Category:Pali Canon

Articles about and direct translations from the Pali Canon, the earliest scriptures of Buddhism. It is originally known as the Tipitaka (Tripitaka in Sanskrit) and is made up of two words; ti meaning ‘three’ and pitaka meaning ‘basket.’ The Tipitaka was composed in the Pali language and takes up more than forty volumes in an English translation, roughly about 20,000 pages. It is the largest sacred book of any of the great world religions.

For the translations of most of the suttas and passages from the Pali Canon, the great Theravada website resource, Access to Insight is used. For the suttas and passages in the original Pali, the Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project, is used, which is a public domain electronic version of the Pali Canon.

Today it is more commonly known as the Pali Canon since the language is in Pali and to better differentiate it from the Mahayana Tripitaka (only one letter difference).

If you are interested in learning Pali, see this page: Learn Pali. If you are new to the reading and study of the Pali Canon, start with: Tipitaka.