THE SUTTA PITAKA: The Living Teachings of the Buddha

THE SUTTA PITAKA

The Living Teachings of the Buddha

What is the Sutta Pitaka?

The Sutta Pitaka is one of the three major parts of the ancient Buddhist Canon, called the Tipitaka ("Three Baskets"). It gathers several thousand teachings attributed to the historical Buddha, as well as some of his main disciples. The word Sutta means "discourse" or "teaching." For several centuries after the Buddha's passing, these teachings were transmitted orally by monks before being written down in Sri Lanka around the 1st century BCE. The Sutta Pitaka today constitutes the largest collection of the Buddha's words preserved in the world.