guide to tipitaka

If you have downloaded the Pali fonts and installed them in the Window's Font Directory you should be reading the text without strange characters.  If not, please click on this link: Download Pali Fonts.

Introduction
The Tipi¥aka is an extensive body of Canonical Pæ¹i literature in which are enshrined the Teachings of Gotama Buddha expounded for forty-five years from the time of his Enlightenment to his parinibbæna.
The discourses of the Buddha cover a wide field of subjects and are made up of exhortations, expositions and injunctions.
Even from the earliest times some kind of classification and systematization of the Buddha’s Teachings had been made to facilitate memorization, since only verbal transmission was employed to pass on the Teachings from generation to generation. Three months after the parinibbæna of the Buddha, the great disciples recited together all the Teachings of their Master, after compiling them systematically and carefully classifying them under different heads into specialized sections.
The general discourses and sermons intended for both the bhikkhus and lay disciples, delivered by the Buddha on various occasions (together with a few discourses delivered by some of his distinguished disciples), are collected and classified in a great division known as the Suttanta Pi¥aka.
The great division in which are incorporated injunctions and admonitions of the Buddha on modes of conduct, and restraints on both bodily and verbal actions of bhikkhus and bhikkhunøs, which form rules of discipline for them, is called the Vinaya Pi¥aka.
The philosophical aspect of the Buddha’s Teaching, more profound and abstract than the discourses of the Suttanta Pi¥aka, is classified under the great division known as the Abhidhamma Pi¥aka. Abhidhamma deals with ultimate Truths, expounds ultimate Truths and investigates Mind and Matter and the relationship between them.
All that the Buddha taught forms the subject matter and substance of the Pæ¹i Canon, which is divided into these three divisions called Pi¥akas - literally baskets. Hence Tipi¥aka means three baskets or three separate divisions of the Buddha’s Teaching. Here the metaphor ‘basket’ signifies not so much the function of ‘storing up’ anything put into it as its use as a receptacle in which things are handed on or passed on from one to another like carrying away of earth from an excavation site by a line of workers.
The Tipi¥aka into which the Pæ¹i Canon is systematically divided and handed down from generation to generation together with Commentaries forms the huge collection of literary works which the bhikkhus of the Order have to learn, study and memorize in discharge of their gantha dhura, the duty of studying.

Acknowledgement

It is a great privilege for me to have been entrusted with the task of compiling this 'Guide to Tipi¥aka'. So far as it is known, there is not a single work that deals, in outline, with the whole of Tipi¥aka. It is sincerely hoped that this compilation will be found useful and handy by the general reader who wishes to be provided with a bird’s eye view of the vast and magnificent canonical scenery which represents all that the Buddha (and some of his disciples) had taught and all that has been treasured in the Tipi¥aka.
In compiling this work, the Pæ¹i Texts as approved by the Sixth International Buddhist Synod together with their Burmese translations have been closely adhered to. Acknowledgements are due to Dagon U San Ngwe and U Myo Myint who provided notes for some of the chapters. Additional information and facts were gathered from various other sources. The following complete set of 'Questions and Answers' recorded at the Sixth International Buddhist Synod proved to be a mine of information on the contents of the Tipi¥aka.
1. Vinaya Pi¥aka - Questions and Answers, Vol. I
2. Vinaya Pi¥aka - Questions and Answers, Vol. II
3. Suttanta Pi¥aka - ‘Døgha Nikæya’ Questions and Answers.
4. Suttanta Pi¥aka - ‘Majjhima Nikæya’ Questions and Answers, Vol. I
5. Suttanta Pi¥aka - ‘Majjhima Nikæya’ Questions and Answers, Vol. II
6. Suttanta Pi¥aka -‘Saµyutta Nikæya’ Questions and Answers, Vol. I
7. Suttanta Pi¥aka -‘Saµyutta Nikæya’ Questions and Answers, Vol. II
8. Suttanta Pi¥aka -‘A³guttara Nikæya’ Questions and Answers, Vol.I
9. Suttanta Pi¥aka - ‘A³guttara Nikæya’ Questions and Answers, Vol. II
10. Abhidhamma Pi¥aka - ‘Khuddaka Nikæya’ Questions and Answers.
In conclusion, I wish to put on record my deep gratitude to the members of the Editorial Committee, Burma Pitaka Association, who had spent long hours going through the script with meticulous care and from whose indefatigable labour and erudite counsel this compilation has much benefited.

WHAT IS VINAYA PITAKA?

Vinaya Pi¥aka, Disciplinary and Procedural Rules for the Saµgha The Vinaya Pi¥aka is made up of rules of discipline laid down for regulating the conduct of the Buddha’s disciples who have been admitted as bhikkhus and bhikkhunnøs into the Order. These rules embody authoritative injunctions of the Buddha on modes of conduct and restraints on both physical and verbal actions. They deal with transgressions of discipline, and with various categories of restraints and admonitions in accordance with the nature of the offence. WHAT IS VINAYA PITAKA? Seven Kinds of Transgression or Offence, Æpatti The rules of discipline first laid down by the Buddha are called Mþlapaññatti (the root regulation); those supplemented later are known as Anupaññatti. Together they are known as Sikkhæpadas, rules of discipline. The act of transgressing these rules of discipline, thereby incurring a penalty by the guilty bhikkhu, is called Æpatti, which means ‘reaching, committing’. The offences for which penalties are laid down may be classified under seven categories depending on their nature: (i) Pæræjika (ii) Saµghædisesa (iii) Thullaccaya (iv) Pæcittiya (v) Pæ¥idesanøya (vi) Dukka¥a (vii) Dubbhæsita. An offence in the first category of offences, Pæræjika, is classified as a grave offence, garukæpatti, which is irremediable, atekicchæ and entails the falling off of the offender from bhikkhuhood. An offence in the second category, Saµghædisesa, is also classified as a grave offence but it is remediable, satekicchæ. The offender is put on a probationary period of penance, during which he has to undertake certain difficult practices and after which he is rehabilitated by the Saµgha assembly. The remaining five categories consist of light offences, lahukæpatti, which are remediable and incur the penalty of having to confess the transgression to another bhikkhu. After carrying out the prescribed penalty, the bhikkhu transgressor becomes cleansed of the offence. WHAT IS VINAYA PITAKA? When and how the disciplinary rules were laid down. For twenty years after the establishment of the Order there was neither injunction nor rule concerning Pæræjika and Saµghædisesa offences. The members of the Order of the early days were all Ariyas, the least advanced of whom was a Stream-winner, one who had attained the first Magga and Fruition, and there was no need for prescribing rules relating to grave offences. But as the years went by, the Saµgha grew in strength. Undesirable elements not having the purest of motives but attracted only by the fame and gain of the bhikkhus began to get into the Buddha’s Order. Some twenty years after the founding of the Order, it became necessary to begin establishing rules relating to grave offences. It was through Bhikkhu Sudinna, a native of Kalanda Village near Vesælø, who committed the offence of having sexual intercourse with his ex-wife, that the first Pæræjika rule came to be promulgated. It was laid down to deter bhikkhus from indulging in sexual intercourse. When such a grave cause had arisen for which the laying down of a prohibitory rule became necessary, the Buddha convened an assembly of the bhikkhus. It was only after questioning the bhikkhu concerned and after the undesirability of committing such an offence had been made clear that a certain rule was laid down in order to prevent future lapses of similar nature. The Buddha also followed the precedence set by earlier Buddhas. Using his supernormal powers, he reflected on what rules the earlier Buddhas would lay down under certain given conditions. Then he adopted similar regulations to meet the situation that had arisen in his timeWHAT IS VINAYA PITAKA? Admission of Bhikkhunøs into the Order After spending four vassas (residence period during the rains) after his Enlightenment, the Buddha visited Kapilavatthu, his native royal city, at the request of his ailing father, King Suddhodana. At that time, Mahæpajæpati, Buddha’s foster mother, requested him to admit her into the Order. Mahæpajæpati was not alone in desiring to join the Order. Five hundred Sakyan ladies whose husbands had left the household life were also eager to be admitted into the Order. After his father’s death, the Buddha went back to Vesælø, refusing the repeated request of Mahæpajæpati for admission into the Order. The determined foster mother of the Buddha and widow of the recently deceased King Suddhodana, having cut off her hair and put on bark-dyed clothes, accompanied by five hundred Sakyan ladies, made her way to Vesælø where the Buddha was staying in the Mahævana, in the Kþ¥ægæra Hall. The Venerable Ænanda saw them outside the gateway of the Kþ¥ægæra Hall, dust-laden with swollen feet, dejected, tearful, standing and weeping. Out of great compassion for the ladies, the Venerable Ænanda interceded with the Buddha on their behalf and entreated him to accept them in the Order. The Buddha continued to stand firm. But when the Venerable Ænanda asked the Buddha whether women were not capable of attaining Magga and Phala Insight, the Buddha replied that women were indeed capable of doing so, provided they left the household life like their menfolk. Thereupon Ænanda made his entreaties again saying that Mahæpajæpati had been of great service to the Buddha waiting on him as his guardian and nurse, suckling him when his mother died. And as women were capable of attaining the Magga and Phala Insight, she should be permitted to Join the Order and become a bhikkhunø. The Buddha finally acceded to Ænanda’s entreaties: "Ænanda, if Mahæpajæpati accepts eight special rules, garu-dhammæ, let such acceptance mean her admission to the Order." The eight special rules are: (i) A bhikkhunø, even if she enjoys a seniority of a hundred years in the Order, must pay respect to a bhikkhu though he may have been a bhikkhu only for a day. (ii) A bhikkhunø must not keep her rains-residence in a place where there are no bhikkhus. (iii) Every fortnight a bhikkhunø must do two things: To ask the bhikkhu Saµgha the day of uposatha, and to approach the bhikkhu Saµgha for instruction and admonition. (iv) When the rains-residence period is over, a bhikkhunø must attend the paværa¼æ ceremony conducted at both the assemblies of bhikkhus and bhikkhunøs, in each of which she must invite criticism on what has been seen, what has been heard or what has been suspected of her. (v) A bhikkhunø who has committed a Saµghædisesa offence must undergo penance for a half-month, pakkha mænatta, in each assembly of bhikkhus and bhikkhunøs. (vi) Admission to the Order must be sought, from both assemblies, by a woman novice only after two year’s probationary training as a candidate. (vii) A bhikkhunø should not revile a bhikkhu in any way, not even obliquely. (viii) A bhikkhunø must abide by instructions given her by bhikkhus, but must not give instructions or advice to bhikkhus. Mahæpajæpati accepted unhesitatingly these eight conditions imposed by the Buddha and was consequently admitted into the Order.       .