Tipitaka

Tripiṭaka (<a title="Sanskrit" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit">Sanskrit</a> <a title="Help:IPA/English" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English">/trɪˈpɪtəkə/</a>) or Tipiṭaka (<a title="Pali" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pali">Pali</a> <a title="Help:IPA/English" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/English">/tɪˈpɪtəkə/</a>) is the traditional term for the Buddhist scriptures.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripi%E1%B9%ADaka#cite_note-britannicatipitaka-1">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripi%E1%B9%ADaka#cite_note-2">[2]</a> The version canonical to <a title="Theravada" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theravada">Theravada</a> Buddhism is generally referred to in English as the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Pali Canon" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pali_Canon">Pali Canon</a>. <a title="Mahayana" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana">Mahayana</a> Buddhism also holds the Tripiṭaka to be authoritative but, unlike Theravadins, it also includes in its canon various <a title="Mahayana sutras" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana_sutras">derivative literature</a> and commentaries that were composed much later.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripi%E1%B9%ADaka#cite_note-britannicatipitaka-1">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripi%E1%B9%ADaka#cite_note-Crandall2012p56-3">[3]</a>

The Tripiṭaka was composed between about 550 BCE and about the start of the common era, likely written down for the first time in the 1st century BCE.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripi%E1%B9%ADaka#cite_note-Crandall2012p56-3">[3]</a> The <a title="Dipavamsa" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dipavamsa">Dipavamsa</a> states that during the reign of <a title="Valagamba of Anuradhapura" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valagamba_of_Anuradhapura">Valagamba of Anuradhapura</a> (29–17 BCE) the monks who had previously remembered the Tripiṭaka and its commentary orally now wrote them down in books, because of the threat posed by famine and war. The <a title="Mahavamsa" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavamsa">Mahavamsa</a> also refers briefly to the writing down of the canon and the commentaries at this time. Each Buddhist sub-tradition had its own Tripiṭaka for its monasteries, written by its <a class="mw-redirect" title="Sangha (Buddhism)" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangha_(Buddhism)">sangha</a>, each set consisting of 32 books, in three parts or baskets of teachings: <a class="mw-redirect" title="Vinaya Pitaka" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinaya_Pitaka">Vinaya Piṭaka</a> (“Basket of Discipline”), <a class="mw-redirect" title="Sutta Pitaka" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutta_Pitaka">Sūtra Piṭaka</a> (“Basket of Discourse”), and <a title="Abhidhamma Piṭaka" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhidhamma_Pi%E1%B9%ADaka">Abhidharma Piṭaka</a> (“Basket of Special [or Further] Doctrine”).<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripi%E1%B9%ADaka#cite_note-britannicatipitaka-1">[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripi%E1%B9%ADaka#cite_note-Crandall2012p56-3">[3]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripi%E1%B9%ADaka#cite_note-Gombrich2006p4-4">[4]</a> The structure, the code of conduct and moral virtues in the Vinaya basket particularly, have similarities to some of the surviving <a class="mw-redirect" title="Dharmasutra" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmasutra">Dharmasutra</a> texts of Hinduism.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripi%E1%B9%ADaka#cite_note-5">[5]</a> Much of the surviving Tripiṭaka literature is in Pali, with some in Sanskrit as well as other local Asian languages.

Tipitaka

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