| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
The Tripitaka writings, which were originally memorized and recited orally by disciples, fall into three general categories and the scrolls (originally written on palm leaves) were therefore kept in three baskets (tri-pitaka).
The first category, the Vinaya Pitaka, was the code of ethics to be obeyed by the early sangha, monks and nuns. Some rules and practices were regarded by the Buddha as essential and foundational to the pursuit of his philosophical teachings. Others were invented on a day-to-day basis as the Buddha encountered various behavior problems with the monks.
The second category, the Sutra Pitaka (literally "basket of threads", Pali: Sutta Pitaka), consists primarily of accounts of the Buddha's life and teachings. The Sutra Pitaka has numerous subdivisions.
The third category contains commentaries and is known to the Theravada school as the Abhidhamma Pitaka. It is a collection of texts in which the underlying doctrinal principles presented in the Sutra Pitaka are restated and explained in more a systematic framework. In Mahayana and VajrayanaVajrayna Buddhism also known as Tantric Buddhism Mantrayana and Esoteric Buddhism is often viewed as the third major school of Buddhism, alongside the Theravada and Mahayana schools. Note that 'Yana' means 'vehicle' in Sanskrit. The Vajrayana is actually tripitakas, this pitaka often contains treatises that are referred to as shastraShastra is a Sanskrit word used to denote education/knowledge in a general sense. The word is generally used as a suffix in the context of technical or specialised knowledge in a defined area of practice. For example, Astra shastra means, knowledge abouts.
"Tripitaka" -- more correctly, "Sanzang", the Chinese form -- is also a nickname of the T'ang Dynsty monk XuanzangThe fictional character Xuanzang (, WG: Hsuan-tsang), a central character of the classic Chinese novel Journey to the West is partly modelled after the historical Tang dynasty Buddhist monk of the same name, whose life was the book's inspiration. For most, as portrayed in Journey to the WestJourney to the West ( Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; pinyin: Xi You Ji, WG: Hsi Yu Chi) is a classic of Chinese literature, and perhaps the most well-known amongst the younger generation. It was published anonymously in the 1590s, and no dir.