Pali Canon
Pali is the archaic Prakrit language in which the Theravada canonical texts were orally transmitted from the time of the Buddha's death (486 BCE) until they were first written down in Sri Lanka by Sinhala monastic scribes around 100 BCE in the form of the Pali Canon. Related to Magadhi, Pali was probably spoken in central India during the Buddha's time. This would mean that Buddhist teachings were transmitted orally in Pali for more than three centuries before they were written down in the form we now know.
Together with the ancient commentaries, the Pali Canon constitutes the complete body of classical Theravada texts. It exists in various scripts as a large body of literature, amounting to many thousands of printed pages when translated into English. The Pali Canon, or Tipitaka (Three Baskets), is made up of three separate sections: the regulations of monastic life (Vinaya), the sermons of the Buddha (Sutta), and Buddhist philosophy (Abhidhamma). The Vinaya Pitaka is composed of injunctions by the Buddha against certain kinds of conduct. It imposes restraints on physical and verbal action of the ordained monks (bhikkhu) and female monks (bhikkhuni) and deals with transgressions of discipline. The Sutta Pitaka includes all discourses delivered by the Buddha in their entirety. These do not just concern the monastic community and are widely cited for their relevance also to the laity and are studied by them. Every sutta begins with "Evam me sutam" ("Thus have I heard"). The Abhidhamma Pitaka is the collection of classified and tabulated doctrines of the Buddha in terms of their ultimate and most abstract meanings.
If it were not for the concern with purity, the Pali Canon would not have been transmitted as accurately as it was from one generation to the next. This has been an extremely important factor within the monastic community through intergenerational transmission between monks. Royalty also expressed concern for the purity of the Tipitaka. For example, Burmese kings reinscribed the Tipitaka at the beginning of their reign. Also, external threats in particular motivated kings and politicians to take action to preserve the purity of the scriptures. Thus, in Burmese history, the only two Sangayanas were held at the beginning of the colonial period (King Mindon's Fourth Synod) and at the end (the Fifth Synod, held by Prime Minister U Nu), suggesting an urgent need to purify scriptures while under threat of external invasion.
Further Reading
U Ko Lay, ed. (1990) Guide to Tipitaka. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications.
Webb, Russell, ed. (1975) An Analysis of the Pali Canon. Kandy, Sri Lanka: Buddhist Publication Society.
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