Summary of the Thripitaka
From TheBuddhism.Net
Thripitaka (the pali canon) contains all Buddha’s teachings. It consists of three sections. Namely,‘Vinaya Pitaka’,‘Sutta Pitaka’,‘Abhidhamma Pitaka’.
Vinaya Pitaka: This contains the sermons regarding the rules and regulations for the disciples of Buddha; and, consists of five dissertations. Namely, ‘Parajikapali’, ‘Pachittiyapali’, ‘Mahawaggapali’, ‘Chulawaggapali’ and ‘Pariwarapali’. Twenty one thousand ‘collections of Dhamma’ are included in this.
Sutta Pitaka: This contains the collection of everyday sermons of the Buddha. This is divided into five sects. Namely, ‘Deegha Nikaya’, ‘Majjima Nikaya’, ‘Samyuktha Nikaya’, ‘Anguththara Nikaya’, ‘Buddaka Nikaya’. Twenty one thousand ‘collections of Dhamma’ are included in this too.
Deegha Nikaya – Has 34 Suttas & 64 preachings
Majjima Nikaya – Has 152 Suttas & 80 preachings
Samyuktha Nikaya – Has 7762 Suttas & 100 preachings
Anguththara Nikaya – Has 9757 Suttas & 120 preachings
Buddaka nikaya – 15 small books are included in this. Namely, ‘Buddaka pataya’, ‘Dhammapada’, ‘Udana’, ‘Ithiwuththaka’, ‘Suttanipatha’, ‘Vimanawattupali’, ‘Pethawaththupali’, ‘Theragathapali’, ‘Therigathapali’, ‘Jathakapali’, ‘Niddesapali’, ‘Patisambhidamagga’, ‘Apadanaya’, ‘Buddhawansa’, ‘Chariya Pitakaya’.
Abhidharma Pitaka: In the sixth year after attaining enlightenment, Buddha spent the three months rainy season in Thusitha heaven. The ‘supremely deep objective sermons’ Buddha preached there, are contained in Abhidharma Pitaka. This consists of seven dissertations. Namely, ‘Dhammasangani’, ‘Vibhanga’, ‘Dhatukatha’, ‘Puggalapannatti’, ‘Kathawaththu’, ‘Yamaka’, ‘Pattana’. Forty two thousand ‘collections of Dhamma’ are included in this.
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Buddha’s teachings are truly vast. Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings are not meant for everyone and if we include those too into the corpus of Buddha’s teachings then Buddha’s teachings are complete.
This is interesting and I believed Tripitaka literally means Three Baskets of the teachings. The 3 baskets of Buddha’s teachings correspond to the collection of Vinaya Pitaka texts, Sutra Pitaka texts and the Abhidharma Pitaka texts. The Vinaya is actually the code of conduct for the Buddhist monastics as laid down by the Buddha. The Sutra texts refer to the direct teachings and parables that the Buddha had spoken and was transcribed. And the Abhidharma texts refer to philosophical texts on the finer aspects of the Buddha’s teachings.