Tripitaka

Tripitaka, also transliterated Tipiṭaka or Tripiṭaka, is the traditional term for the Buddhist canon regarded as authoritative in several Buddhist traditions. The name means “three baskets,” referring to its tripartite arrangement into the Vinaya Pitaka (monastic rules and disciplinary codes), the Sutta Pitaka (discourses of the Buddha), and the Abhidhamma Pitaka (scholastic and analytical treatises).

Among Theravada communities, the Pali Canon is commonly known as the Tipiṭaka. It forms the core of scriptural authority for monasteries and lay scholars in South and Southeast Asia and was gradually written down and organized in the early centuries BCE to CE, with multiple regional recensions preserved in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.

Outside the Theravada tradition, Chinese and Tibetan Buddhist canons are also described as Tripiṭaka in a broad sense. Notable editions include the Taisho Tripiṭaka, a modern scholarly edition compiled in the 20th century from Chinese, Sanskrit, and Pali sources and widely used in East Asia; and the Tripiṭaka Koreana, a Korean edition carved on wooden blocks in the 13th century and kept at Haeinsa. These editions have shaped Buddhist study and translation across regions.

Today, the Tripitaka encompasses a range of canonical collections; contents and order vary by tradition, but the term remains a general reference to the principal scriptures that constitute Buddhist doctrine and practice.