Buddhist Text and Books

Discourses in Deega Nikaya are known as the longest discourses of Buddha. Length of these Dhamma discourses depends on the wisdom of the person to whom the discourse was sermonized and also according to length of time that discourse was being sermonized. However, if there is an opportunity for you to read Tripitaka in simple language, then you will definitely be amazed by its content. Furthermore, you will definitely start to believe Buddha’s great wisdom. Think this as a great moment in your life and learn Dhamma without being disappointed about the length of the discourses. Our expectation is to give [...]

Dhammapada is a world famous sacred scripture of Buddhism. It really contains the teachings of Buddha. Some people think Dhammapada is the religious text book of Buddhists, but it is really just a part of one chapter of a Pitaka of Tripitaka. There are only 423 Dhamma stanzas included in Dhammapada. Tripitaka is consisted of 84,000 Dhamma matters. If you finished reading Dhammapada, then you would be able to think how vast the knowledge of Supreme Buddha was. Dhammapada consists of advices to a disciple who practices the Noble Eight-Fold Path.

Our great teacher, The Supreme Buddha, told Venerable Ananda Thero one day “dear Ananda, you might think one day when I passed away, that your teacher is gone to past now and this Dhamma is of a teacher who has passed away. Dear Ananda, you shouldn’t think in that way ever. Ananda, you need to consider the Dhamma and Descipline that I taught you as your teacher.” This indicates that even after the death of our teacher, but if Dhamma is still available, we still can see him at any time by learning and practicing Dhamma he taught us with a [...]

It was the great monks who have eradicated all defilements (Arahant Theros) that protected the Dhamma by memorizing them after the first convocation. They will never deface the teachings of Buddha. Therefore, the Dhamma was protected without any damage to its content. Since a lot of Bhikkhus bore the Dhamma as it was, none of it was slipped away. In the meantime, Sri Lanka was also fortunate to receive Dhamma. After the Sri Lankan people accepted Dhamma, it was well spread throughout the country. As a result, a large number of Arahants were born. They also bore Dhamma by heart in [...]

After the great death (Parinirvana) of the Supreme Buddha, his discourses were secured by categorizing them into text of Pitaka and Nikaya in a great convocation, which is called the first Sangayana (the first convocation) of Arahants under the administration of Maha Kkashyapa Arahant Thero. At that time, Buddha’s teachings were categorized into five Nikaya depending on the length of each discourse. The lengthy discourses were grouped into Deegha Nikaya (long part) and medium size discourses into Majjima Nikaya (medium part). In Anguttara Nikaya (numbered), the discourses that were numbered were included. Different parts of Buddha’s teachings (Dhamma) that were compacted [...]

Thripitaka means “three sections or pitaka.” That is Suttra Pitaka, Vinaya Pitaka, and Abhidharma Pitaka. There are discourses delivered by Buddha and his great and wise disciples in the Thripitaka. The discourses in Thripitaka delivered by the disciple monks were permitted by Lord Buddha himself.

The religious text of Buddhism is known as ‘Thripitaka.’ It includes forty five years of teachings of Lord Buddha. These discourses of Buddha included in Thripitaka were transferred from one era to another by great disciples (Arahants) of Buddha by memorizing them. About one thousand years ago, these discourses were then written down in scrolls under the guidance of these Buddhist Bhikkhus in Sri Lanka. Those sacred discourses of the Lord Buddha written in Pali (the language of Buddha) are what we are using today. We are ready to grant you the passage to those discourses of Buddha at time to [...]