Historical sources

Canonical Buddhist text.

Canonical texts are the books that set out the basic tenets and principles of a religion.

Different Buddhist schools classify their canonical literature in different ways, some into 9 or 12 Angas, others into 3 Pitakas.

There are Pali, Chinese and Tibetan versions of the Tipitaka. The Pali Tipitaka of the Theravada school is the oldest of them all.

Read Also:UNEP released The Adaptation Gap Report 2022

Tripitaka:

There are three books in Tipitaka:-

1. The Suttapitaka contains discourses of the Buddha on various doctrinal issues in the form of dialogues.

2. The Vinaya Pitaka contains the rules for the monks and nuns of the Sangha.

3. The Abhidhamma Pitaka is a later work, and involves a thorough study and systematization of the teachings of the Sutta Pitaka.

The three Pitakas are divided into books known as Nikayas.

For example, the Sutta Pitaka consists of five nikayas—the Digha, the Majjima, the Sanyukta, the Anguttara and the Khuddaka nikayas.

Also Read:Swachh Survekshan Grameen 2023 Toolkit

Non-canonical Buddhist literature.

Non-canonical Buddhist literature in Pali includes the Milindapanha which contains a dialogue on various philosophical issues between King Milinda—the Indo-Greek Menander and the monk Nagasena.

The Netigandha or Netipakaran belongs to the same period and gives a connected account of the Buddha's teaching.

Commentaries on the Tipitaka include a 5th-century work by Buddhaghosa.

The first connected life story of the Buddha occurs in the Nidanakatha (1st century).

The Pali or Sri Lankan chronicles—the Dipavamsa (4th–5th centuries) and the Mahavamsa (5th century)—contain historical-cum-mythological accounts of the Buddha's life, Buddhist councils, the Maurya emperor Ashoka, the kings of Sri. Lanka, and the arrival of Buddhism on that island.