Buddhist Literature

Buddhist Literature
Tripitaka
Tripitaka is traditional term used for various Buddhist scriptures It is known as Pali Canon in English The three pitakas are Sutta Pitaka, Vinaya Pitaka and Abhidhamma Pitaka
Sutta Pitaka has over 10 thousand Suttas {Sutras or teachings} related to Buddha and his close companions It has five sections vizDigha Nikaya (long discourses), Majjhima Nikaya (medium discourses), Samyutta Nikaya (connected discourses), Anguttara Nikaya (numerical discourses), Khuddaka Nikaya (minor collection)
Vinay Pitaka deals with monastic rules and regulations This has three books viz Suttavibhanga, Khandhaka and Parivara Suttavibhanga is a commentary on monastic discipline called Patimokkha The rules are divided into two parts viz Mahavibhanga (for fully ordained monks) and Bikkhuni Vibanga (for female monks) Khandhaka has two books which deal with Buddha, his disciples and the first and second Buddhist CouncilsParivara covers the summary and analysis of the first two books
Abhidhamma Pitaka deals with philosophy and doctrine of Buddhism
Jatakas
Jatakas are very much close to folklore literature and they contain the tales of previous births of Buddha in poetry form There are 547 such tales called Jatakamala in Sanskrit,cietak in Khmer and Sadok in Chinese
Milinda Panha
Milinda Panha or Questions of Milinda contains the dialogue of Indo-Greek kingMeander and Buddhist monk Nagasena It has been written in second to first century BC and initially written in Sanskrit There is only one copy in Sri Lankan Pali of this work