism, which considers the Tipitaka as the most authoritative scripture, the teachings are generally interpreted in a literal and conservative manner. Monks and scholars in Theravada countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia emphasize the Pali Canon's original texts and their commentaries.
Literal Interpretation: Theravada scholars often focus on the literal meaning of the Tipitaka's texts, considering them as the direct words of the Buddha (Buddhavacana).
Commentarial Tradition: Commentaries (Atthakatha) written by ancient Theravada scholars provide detailed explanations and interpretations of the Tipitaka. These commentaries help elucidate complex teachings and clarify ambiguous passages.
Scholastic Approach: Theravada monastic education includes rigorous study of the Tipitaka, Abhidhamma, and their commentaries. Monks and scholars engage in textual analysis, debate, and interpretation to understand and explain the teachings.
In Mahayana Buddhism, while the Tipitaka is respected, additional sutras and texts are also revered as authoritative teachings. Mahayana interprets the Tipitaka's teachings in light of the Bodhisattva path, emphasizing compassion, wisdom, and the aspiration to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings.
Skillful Means (Upaya): Mahayana teachings often emphasize the use of skillful means to adapt the Buddha's teachings to the capacities and needs of different beings.
Emptiness and Compassion: Mahayana interprets the Tipitaka's teachings on emptiness (Sunyata) and compassion (Karuna) in profound and expansive ways, reflecting the Bodhisattva ideal.
Interpretative Sutras: Mahayana sutras like the Prajnaparamita Sutras, Lotus Sutra, and Avatamsaka Sutra provide alternative interpretations and expansions of the Tipitaka's teachings.
The Tipitaka holds immense significance in Buddhism, particularly in Theravada Buddhism, serving multiple purposes that contribute to the spiritual, ethical, and cultural life of Buddhists. However, the parable of the raft suggests its importance was insrumental and that as Meghaprasara says the "Buddha recommended that one investigates for oneself the truth of any doctrine."
The Tipitaka is cosidered the primary source of the Buddha’s teachings for all Buddhists even if Mahayana use other sutras as well
It is foundational for Theravada Buddhist beliefs and practices.
Path to Liberation: The Tipitaka provides a comprehensive guide to the Noble Eightfold Path, which outlines the practices leading to enlightenment and liberation from suffering.
Meditation Instructions: The Sutta Pitaka includes teachings on various meditation techniques, such as mindfulness of breath, loving-kindness (Metta), and insight meditation (Vipassana), serving as a practical guide for meditation practitioners.
Source of inspiration, guidance, and ethical principles.
Monastic Discipline: The Vinaya Pitaka offers guidelines and rules for monks and nuns, ensuring ethical conduct, harmony, and purity within the monastic community.
Lay Ethics: The Tipitaka also provides ethical guidelines for lay Buddhists, emphasizing virtues like generosity, morality, patience, and compassion.
Used for study, meditation, and ritual practices.
Chanting and Recitation: Verses, sutras, and passages from the Tipitaka are often chanted or recited during religious ceremonies, rituals, and meditation retreats.
Puja and Offerings: The Tipitaka guides lay Buddhists in performing puja (worship) and making offerings to the Triple Gem, cultivating devotion and merit.
"Tipitaka offers a rich resource for personal and communal growth". (Bhikkhu Bodhi: "In the Buddha's Words")
"Importance of critical interpretation and avoiding literalism." (D.T. Suzuki- Manual of Zen Buddhism)
The Tipitaka is an Educational Resource for
Monastic Education: Monks and nuns study the Tipitaka extensively as part of their monastic education, exploring its teachings, commentaries, and interpretations.
Lay Study Groups: Lay Buddhists also study the Tipitaka through study groups, workshops, and classes, deepening their understanding and practice of Buddhism.
The Tipitaka is for Buddhists an Authority that establishes their religions Authenticity
Canonical Status: The Tipitaka is considered the authoritative scripture in Theravada Buddhism, embodying the Buddha's direct teachings (Buddhavacana).
Historical Authenticity: It provides a reliable record of the Buddha's words and the early Buddhist community's practices, offering insight into the historical development of Buddhism.
Spiritual and Ethical Guidance
Path to Enlightenment: The Tipitaka outlines the Noble Eightfold Path and other key teachings that guide practitioners on the path to enlightenment and liberation from suffering.
Ethical Framework: It offers ethical guidelines for both monastic and lay followers, emphasizing virtues like compassion, generosity, morality, and mindfulness.
Personal and Collective Identity
Spiritual Identity: For many Buddhists, the Tipitaka shapes their spiritual identity, worldview, values, and ethical principles.
Community Cohesion: The shared reverence and study of the Tipitaka foster community cohesion, mutual understanding, and shared values among Buddhists.
Universal Relevance
Global Impact: The teachings of the Tipitaka address universal human concerns and values, making them relevant and applicable across cultures, religions, and societies.
Interfaith Dialogue: Its teachings on peace, compassion, and wisdom contribute to interfaith dialogue, fostering understanding, respect, and cooperation among different religious communities.
Meghaprasara on treatment of the Tipitaka = ‘Buddha recommended that on investigates for oneself the truth of any doctrine’
Keown on Vinaya = ‘ethics is given a central place’ and ‘to regulate in all detail the life within the community’
Keown on validity of the Sutta Pitaka = ‘No more than an authoritative guide to the teachings of the Buddha’ and ‘there is internal evidence of evolution and change’
Meghaprasara overall on the Tipitaka = ‘taught by the Buddha himself’ , ‘a treasure’ and ‘preserve the Buddha’s doctrine in its purest form’
Meghaprasara on the 1st Buddhist council = ‘approved unanimously’ by 500 arhats
Meghaprasara on the 3rd Buddhist council = ‘rid the Sangha of corruption’ and ‘those who held wrong views were exposed and expelled’
Section A
Explore the use of the Tipitaka. 8 mks (2017 AS Q) (2018 Q)
Explore the status of the Tipitaka 8 mks (2023 Q)
Section B
3b Analyse the significance of the Tipitaka as a source of wisdom. (2017 AS Q) (2018 Q)
Section C
4. Evaluate the status of the Tipitaka as the foundation of Buddhist belief and practice (2018 Q)
2.2: The Tipitaka
· The Tipitaka is the three baskets:
1. Vinaya Pitaka.
2. Sutta Pitaka.
3. Abhidharma.
Different Sections:
Vinaya Pitaka:
Rules for monastic life, maintaining order and harmony within the community.
Aims to create a conducive environment for practicing the Buddha's teachings.
"Vinaya reflects early monastic needs and may not be directly applicable to laypeople". Donald Keown, "Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction"
"Vinaya principles like mindfulness and discipline are relevant for all Buddhists. Anagarika Dharmapala," "Return to Buddha": A collection of speeches and writings.
Sutta Pitaka:
Collection of discourses attributed to the Buddha, covering diverse topics.
Key source for understanding the Buddha's teachings and the path to enlightenment.
Suttas may contain later embellishments, requiring critical analysis. (Donald Keown, "The Nature of Buddhist Ethics)
Suttas offer timeless wisdom and guidance on ethical living and meditation. (Walpola Rahula, "The Heritage of the Bhikkhu": Rahula discusses the Suttas as the foundation of Buddhist monastic life and their enduring importance for understanding the Buddha's path.
Abhidhamma Pitaka:
Systematic analysis of the Buddha's teachings, using philosophical concepts.
Primarily studied by monastics and scholars.
"Abhidhamma may be too complex and abstract for general understanding" (D.T. Suzuki "Manual of Zen Buddhism," Part III, Chapter 1: Suzuki discusses the Abhidhamma as a "system of philosophical analysis")
"Abhidhamma provides deeper insights into Buddhist thought and practice." (Walpola Rahula, "What the Buddha Taught," Chapter 9: Rahula states that the Abhidhamma offers "a deeper understanding of the Buddha's teachings" and clarifies them "in a more systematic and analytical way.")
Bhikkhu Bodhi, "In the Buddha's Words," Introduction to the Abhidhamma Pitaka: Bodhi writes that the Abhidhamma "sheds light on the subtle workings of the mind" and "provides a framework for understanding the Buddha's teachings in greater depth."
Status, Collection, and Formation:
Not a single authored text, compiled centuries after the Buddha's death.
Transmitted orally for generations before written down.
Different versions and interpretations exist across Theravada traditions.
"Oral transmission ensured flexibility and adaptation to different contexts." (D.T. Suzuki)
"Written versions helped preserve teachings but may contain later additions." (Walpola Rahula -What the Buddha Taught )
Significance and Use:
Foundation for Theravada Buddhist beliefs and practices.
Source of inspiration, guidance, and ethical principles.
Used for study, meditation, and ritual practices.
"Tipitaka offers a rich resource for personal and communal growth". (Bhikkhu Bodhi: "In the Buddha's Words")
"Importance of critical interpretation and avoiding literalism." (D.T. Suzuki- Manual of Zen Buddhism)
Overview:
· Role in Theravada:
o Canonical work, contains exclusively all the teachings of the Buddha.
o Outlines Buddhist lifestyle and Sangha, ensure (very) eventual nirvana, uncorrupted Buddhacara.
· Mahayana view on scriptures:
o Accept Tipitaka in addition to Prajnaparamita.
o However, Lotus Sutra is the definitive teaching.
o Heart Sutra: foundation of Madhyamika school.
o Transmitted from other worlds in secret, only released later as pupils weren't ready.
· Vajrayanins view:
o Scripture unwieldy for traveling monks.
o Memorising: deep understanding.
o Brahmins critiqued for written script as enforced one interpretation and created literate elite.
· Is it accurate?:
o No:
§ Unreliability of memory, especially over 3-400 years, mnemonic devices distort scripture.
· Keown:
o "There is internal evidence of evolution and change."
o "There is considerable disparity" between versions of the Tipitaka.
o Yes:
§ Oral tradition can be accurate, mnemonic devices help memory, Stylistic coherence of the Canon.
· P Harvey:
o "overall harmony."
· Meghaprasara:
o "Buddha recommended that one investigates for oneself the truth of any doctrine."
· Buddhacova:
o Word of the Buddha.
· Tipitaka's importance:
o Yes:
§ Buddhacava, earliest available scripture, prevalent in all sects, Vinaya secures and directs Sangha, Suttas are direct teachings, Abhi- is philosophical backing to teachings.
o No: Not utilised by the Laity or M/V monks, little importance to M, Abhidharma only for advanced scholars, too simplistic for M.
· Development of the Tipitaka:
o 1. Word of the Buddha.
2. Disciples memorise teachings.
3. 1st council- unanimous agreement on Sutta and Vinaya.
4. 300-400 years of oral tradition.
5. Malinda transcribes 3-1st BC.
o Meghaprasara on:
§ 1st council:
· Sutta and Vinaya "approved unanimously" by 500 arhats.
§ 2nd council:
· "settle a serious dispute over the ten points".
§ 3rd council:
· "Rid the Sangha of corruption."
· Weakness is that there are more rules for Women.
o Dhammapadda:
§ "One who has such a vehicle, whether a woman or a man, by means of this vehicle draws close to nirvana."
Vinaya Pitaka:
· The rules for the Sangha.
1. Suttavibhanga:
1. 227 rules for monks and 311 for Bhikkunis, 5 precepts
2. Khandaka:
1. e.g. fortnightly Uposatha
3. Parivara:
1. summary and analysis of rules
· Purpose:
o To provide the word of the Buddha and the route to Enlightenment that that brings along with it.
· 5 Nikayas:
o 1-4 are doctrinal and the 5th is anecdotal.
· Theravada:
o "The textual framework upon which the monastic community is built."
o "Were it not for the Vinaya... there would be no Buddhism"
· Keown on it:
o "Cultivating the virtues."
o "Ethics is given a central place."
o "To regulate in all detail the life within the community."
o But he questions it:
§ "No more than an authoritative guide to the teachings of the Buddha."
· Cush:
o "Governing the organisation of the Sangha."
· Minor offences:
o Pacittiya:
§ E.g. Tickling.
· Major offences:
o 4 Parajikas:
§ The greatest offences for monks:
· Sex, killing, theft, claiming supernatural powers.
· The Dhammapada and the Jakarta Tales are part of the Sutta Pitaka.
o Dhammapada:
§ "If a man speaks many holy words but does not, this thoughtless man cannot enjoy the life of holiness."
Abhidhamma Pittaka:
· Metaphysical and Theological analysis of the Buddha's teachings.
· First two baskets: agreed upon unanimously at 1st Council.
o However, the abhidhamma is a conscious analysis of this teaching and was only agreed upon at the third council: less likely to be the word of the Buddha.
· Side:
o "Philosophical analysis of the Buddha's teachings."
o "Topics such as human psychology and the relationship between mind and matter."
· Theravada:
o "The familiar psycho-physical universe... is distilled to its essence."
o "The essence of the Abhidhamma was formulated by the Buddha during the fourth week after his Enlightenment."
§ But how could he analyse his life's work 4 weeks into it?
· Keown:
o "One time the abhidhamma pitaka did not form a separate section."
Tipitaka: "Three Baskets," core scripture collection of Theravada Buddhism
Vinaya Pitaka: Monastic code and rules
Sutta Pitaka: Discourses attributed to the Buddha
Abhidhamma Pitaka: Analytical and philosophical teachings
Theravada: "School of the Elders," emphasizes individual liberation
Enlightenment: Awakening, liberation from suffering
Oral transmission: Traditional method of preserving Buddhist teachings
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