Schools > Students > Ages 15-16 > Scripture and authority > The Pali CanonThe Pali Canon (Tipitaka)
The Pali Canon is also known as the Tipitaka (ti = three; pitaka = basket), meaning the Three Baskets, or Collections, of teachings. These are:
The Vinaya Pitaka, the document recording the code of discipline by which early monks and nuns were to live. A fixed set of rules was agreed at the First Sangha Council (see below) but not set down as a written code until the 1st century BCE. Monastics of the Theravada tradition still live by the Pali vinaya; other monastic traditions live by slightly varying vinayas.
The Sutta Pitaka, the discourses or sermons of the Buddha, given to disciples in all walks of life, both lay and monastic. The term sutta (sutra in Sanskrit) means 'thread' and is related to the English term 'suture'; thus, a sutta is a threaded, or connected, series of teachings on a given theme.
The Abhidhamma Pitaka, an intricate analysis and classification of mental states, phenomena, character-types, major Dharma-topics, and paticcasamuppada, as well as a definition of Dharma-terms. This pitaka is later than the first two, most of it having been compiled between the 3rd century BCE and the 1st century CE.
The Pali Canon as a source of authority
The Pali Canon is the central source of authority for Buddhist belief and practice; the textual source for the earliest, commonest and most central Buddhist teachings. Such formulations as the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path and the Threefold Way are repeatedly to be found woven into the narrative of various suttas.
The suttas also include descriptions of the religious experience of the Buddha and his followers or other listeners: there are those who describe extremely refined and elevated states of mind achieved in meditation; and those who gain Enlightenment on hearing the Buddha, having sought him out, inspired by the possibility of the very existence of an Enlightened being.
Of the three Pitakas of the Pali Canon, the Sutta Pitaka has the most universal significance to Buddhists, in that it is addressed to listeners both lay and monastic. However, running to many times the length of the Bible, it is most commonly found in monasteries and libraries; and very rarely in a lay household. Individual lay Buddhists are much more likely to have edited collections, or small sections such as the Dhammapada. Many may have no scriptures at all.
Though regular Dharma study is considered of great benefit, it is not necessary to have studied great quantities of Buddhist scripture to be able to practise the Buddha’s teachings: many of the world’s Buddhists may be unable to read; hundreds of scriptures have yet to be translated into any Western languages; and meditation and ethical practice are also central means of self-transformation. In many Asian Buddhist countries, lay people may not have heard much scripture, their role being largely that of supporting the monks and nuns. With the arrival of Buddhism in the West, however, the divide between monastic and lay practice seems to be becoming less distinct, with many very committed and educated lay people studying the scriptures in translation.