Tipitaka in Myanmar (Doctrine)

Buddhism consists of three aspects: doctrinal, practical and realizable. The doctrinal aspect is preserved in the scriptures called Tipitaka, or 'Three Baskets', the canon which contains the words of the Buddha, estimated to be about eleven times the size of the Christian Bible. The three baskets are: the Basket of Discipline (Vinaya Pitaka), the Basket of Discourses (Sutta Pitaka), and the Basket of Ultimate Things (Abhidhamma Pitaka).

The Buddha founded the Order of monks (Samgha) that increased and spread throughout India and beyond within the forty-five years of the Buddha's ministry. On the seventh day after the Buddha passed away, Maha Kassapa, the head of the Samgha, decided to hold a convocation to establish the authoritative teachings of the Buddha. They then held a great council and the Buddhist canon was collected and recited in chants. The Second, the Third and the Fourth Buddhist councils were held during the 600 years after the Buddha in order to counter schisms, prevent deviation and preserve the doctrines of the Buddha in their pristine form. At the last council, the Tipitaka, which had been transmitted in Pali by memory since the time of the Buddha, was committed to writing for the first time. The Fifth council was held in Mandalay, Myanmar in 1871, when the whole Tipitaka was inscribed on 729 marble slabs placed at the foot of the Mandalay Hill, which is regarded as the world's largest book. The Sixth Buddhist council was held in Yangon, Myanmar from 1954 to 1956 in commemoration of the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha, when the Tipitaka was reviewed for correctness and went to press for the first time. The printed version of the Tipitaka amounts to 52 treatises or 40 volumes and contains 7,983 pages in total.

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