TRIPITAKA. The sacred canon of theBuddhists is called the Tripitaka, i.e. the three baskets. 011 Buddha's death, 500 of his disciples assembled in a cave near Patna, and collected his sayings. This was the first council. They chanted the lessons of their master in three great divisions —the words of Buddha to his disciples, his ciode of discipline, and his system of doctrine. These became the three collections of Buddha's teach ing, and the word for a Buddhist council liter ally means a singing together.' The first basket contains all that has reference to morality, or Vinaya ; the second contains the Sutras, i.e. the discouises of 13nddha ; the third includes all works treating of dogmatic philosophy or metaphysics. The second and third baskets are sotnetimes cotnprehended under the general name of Dharma, or law, and it has become usual to apply to the third basket the name of Abhidhartna, or bye-law. The Sutras are ascribed to Sakya Muni. They consist of ethical and philosophical dialogues by Sakya, and they make I mention of the gbds Narayan, Jonardhan, Shib, I Brahma, Petomalt, Borun (Vorun), and Songkar, other names for Shib, Kubir, Sokr or Vasob, and Vissoo Korth°. The Chinese copy of the Buddhist Tripitaka in the library of the India Office, con sists of 2000 volumes. Mahinda, son of Asoka, is supposed to have carried the Attlia-katta, ancient commentaries in Pali, to Ceylon, and to have translated them into Singhalese, which Buddhaghotha, about A.D. 430, retrantlated into
I 'all According to another account, the doctrines were first reduced to writing by the Ceylon priests during the reign of king Vartagamani n.c. 88-76, and by a synod assembled A.D. 101-10 by the Turushka king Kanishka. For the former the language used was the vernacular, from which in the 5th century it was translated into l'ali. For the latter, Sanskrit. Ilanly, in his Eastern Monachism, has discussed the views held of Buddha in Ceylon. Changes must have been made very early, for eighteen heresies are deplored in the Mahawanso within two centuries from Sakya Sinha's death. ln Ceylon, this faith has not been subjected to much persecution. In the 16th century, the Tamil invaders made every effort to destroy the books, but the priests sent missions to Siam, properly ordained priests were imported from Burma, and by the 18th century Buddhism had regained its ascendency. The priests latterly have been actively diffusing a knowledge of their creed. They have printing presses, from which tracts, pamphlets, and serials issue in great numbers. They present some new and ingenious arguments, but the defiant and blasphemous expressions which they contain against the sacred name of Jeboi•ah, are probably the most awful ever framed in human language.
—Cal. 1?ev.