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Pali Canon

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The Pali Canon[1] is the scripture collection of Theravada Buddhism and, in the view of most scholars, the most important source for early Buddhism. It was written down from oral tradition in the last century BC.

The English name comes from Pali, its language. The commonest name in the tradition is Tipitaka (tipiṭaka), meaning "thee baskets", after the commonest arrangement of the Canon:

  1. Vinaya Pitaka, on monastic discipline
  2. Sutta or Suttanta Pitaka, discourses
  3. Abhidhamma Pitaka, higher or special teaching, more formal and analytical than the discourses

The Sutta Pitaka is in turn divided into five nikayas (nikāya). The first four of these are in a fairly uniform style, mainly prose. The fifth, the Khuddaka Nikaya, is a miscellaneous collection of books in prose and/or verse.

Authorship and date

The Canon is traditionally described as "The Word of the Buddha" (Buddhavacana). This is not intended literally, the Canon in fact including teachings by followers and accounts of events after the Buddha's death. Being actually said by the historical Buddha is not a necessary requirement for counting as Buddhavacana. Nevertheless, most of the Canon is presented by itself, and accepted by traditional Theravadins, as his actual words, though modern Theravadins do not always take this view.

At the other extreme, Tibetologist Geoffrey Samuel says the Canon largely derives from the work of Buddhaghosa and his colleagues in the 5th century AD.[2]

However, three main approaches have been identified among scholars. One group of scholars argue that substantial parts of the Canon show such coherence that they must in substance be the work of a single mind, that of the Buddha himself (around the 5th century BC). A second group, on the contrary, argue that the lack of hard evidence before the writing down of the Canon, or even later, makes it impossible to reach any definite conclusions. The third group avoid such generalizations, focusing on detailed studies of particular points.[3]

Text

The climate of Theravada countries is not conducive to the survival of manuscripts. Apart from brief quotations in inscriptions, and a two-page fragment from the 8th or 9th century found in Nepal, the oldest known manuscripts date from the 15th century, and there are few from before the 18th. Thus the manuscripts available are the result of multiple copying, with the inevitable errors accumulated. This is compounded by transcription between alphabets, as Pali has none of its own, each country generally using its own. Manuscripts tend to follow different national recensions, though with some interaction. The same applies to the printed editions of the Canon: these have been published in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Sri Lanka, but not yet in Laos. The Burmese edition is nominally the "official" edition for the whole of the Theravada, having been approved by the sixth ecumenical council of the Theravada, representing all five Theravada countries. The Council, however, was dominated by Burmese monks, and the other countries tend to pay only lip-service to it, though the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand did sponsor a transcript of its edition in 2005. Modern scholars try to compare these editions, which is made easier by the existence of electronic transcripts, except for the Khmer edition, of which few copies survived the Khmers Rouges.

Canon

A standard list of books in the Canon appears in a number of classic commentaries (5th century?). One of those commentaries, however, gives some alternative listings of contents of the Khuddaka Nikaya. A subcommentary on this, probably written in the 10th century, explains the apparent differences in lists by saying that books not mentioned were in fact counted as parts of other books, and a later subcommentary, written about 1800, uses the same method to include in the Canon at least two books not known to have been ever before mentioned as such.[4] The Burmese and Khmer editions of the Canon include three such books, two of which are also in the Sinhalese edition. The Thai edition omits them. However, inclusion in printed editions is not necessarily the same as canonicity. For example, the original King James Bible of 1611 included the Apocrypha, which the Church of England did not and does not consider canonical. Nevertheless, Professor George D. Bond[5] says of one of these books, the Netti, that it is

Regarded as quasi-canonical by some Theravādins and canonical by other Theravādins, especially in Burma

There is disagreement on whether it is still possible for material to be added to the Canon.

The table below gives the corresponding material in the three main editions in use in the Theravada world (nearly all copies of the Khmer edition were burnt by the Khmers Rouges). In the left column are the titles of the books. The other columns list the volumes in those editions in which the corresponding material is included. The volume numbering is taken from the following sources.

  • B: imprints pages of the 2008 Latin-script printing of the 6th Council edition available in pdfs at[1]
  • C: title pages of the Buddhajayanti edition (Ceylon/Sri Lnka)
  • S: (apparently rebound) spines of the set of the 2nd Siamese edition donated to Cambridge University Library in 1931 by the King of Siam
book B C S
Vinaya Pitaka 1-5 1-6 1-8
Suttanta Pitaka 6-28 7-40 9-33
Digha Nikaya 6-8 7-9 9-11
Majjhima Nikaya 9-11 10-12 12-14
Samyutta Nikaya 12-14 13-17 15-19
Anguttara Nikaya 15-17 18-23 20-24
Khuddaka Nikaya 18-28 24-40 25-33
Khuddakapatha 18 24 25
Dhammapada ,, ,, ,,
Udana ,, ,, ,,
Itivuttaka ,, ,, ,,
Suttanipata ,, 25 ,,
Vimanavatthu 19 26 26
Petavatthu ,, 27 ,,
Theragatha ,, 28 ,,
Therigatha ,, 29 ,,
Jataka 22-23 30-32 27-28
Maha Niddesa 24 33 29
Culla Niddesa 25 34 30
Patisambhidamagga 26 35 31
Apadana 20-21 36-37 32-33
Buddhavamsa 21 38 33
Cariyapitaka ,, ,, ,,
Netti(ppakarana) 27 39
Petakopadesa 27 40
Milindapanha 28
Abhidhamma Pitaka 29-40 41-52 34-45
Dhammasangani 29 41 34
Vibhanga 30 42-43 35
Dhatukatha 31 47 36
Puggalapannatti ,, ,, ,,
Kathavatthu 32 44-46 37
Yamaka 33-35 48-49 38-39
Patthana 36-40 50-52 40-45

Role

In theory, the Canon is the highest authority for the teaching. In practice, its great bulk means few are familiar with it as a whole. Therefore there is a tendency to specialize. The Vinaya Pitaka mentions vinaya and sutta specialists. The Milindapanha mentions specialists in each of the five nikayas. The commentaries mention abhidhamma specialists. In modern times, those wishing to be ordained as monks in Sri Lanka have had to memorize the Dhammapada. In Myanmar one can earn the title Teacher of Religion (Dhammācariya) by passing an examination where the set texts are the first volume of each pitaka.

Like Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism, and unlike Christianity and Mahayana Buddhism, Theravada emphasizes the original scriptural language. Study and recitation are usually in Pali. The Canon was composed, or evolved, for the most part orally, and is adapted to that medium, and so to memorization. There are rare cases of monks who know the whole Canon by heart, and many know substantial parts. Even lay people usually know a few short passages.

Comparison

Versions of the Vinaya and most of the Sutta exist in Chinese. These are inherited from other schools of ancient Indian Buddhism and differ somewhat from the Pali versions. Similarly, there is a version of the Vinaya in Tibetan.

Bibliography

Editions of the Canon

  • 1st Siamese edition (incomplete), 39 volumes, 1893.
  • 1st Burmese edition, based on the Fifth Council inscriptions, 1900, 38 volumes. It was later superseded by the Sixth Council edition.
  • Pali Text Society edition, 1877-1927, 57 volumes, including index volumes. Individual volumes and subsets are also available separately. Details can be found on the Society's website. A few volumes have been replaced with new editions since 1927.
    • CD-ROM from Dhammakaya Foundation, Thailand: 1st edition no longer available; 2nd edition in preparation
  • 2nd Siamese edition, 45 volumes, 1925-1928. It is more accurate than the PTS edition, but gives fewer variant readings.[6]
  • edition approved by the Sixth Council (Rangoon, 1954-1956), 40 volumes. This is more accurate than the Siamese edition, but with fewer variant readings.[7] Recently, in addition to the original Burmese script edition, Latin and devanagari versions have appeared in print. Two online versions are now available:
    • [3]: has options for a variety of scripts; downloadable free of charge.
    • [4]: pdfs of a Latin-script printing; downloadable free of charge from [5]
  • Nalanda edition (first Indian edition), 39 nominal volumes in 41 actual volumes (in devanagari script), 1957-1961. It was based mainly on the 6th Council text. It gradually went out of print.
  • Khmer edition: This is a parallel-text edition, with Khmer translations on facing pages. 110 volumes, 1931-1969. The Khmers Rouges burnt every set in the country, with only a few surviving elsewhere.
  • Buddha Jayanti edition: This Sinhalese edition is another parallel-text one, 1957-1989, 52 nominal volumes in 58 actual volumes.
  • Bhumibalo edition (Thailand) This is a currently ongoing project.

Translations

  • Pali Canon in English Translation, 1895- , in progress, 43 volumes so far, Pali Text Society, Bristol; for details see website.

Selections from all three pitakas:

  • The Lion's Roar, ed & tr David Maurice, Rider, London, 1962

Selections from the Vinaya and Suttanta pitakas:

  • Some Sayings of the Buddha, ed & tr F. L. Woodward, Oxford World Classics, 1924
  • The Life of Gotama the Buddha, ed E. H. Brewster, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London, 1926
  • Buddhist Scriptures, ed & tr E. J. Thomas, Wisdom of the East Series, John Murray, London, 1931
  • The Vedantic Buddhism of the Buddha, ed & tr J. G. Jennings, pub Geoffrey Cumberlege, London, 1947
  • The Living Thoughts of Gotama the Buddha, ed Ananda K. Coomaraswamy & I.B. Horner, Cassell, London, 1948
  • The Life of the Buddha, ed & tr Nanamoli, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1972

Selections from Suttanta Pitaka only:

  • Buddhist Suttas, ed & tr T. W. Rhys Davids, Sacred Books of the East, volume XI, Clarendon/Oxford, 1881; reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi (& ?Dover, New York)
  • The Word of the Buddha, ed & tr Nyanatiloka, 1935
  • Early Buddhist Poetry, ed I. B. Horner, Ananda Semage, Colombo, 1963
  • The Book of Protection, tr Piyadassi, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1981; translation of paritta
  • In the Buddha's Words, ed & tr Bodhi, Wisdom Pubns, 2005
  • Early Buddhist Discourses, ed & tr John J. Holder, 2006
  • Basic Teachings of the Buddha, ed & tr Glenn Wallis, Modern Library, New York, 2007
  • Sayings of the Buddha, ed & tr Rupert Gethin, Oxford University Press, 2008
  • A Taste of Salt, ed M. Breneman, 2009

Secondary sources

Books specifically about the Canon:

  • History of Pali Literature, B. C. Law, volume I
  • Analysis of the Pali Canon, Russell Webb, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka
  • Guide to Tipitaka, Ko Lay, originally published in Burma, reprinted in India, Malysia, Taiwan and Thailand, now
    • pdf
      • downloadable from
      • viewable online at [9]
    • online at [10]

More general books:

  • Pali Literature, K. R. Norman, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1983
  • Handbook of Pali Literature, Oskar von Hinüber, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 1996

Notes

  1. This is the name usually used by Pali scholars, subject to variations such as Pali canon, Pāli Canon etc. Google search suggests Tipitaka may be a commoner name among non-specialists. The Title pages of the Sixth Council, Sinhalese and Thai editions have Piṭaka, Tripiṭaka and Tepiṭaka respectively
  2. Introducing Tibetan Buddhism, Routledge, 2012, page 48
  3. This classification of approaches was delineated by Lambert Schmithausen in the Preface to Ruegg & Schmithausen, Early Buddhism and Madhyamaka, Brill, Leiden,1990, pp 1f, where he includes himself in the third group. A leading exponent of the first is Richard F. Gombrich, who summarizes his position in his book Theravada Buddhism, Routledge, London, 1st edition, 1988/2nd edition, 2006, pp 20f. The leading scholar in the second group is Gregory Schopen, who gives his arguments in Journal of the Pali Text Society, volume XVI, pp 104–6, reprinted in his book Bones, Stones, and Buddhist Monks, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu, 1997, pp 80f.
  4. JPTS, volume XXVIII, pages 61f
  5. Karl H. Potter, ed, Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, volume VII, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, 1996, page 381
  6. Warder, Introduction to Pali, 1963, PTS, page 382
  7. Hamm in German Scholars on India, volume I, ed Cultural Department of the German Embassy in India, pub Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series Office, Varanasi, 1973, translated from Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 1962