What Is The Tipitaka?
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The Tipiṭaka is a huge body of prose and verse works from the early centuries of Buddhism, consisting of three major collections (ti ‘three’ + piṭaka ‘basket’).
The Vinaya Piṭaka contains texts on the rules of life in the religious community, including many stories explaining the origins of the rules.
The Sutta Piṭaka contains the central teachings of Theravāda Buddhism, in the form of discourses attributed to Gautama Buddha and his immediate followers.
The texts of the Abhidamma Piṭaka constitute a systematic presentation of early Buddhist doctrine. Later Pāli works include the commentaries (Aṭṭhakathā)
and subcommentaries (Ṭı̄kā) to the Tipiṭaka, and other major works such as Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga (5th century A.D.).
Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford
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Tripitaka literally means “three baskets” and refers to the three main canonical divisions of the Buddha’s teachings. vinaya (code of discipline),
sutra (discourses), and abhidharma (metaphysics).
The Pluralism Project, Harvard University
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In Buddhism, the word Tripitaka (Sanskrit for "three baskets"; "Tipitaka" in Pali) is the earliest collection of Buddhist scriptures.
It contains the texts with the strongest claim to being the words of the historical Buddha.
The texts of the Tripitaka are organized into three major sections — the Vinaya-pitaka, containing the rules of communal life for monks and nuns;
the Sutra-pitaka, a collection of sermons of the Buddha and senior disciples; and the Abhidharma-pitaka, which contains interpretations and analyses
of Buddhist concepts. In Pali, these are the Vinaya-pitaka, the Sutta-pitaka, and the Abhidhamma.
Barbara O'Brien, LearnReligions.com
