Gautam Buddha was a Kshatriya prince, who was born as Siddhartha in 563 BCE. He preached Buddhism which is contained in the Tripitaka.

 

What is a Buddhist Sangha and Tripitaka?

 

Buddha established the Buddhist Sangha to promote his teachings. Let us understand what is Sangha and what does it do?

 

Sangha is a Sanskrit word that means community. Therefore, Buddhist Sangha was a community of Buddhist monks. The sole purpose of the sangha was to preserve, advance and spread the teachings of Buddha.

 

But, do you know what happened after his death? After Buddha died, common people started thinking that now there was no one to guide them and they started living a life that was disobeying or against the philosophy of Buddhism.

 

One day, a few Buddhist monks heard a man saying that now as Buddha was not there among them, they do not have anyone to guide them. At that moment, the monks got worried and felt the need to develop a scripture so that they could summarize Buddha�s teaching for common people.

 

Do you know what was that scripture called? This scripture came to be known as Tripitaka. Apart from Tripitaka, the Jataka Tales are stories about the previous births of the Buddha. They form an important part of Buddhist literature.

 

TRIPITAKA:

 

Around 500 monks attended Buddhist Council held at Rajgriha, Bihar and recorded all the teachings, activities and rules of conduct of Buddhism. The scripture, that they developed, is called Tripitaka, where the word �Tri� means �three� and the word �Pitaka� means �pitari�, Hence, �Tripitaka is three pitari� or the three baskets of Buddhist knowledge.

 

Sounds difficult to remember this word?

 

Let�s learn a fun way to remember TRIPITAKA. So, I am planning to go on a trip, I will be going on a �TRIP to ITAly on Korean Aircraft�.

 

So, from this phrase we can easily remember Tripitaka, as TRIP will help us to remember TRIP, ITAly will help us to memorize ITA, Korean Aircraft will help us to remember KA that is the last two letters of TRIPITAKA.

 

Now students, let�s talk about the historical context of this word, Tripitaka.

 

Tripitaka was originally written in the Pali language. The language Pali was spoken in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, which was located in modern-day Bihar. However, in today�s age, Tripitaka has been translated into many foreign languages and is not just restricted to the Pali language.

Now, what are the Tripitaka or three baskets of knowledge?

 

Well, the first Pitaka is Sutta Pitaka. The word Sutta of Pali language means dialogues or teachings. As we have dialogues written in a script of a play, in a similar way, Buddha�s sermons or teachings and activities are compiled in Sutta Pitaka.

 

Now, the second Pitaka is called Vinaya Pitaka. The word Vinaya means �discipline� which is why the compilation of the roles of conduct to be followed by the Buddhist monks and nuns is called Vinaya Pitaka just like a �rule book of your favorite game�

 

Now, the third and last Pitaka is called Abhidhamma Pitaka. The word �Abhi� means �higher� and �dhamma� means �Dharma�, Hence Abhidhamma means Supreme Dharma. Therefore, the Philosophy of Buddhism is contained in Abhidhamma Pitaka, just like a summary of your favorite movie or chapter.

 

The main difference between Sutta Pitaka and Abhidhamma Pitaka is, that detailed teachings of Buddha are contained in Sutta Pitaka and the summary is contained in Abhidhamma Pitaka. So, we can say that Sutta Pitaka is just like the entire chapter that we study while Abhidhamma Pitaka is just like a summary given at the end of each chapter.

 

Questions:

 

1. Buddhist Sangha was a community of _________
a. Common people
b. Common people and monks
c. Monks and Kings
d. Buddhist monks

 

2. Sangha is _______ word.
a. Pali
b. Latin
c. Greek
d. Sanskrit

 

3. _______ summarises the teachings of Buddha.
a. Jatak Tales
b. Hinayana
c. Mahayana
d. Tripitaka

 

4. Which one of the following is NOT one of the three Pitakas?
a. Sutta Pitaka
b. Vinaya Pitaka
c. Abhidhamma Pitaka
d. Jatak Tales

 

5. The word Tripitaka means __________.
a. Three birds
b. Three stages of life
c. Three spirits
d. Three baskets of spiritual knowledge

 

Read More:

 

Sects Of Buddhism: Hinayana and Mahayana Sects - Differences