Pāli Scriptures

Canonical Scriptures

What are the Canonical Buddhist Scriptures? In short, they are the Suttas, Vinaya and Abhidhamma, and together, they are known as the Tipiṭaka (literally, three baskets). (1) The Sutta Piṭaka consists of the spoken discourses by the Buddha and his eminent disciples. (2) The Vinaya Piṭaka consists of the code of conduct of monastics. (3) The Abhidhamma Piṭaka consists of the treatises 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 Tipiṭaka, there are also commentaries (Aṭṭhakathā, which provides elaborations of the Tipiṭaka) 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 and digitalise the entire Tipiṭaka (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) its origin, which are craving and ignorance, (3) its cessation, which is Nibbāna, and (4) the path of practice we can undertake for its cessation (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. 

Tipiṭaka Classification

Sutta Piṭaka

• Dīgha Nikāya, Long Discourses (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
• Majjhima Nikāya, Middle-length Discourses (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
• Saṁyuttan Nikāya, Connected Discourses (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
• Aṅguttara Nikāya, Numerical Discourses (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
• Khuddaka Nikāya, Miscellaneous Discourses (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org)
  * Note that the last 3 books of this collection are regarded as canonical only in the Burmese tradition.
1. Khuddakapāṭha (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
2. Dhammapada (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends || Ancient Buddhist Texts)
3. Udāna (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
4. Itivuttaka (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
5. Suttanipāta (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
6. Vimānavatthu (SuttaFriends)
7. Petavatthu (SuttaFriends)
8. Theragāthā (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
9. Therīgāthā (dhammatalks.org || SuttaFriends)
10. Apadāna
11. Buddhavaṁsa
12. Cariyāpiṭaka
13. Jātaka
14. Niddesa
15. Paṭisambhidāmagga
16. Netti *
17. Peṭakopadesa *
18. Milindapañha *

Vinaya Piṭaka

1. Bhikkhu Vibhaṅga (SuttaCentral)
2. Bhikkhunī Vibhaṅga (SuttaCentral)
3. Mahāvagga (SuttaCentral || dhammatalks.org)
4. Culavagga (SuttaCentral)
5. Parivāra (SuttaCentral)

Abhidhamma Piṭaka

1. Dhammasaṅgaṇī (SuttaCentral)
2. Vibhaṅga (SuttaCentral)
3. Dhātukathā (SuttaCentral)
4. Puggalapaññatti (SuttaCentral)
5. Kathāvatthu (SuttaCentral)
6. Yamaka (SuttaCentral)
7. Paṭṭhāna (SuttaCentral)