Buddhist Councils and Buddhist Literature

BUDDHIST COUNCILS

Buddhist Council	Place and Yea	Patronage by and Chairman of the Council	Details
First Buddhist Council	At Rajgir (Around 483 BC)	Under the patronage of King Ajatashatru. Chairman – Mahakasyapa	Upali recited Vinaya Pitaka, which contains the rules of the Buddhist order; Anand, the other disciple of Buddha, recited Sutta Pitaka, containing the great collection of Buddha’s sermons on matters of doctrine and ethical beliefs.

Second Buddhist Council	At Vaishali (383 BC) 100 years after the mahaparinirvana of Buddha	King Kalasoka. Chairman – Sabakami	Relaxation of the rules of the monastic order Codification of the Vinaya Pitaka. Split over this issue whether or not monastic rules should be relaxed? It led to the development of: Sthavirvadins (orthodox)- the school of elders; which later became the Theravada School Mahasanghikas (unorthodox)- later this split into the Hinayana and Mahayana
Third Buddhist Council	At Patliputra (250 BC)	Under the patronage of King Ashoka. Chairman – Mugali Putta Tissa	Ashoka removed all variations from Buddhism and its sects. Recognised Theravada Buddhism as the main. Compilation of Abhidhamma Pitaka took place. Decision taken to send missionaries abroad to promote Buddhism
Fourth Buddhist Council	At Kundalvana, Kashmir (72 AD)	Under the patronage of King Kanishka Chairman - Vasumitra	Resulted in the division of Buddhism into Hinayana and Mahayana. Asvaghosha (the deputy of Vasumitra) participated in this council and all the deliberations were made in Sanskrit. Mahavibhasha or the encyclopaedia of Buddhism was compiled

BUDDHIST LITERATURE

TEXT	AUTHOR	FEATURES
PALI TEXTS
Sutta Pitaka	Collectively called the ‘Tripitakas’ No specific authors mentioned	Buddha’s teachings and philosophy. It includes Nikayas which contained ‘Theragatha’ and ‘Therigatha’ (Hymns of the elder monks and nuns respectively) and Jataka poetic tales of previous births of Buddha. Five Nikayas are namely Digha Nikaya (long discourses), Anguttara Nikaya (numerical), Majjhima Nikaya (middle length), Khuddaka Nikaya (minor discourses) and Samyutta Nikaya (connected discourses of Buddha).
Vinaya Pitaka		Rules of the Monastic Order It includes three books namely Suttavibhanga, Khandhaka and Parivara.
Abhidhamma Pitaka		Explains Buddhist philosophies It includes seven books namely Dhammasangani, Dhatukatha, Kathavatthu, Patthana, Puggalapannatui, Vibhanga and Yamaka
Milindapanho		Questions of Milind It’s a dialogue between Milind (Meander) and the Buddhist saint Nagasena.
Dipavamsha		Chronicles of Sri Lanka
Mahavamsha		Great Chronicles

Nettipakaran		It is a mythological test of Burmese Theravada tradition.
SANSKRIT TEXTS
Buddha Charita	Ashwaghosha	He was a poet, dramatist, musician, scholar and was contemporary to Kanishka.
Saundarananda
Sutralankara
Sariputra Prakarana
Vajra Suchi
Madhyamika Siddhanta	Nagarjunaor Nagasena	He propounded the Madhyamika Buddhist philosophy popularly known as Shunyavaad. He was a contemporary of Satvahan ruler Yagyashri Gautamiputra. Chandrakirti and Aryaveda were his disciples.
Madhyamika Sutralankara
Rasaratnakara
Subhalekha
Saddharma Pundarika
Amarkosha	Amar Simha	First dictionary in Sanskrit
Visuddhimagga or Vishuddhimarga	Buddhaghosh
Sumangalvasini
Atthakathayen
Pramanasmuchaya	Dignaga	He created the first system of Buddhist logic and epistemology
Nyaya Bindu	Dharmkirti
Catuhsataka	Aryadeva	It became an important source for Madhyamaka (centrism) philosophy also called Sunyavada
Avadanasatak		“Century of Noble Deeds” It is an anthology in Sanskrit of one hundred Buddhist legends, approximately dating to the same time as the Ashokavadana.
Ashokavadana		Describes the birth and reign of Ashoka.