Pāli Scriptures 巴利经文

Pāli Scriptures

Canonical Scriptures

What are the Suttas, Vinaya and Abhidhamma? In short, they make up the Canonical Buddhist Scriptures, otherwise known as the Tipitaka (三藏, literally, three baskets) - the Sutta Pitaka (the spoken discourses by the Buddha and his eminent disciples), the Vinaya Pitaka (the code of conduct of monastics) and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (the treatise of the teachings of the Buddha). In the Pāli tradition of Buddhism, the scriptures were recorded in Pāli and classified as shown below.

Post-Canonical Scriptures

In addition to the Tipitaka, there are also commentaries (Aṭṭhakathā, which provides elaborations of the Tipitaka) and sub-commentaries (Tīkā, which provides further elaborations on the Aṭṭhakathā) composed by later disciples. The website tipitaka.org preserves the Pāli scriptures (untranslated) in various scripts such as the Roman, Devanagari and others. There are ongoing projects by various international communities to translate the entire Tipitaka (suttacentral.net) and its Commentaries (palitranslation.org) to allow modern readers to enjoy the taste of the Buddha's teachings.

More background information on the Commentaries is available in the article Beyond the Tipitaka: A Field Guide to Post-canonical Pali Literature (Access to insight, 2002).

Central Scriptural Teachings

The Buddha's teachings as recorded in the scriptures elucidate (1) the experience of suffering, (2) the origin of this suffering, (3) the cessation of this suffering, and (4) the path of practice we can undertake for the cessation of this suffering (SN 56.11). These four points are known as the Four Noble Truths, and the last of these four is known as the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of (1) right view/understanding, (2) right thought, (3) right speech, (4) right action, (5) right livelihood, (6) right effort, (7) right mindfulness and (8) right concentration. 

Tipitaka Classification

Sutta Pitaka 经藏

• Digha Nikaya, Long Discourses (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
• Majjhima Nikaya, Middle-length Discourses (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
• Samyutta Nikaya, Connected Discourses (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
• Anguttara Nikaya, Numerical Discourses (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
• Khuddaka Nikaya, Miscellaneous Discourses (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org)
  * Note that the last 3 books of this collection are regarded as canonical only in the Burmese tradition.
1. Khuddakapatha (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
2. Dhammapada (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends || Ancient Buddhist Texts)
3. Udana (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
4. Itivuttaka (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
5. Suttanipata (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
6. Vimanavatthu (SuttaFriends)
7. Petavatthu (SuttaFriends)
8. Theragatha (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
9. Therigatha (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
10. Apadana
11. Buddhavamsa
12. Cariyapitaka
13. Jataka
14. Niddesa
15. Patisambhidamagga
16. Netti *
17. Petakopadesa *
18. Milindapanha *

Vinaya Pitaka 律藏

1. Bhikkhu Vibhanga (SuttaCentral)
2. Bhikkhuni Vibhanga (SuttaCentral)
3. Mahavagga (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org)
4. Culavagga (SuttaCentral)
5. Parivara (SuttaCentral)

Abhidhamma Pitaka 论藏

1. Dhammasangani
2. Vibhanga
3. Dhatukatha
4. Puggala Pannati
5. Kathavatthu
6. Yamaka
7. Patthana