The
(
Sanskrit;
Devanagari: त्रिपिटक;
Bengali: ত্রিপিটক ; lit.
three baskets) is the Sanskrit term used by Westerners for a Buddhist canon of scriptures. Asian Buddhists of the
Theravada Buddhist school use the term Tipitaka to refer to the
Pali Canon. Other Buddhist schools use other terms for their own collection of scriptures, such as
Kangyur (Tibetan Buddhism) and 大藏經
Dà Zàng Jīng (Far East Mahayana Buddhism).
Each of the
Early Buddhist Schools had their own recension of the Tripitaka, which mainly differed on the subject of
Abhidhamma. In terms of
Vinaya and
Sutras, the contents were remarkably similar.
Early Buddhism
The Tripitaka writings of some or all the
Early Buddhist Schools, which were originally memorized and recited orally by disciples, fall into three general categories and are traditionally classified in three baskets (
). The following is the most common order.
The first category, the
, was the
code of ethics to be obeyed by the early
,
monks and
nuns. According to the scriptural account, these were invented on a day-to-day basis as the Buddha encountered various behavior problems with the monks.
The second category, the
(literally "basket of threads", Pāli:
), consists primarily of accounts of the Buddha's teachings. The has numerous subdivisions: it contains more than 10,000 sūtras.
The third category is the . This is applied to very different collections in different versions of the . In the Pāli Canon of the Theravāda there is an
consisting of seven books. An
of the Sarvāstivāda school survives, also in seven books, six in Chinese and one in Tibetan. These are different books from the Pali ones though there are some common material and ideas. Another work surviving in Chinese, the
Śāriputrābhidharmaśāstra, may be all or part of another . At least some other early schools of Buddhism had , which are now lost.
According to some sources, some early schools of Buddhism had five or seven pitakas. According to some scholars, some early schools of Buddhism had no Abhidharma.
Mahayana Buddhism
In the
Mahāyāna a mixed attitude to the term developed. On the one hand, a major Mahāyāna scripture, the Lotus Sutra, uses the term to refer to the above literature of the early schools, as distinct from the Mahāyāna's own scriptures, and this usage became quite common in the tradition. On the other hand, the term had tended to become synonymous with Buddhist scriptures, and thus continued to be used for the Chinese and Tibetan collections, even though their contents do not really fit the pattern of three . In the Chinese tradition, the texts are classified in a variety of ways, most of which have in fact four or even more or other divisions. In the few that attempt to follow a genuine threefold division the term Abhidharma Pitaka is used to refer vaguely to non-canonical literature, whether Indian or Chinese, with only the other two being regarded as strictly canonical. In the Tibetan tradition, on the other hand, when attempts are made to explain the application of the term to the Kanjur, the Tibetan canon of scripture, the is considered as consisting of the Prajñāpāramitā.
The Chinese form of , "Sanzang" (三藏), was sometimes used as an honorary title for a Buddhist monk who has mastered all the canons, most notably 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". Due to the popularity of the novel, the term in "Sanzang" is often erroneously understood as a name of the monk
Xuanzang. One such screen version of this is the popular 1979
Monkey (TV series).
Versions
- preserved in the East-Asian Mahayana tradition (Chinese translations):
- The Āgamas contain the Madhyama Āgama (corresponding to the Pali Majjhima Nikāya) and (corresponding to the Pali ) of the Sārvāstivāda. There is also an incomplete Chinese translation of the of the Kāśyapīya school. A comparison of the Sarvāstivādin, Kāśyapīya, and Theravadin texts reveals a considerable consistency of content, although each recension contains texts not found in the others. The Madhyama Āgama of the Sarvāstivāda school contains 222 sūtras, in contrast to the 152 suttas in the Pāli Majjhima Nikāya.
- The Āgamas contains the Dīrgha Āgama (corresponding to the Pali Dīgha Nikāya) of (probably) the Dharmaguptaka. It contains 30 sūtras in contrast to the 34 suttas of the Theravadin Dīgha Nikāya.
- The Āgamas contain the Ekottara Āgama (corresponding to the Pali ) thought to be from either the or Sarvāstivādin canons.
- portions of the , Madhyama, and Dīrgha Āgamas of the Sarvāstivādin recension (all in the fifth section of the Kangyur),
- Mahāyāna sūtras and tantras are also included in translation, along with some surviving Sanskrit texts.
- The Gilgit Manuscript contains vinaya texts and Āgamas primarily from the Mulasarvastivada, along with Mahayana texts.
