BUDDHIST RELIGIOUS BOOKS

The principal Buddhist Religious Books are the Tripitaka (three baskets or works) and the Jatakas . Buddhism is the religion that was founded in 535 BC by Gautama Buddha (the enlightened one). This spiritual personality was considered as the fourth reincarnate of the five Buddhas in the earth and was also known as Sakyamuni(the sage of the Sakya clan), Bhagavat(meaning Lord) and Tathagata among his followers.

Gautama assumed the title of Buddha after he attained enlightenment under the Bodhi Tree at Bodh Gaya and started propagating a religion that was different from Hinduism.

Buddha emphasized on the denouncement of earthly desires as he said that the desires were the root cause of all sufferings. He preached that everybody goes through the relentless cycle of birth, life and death and hence reincarnation takes place. A person can only be liberated from this perpetual cycle of birth and death and attain salvation (Nirvana) if his attachment towards self and other worldly desires is released.

Originally Buddha's teachings were not written and were circulated orally for numerous centuries. After many years of Buddha's death they were finally written down in two traditions- the Pali canon of the Theravada tradition and the Sanskrit canon of the Northern Mahayana Tradition . The Pali canon consisted of three following baskets or works -

• The Sutra Pitaka
• The Vinaya Pitaka
• The Abhidharma Pitaka

The Sutra Pitaka contains the sermons of Buddha, the Vinaya Pataka describes the codes of monastic discipline and the origin of Sangha while the Abhidharma Pitaka consists of educational treatises on Buddhist philosophy and psychology.

All these three works were together compiled and documented in a collection known as Tripitaka( meaning baskets).

Apart from this, the Jatakas are also famous religious texts of Buddhism. These are originally fables that tell us about the past incarnations of Buddha. Though they are not included in the canonical Buddhist scripture, their importance will never diminish.