{"id":70,"date":"2025-12-21T04:07:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T04:07:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/?p=70"},"modified":"2026-01-01T09:36:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T09:36:23","slug":"theravada-buddhism-1-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gatewaytoinsight.org\/?p=70","title":{"rendered":"Theravada Buddhism 1.3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chapter (3)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The Theravada Councils<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Preamble to the Councils<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The Lord Buddha attained Parinibb\u0101na in the Sal grove in the city of Kusin\u0101ra on the full moon day of Kason in the 148th year of the Mah\u0101sakkar\u0101j era (544 B.C.). The Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa, with a following of 500 Arahats, was traveling from P\u0101v\u0101 to Kusin\u0101ra to pay homage to the Blessed One.<\/p>\n\n

The great elder and his retinue, due to the late season, were resting under a tree during their journey. At that time, an \u0100j\u012bvaka ascetic was coming from Kusin\u0101ra to P\u0101v\u0101. The ascetic met Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa, who was taking a rest.<\/p>\n\n

When the Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa asked about the Blessed One, the ascetic replied, “The Buddha has attained Parinibb\u0101na.” When the Sangha heard this news, they could not contain their grief and wept and lamented.<\/p>\n\n

While the other Arahats were weeping, the monk Subhadda did not know he should weep; he was glad that the Buddha was no more. Subhadda spoke words of comfort to the weeping monks.<\/p>\n\n

“Venerable sirs, why are you weeping? We are now free from the hand of the great ascetic Gotama. When Gotama was alive, he would give us instructions, saying, ‘Do not do this; you must do that.’ He controlled us. We could not do as we pleased, lest it be deemed an offense, and he would restrain us with rules. Gotama was one who oppressed and tormented us. Now, we can do as we wish, do what we want; we are free.”<\/p>\n\n

Upon hearing Subhadda’s words, the great elder Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa thought to himself, “Even now, improper words are being spoken. Later, if more monks like this arise, unrighteousness will become widespread.”<\/p>\n\n

“The Dhamma teachings that the Lord Buddha preached will only be preserved if they are compiled in a council.”<\/p>\n\n

Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa and his group, upon arriving in Kusin\u0101ra, performed the rites of cremating the Buddha’s physical body and distributing the relics. Afterwards, on the 5th day of the waning moon of Nayon, a Sangha meeting was held at the relic distribution site.<\/p>\n\n

At the great Sangha meeting, the great elder Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa proposed holding a council.<\/p>\n\n

“Venerable sirs, if there are many corrupt monks like Subhadda, the noble teachings of the Lord Buddha could disappear. Only if the Buddha’s teachings are preserved will the Buddha’s S\u0101sana endure for long. As long as the teachings are preserved, it is as if the Lord Buddha is still living and present.<\/p>\n\n

Therefore…<\/p>\n\n

so that the true Dhamma does not fade,<\/p>\n\n

so that the good Dhamma does not disappear,<\/p>\n\n

so that the Adhamma does not spread,<\/p>\n\n

so that those of wrong views do not gain power,<\/p>\n\n

so that those of right views do not lose power…<\/p>\n\n

let us gather and hold a council on the Sutta, Vinaya, and Abhidhamma teachings that the Lord Buddha preached,” he proposed.<\/p>\n\n

The Sangha responded to Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa’s proposal, saying, “The matter your reverence has proposed is most fitting. For the holding of the council, may your reverence take the lead and select the appropriate Sangha members.”<\/p>\n\n

The First Council<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

The great elder Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa, to be able to hold the council, selected and made a list of 499 Arahats who were masters of the Pariyatti Dhamma and possessed of the six supernormal powers (pa\u1e6disambhid\u0101).<\/p>\n\n

The intention was for 500 Arahats to participate in the council. It was also intended for Venerable \u0100nanda to be included. However, at that time, Venerable \u0100nanda was still at the level of a Sot\u0101panna, so he could not yet be included in the list.<\/p>\n\n

At that time, the other Sangha members submitted that although Venerable \u0100nanda was still a sekha (a learner), he was a great master of the Dhamma, one who could remember and recite the eighty-four thousand units of the Dhamma taught in the Lord Buddha’s presence. They argued that it was not proper to hold the council by excluding Venerable \u0100nanda, who had been the great attendant and right-hand disciple of the Blessed One.<\/p>\n\n

Only then did Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa select Venerable \u0100nanda, making the Sangha number 500. After being selected, Venerable \u0100nanda strived in the Dhamma to become an Arahat and enter the council, and he attained Arahatship just before the council began.<\/p>\n\n

Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa, having selected 500 Sangha members, chose the city of R\u0101jagaha as the place for the council. The Sangha members for the council were to observe the rains retreat (vassa) in R\u0101jagaha. The other Sangha members were to observe the vassa in other cities and villages. After the Sangha members observed the vassa in R\u0101jagaha, eight Arahats were selected and sent to King Aj\u0101tasattu. They sent a request for the king to be the sponsor, providing the four requisites, and to provide assistance with his royal power for the great council.<\/p>\n\n

King Aj\u0101tasattu joyfully accepted the request of the venerable Arahats. Then, for the holding of the council, he had a large pavilion built at the Sattapa\u1e47\u1e47i cave on the slope of the Vebh\u0101ra mountain.<\/p>\n\n

Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa and the 500 Sangha members, three months after the Lord Buddha’s Parinibb\u0101na, on the full moon day of Wagaung in the 148th year of the Mah\u0101sakkar\u0101j era (also called the 4th month of the rains retreat), convened and held the council.<\/p>\n\n

At the council, Venerable Mah\u0101kassapa served as the First Pucchaka (Questioner) of the First Sa\u1e45g\u0101yana.<\/p>\n\n

For the Vinaya Pi\u1e6daka, Venerable Up\u0101li, who had been designated as the foremost in Vinaya by the Lord Buddha, served as the Visajjaka (Responder) and answered the questions.<\/p>\n\n

Venerable \u0100nanda had personally heard all the Pi\u1e6dakas without exception. However, out of respect for Venerable Up\u0101li’s designation as the foremost in Vinaya, he had Venerable Up\u0101li serve as the Visajjaka. Afterwards, the Venerable \u0100nanda served as the Visajjaka for the Sutta Pi\u1e6daka and the Abhidhamma Pi\u1e6daka teachings.<\/p>\n\n

In this way, after the questions and answers were completed, the 500 Sangha members collectively recited and chanted them. This first council took seven months to complete.<\/p>\n\n

Buddhists began counting the S\u0101sana era from that year. Buddhist scholars have noted the start of the Buddhist Era as 487 B.C. or 485 B.C. In Sri Lanka, 544 B.C. is established as the year.<\/p>\n\n

The Second Council<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

In the 100th year of the S\u0101sana, 387 B.C., the Vajjiputtaka monks of Ves\u0101li began to practice the ten points (dasavatth\u016bni) that were not in accordance with the Vinaya. (These 10 points have been mentioned above.)<\/p>\n\n

At that time, the Dhamma-holding elders, wishing to dispel the Vinaya revisions of the Adhamma-holding monks and to discipline the Dhamma-holding monks, planned to hold another council.<\/p>\n\n

For this council, the disciples of Venerable \u0100nanda, the 180-year-old Venerable Revata, Venerable Sabbak\u0101m\u012b, Venerable S\u0101\u1e37ha, Venerable Khujjasobhita, Venerable Mah\u0101 Yasa, and Venerable Sambh\u016bta, as well as the saddhivih\u0101rika disciple of Venerable Anuruddha, Venerable Visabh\u0101gamika, and Venerable Sumana, took the lead. Among them, some elders had met the Lord Buddha.<\/p>\n\n

From among the elders mentioned above, with Venerable Mah\u0101 Yasa as the leader, 700 Arahats convened the Second Council for a period of eight months at the V\u0101lik\u0101r\u0101ma monastery in the city of Ves\u0101li. King K\u0101l\u0101soka of Ves\u0101li served as the S\u0101sana sponsor, providing the four requisites and assisting with his royal power.<\/p>\n\n

The Third Council<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

During the reign of King Asoka (Siri Dhamm\u0101soka) of P\u0101\u1e6daliputta, the Buddhist S\u0101sana was flourishing and developing. Although King Asoka was not a Buddhist in his early life, he later became one. After becoming a Buddhist, King Asoka greatly promoted the Buddhist S\u0101sana. As a result, the number of S\u0101sana functionaries, both male monks and female nuns, greatly increased.<\/p>\n\n

Taking advantage of this situation, heretics from outside the S\u0101sana entered the Buddhist order and became monks. These heretics were not individuals who entered with faith in Buddhism. They also did not study the Dhamma of the S\u0101sana. These pseudo-monks and pseudo-nuns preached doctrines unrelated to the Buddha’s Dhamma as if they were the Buddha’s Dhamma. They inserted their own doctrines into the Buddha’s teachings. The Buddha’s Dhamma was no longer pure.<\/p>\n\n

Some pseudo-monks worshipped fire. They performed incantations. They worshipped the sun. They performed incantations. Under the guise of Buddhist monks, they worshipped and paid homage to external religious practices.<\/p>\n\n

The true and correct Sangha did not associate with these pseudo-monks. They did not perform Sangha acts such as Uposatha and Pav\u0101ra\u1e47\u0101 with them.<\/p>\n\n

The Sangha residing at the Asok\u0101r\u0101ma monastery experienced this doctrinal division for seven years. In various regions of Asoka’s empire, such impurity in the S\u0101sana and confusion of doctrines were widespread. King Asoka planned to purify the impure and corrupted Buddhist S\u0101sana and make it a pure S\u0101sana.<\/p>\n\n

King Asoka questioned the pseudo-monks and pseudo-nuns who had entered the Buddhist order regarding their doctrines. The pseudo-nuns could not answer the true and genuine teachings of the Buddha. They mixed and answered with doctrines outside the Buddha’s teachings as if they were the Buddha’s teachings.<\/p>\n\n

After King Asoka examined them in this way, he disrobed 60,000 pseudo-monks who could not answer the true Buddha’s doctrine and had them leave the order. King Asoka expelled them from the Asok\u0101r\u0101ma monastery. After King Asoka took action to purify the S\u0101sana, a group of 1,000 Arahats, with Venerable Mah\u0101 Moggalliputtatissa presiding, had to hold the Third Council for the purification of the Buddha’s Dhamma.<\/p>\n\n

The Third Council was held starting from the month of Nayon in the 235th year of the S\u0101sana (252 B.C.) and was completed after nine months. The sponsor of this great Third Council was the great King Asoka himself.<\/p>\n\n

The Fourth Council<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Before the Fourth Council, during the two reigns of King Va\u1e6d\u1e6dag\u0101ma\u1e47i on the island of Sri Lanka, a great famine caused by the Brahmin Tissa occurred among the Tamil people. Because of the famine, the king had to leave his throne and go into hiding. During that time, due to a lack of rain, the crops failed, and the entire island faced a great famine and hardship.<\/p>\n\n

The venerable Sangha, being without food, could not recite the Buddha’s Pi\u1e6daka teachings. Until that time, the Sangha had preserved the Buddha’s Dhamma teachings only through oral tradition. When they faced such a famine, the monks, fearing illness, began to suffer from various diseases. However, they had to strive to recite and preserve the Pi\u1e6dakas so that they would not be forgotten.<\/p>\n\n

Some venerable monks, due to starvation, passed away. The monks who survived without dying had to preserve the Pi\u1e6dakas by memorizing them orally. This arduous preservation had to be done for 12 long years. During those years, King Va\u1e6d\u1e6dag\u0101ma\u1e47i was able to defeat the threat of the rebels and ascend the throne for a second time.<\/p>\n\n

At that time, the monks who had memorized the three Pi\u1e6dakas orally realized the great responsibility of transmitting them by memory. They thought that if they faced such calamities again and were unable to recite them, the Buddha’s teachings could disappear. Therefore, they felt that they would only be at ease if the teachings were recorded in writing on palm leaves.<\/p>\n\n

Therefore, the Arahat Sangha of Sri Lanka decided to hold a council to record the Pi\u1e6dakas in writing on palm leaves. After this decision, under the leadership of Venerable Mah\u0101dhammarakkhita, 500 Arahats convened the Fourth Council in the 450th year of the S\u0101sana at the \u0100loka Cave in the Malaya country. The Dhamma teachings of the Pi\u1e6dakas were inscribed on palm leaves.<\/p>\n\n

The Fifth Council<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

King Mindon, who ruled the kingdom of Myanmar, founded the city of Mandalay Ratanapura in the year 1221 of the Burmese Era. King Mindon established many meritorious works in the new capital, including the Kuthodaw Pagoda and the Atumashi Monastery. He also placed a new\u00a0hti<\/em>\u00a0(umbrella) on the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon.<\/p>\n\n

In the month of Tabaung, 1222, King Mindon had the three Pi\u1e6dakas of the P\u0101li canon inscribed on palm leaves. Not being satisfied with just that, and with the desire for the long-term preservation of the Pi\u1e6dakas, he conceived the desire to inscribe the Pi\u1e6dakas on stone, something that the ancient S\u0101sana-sponsoring kings had not done.<\/p>\n\n

Therefore, he ordered stone slabs from the Sagyin hills and undertook the project of inscribing the Pi\u1e6dakas on stone. For the authenticity and purity of the Pi\u1e6dakas, he entrusted the responsibility to the following great venerable teachers:<\/p>\n\n

    \n
  1. The Dakkhi\u1e47\u0101r\u0101ma Sayadaw, who held the title “J\u0101gar\u0101bhiva\u1e43sa Tipi\u1e6daka Dhajamah\u0101dhammar\u0101j\u0101dhir\u0101jaguru” and was the teacher of the chief queen, Zabu Mahe.<\/li>\n\n
  2. The Sayadaw who held the title “Narind\u0101bhidhaja Siri Saddhammajotik\u0101p\u0101laddhaja R\u0101jaguru,” the teacher of the second queen.<\/li>\n\n
  3. The Sayadaw who held the title “Suma\u1e45galas\u0101mi Siri Pavara Ma\u1e47idhaja Mah\u0101dhammar\u0101j\u0101dhi R\u0101jaguru.”<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

    From the lay side, the governors of Theinpyat, Yaw, and Maingkaing were appointed to supervise.<\/p>\n\n

    King Mindon’s project of inscribing on stone was successfully completed on the 14th day of the waxing moon of Kason, in the year 1230. In recording the Pi\u1e6dakas as stone inscriptions:<\/p>\n\n

      \n
    1. The five books of the Vinaya P\u0101li canon 111 slabs<\/li>\n\n
    2. The Abhidhamma P\u0101li canon 208 slabs<\/li>\n\n
    3. The Sutta P\u0101li canon 410 slabs<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n

      The total number of stone slabs is 729.<\/p>\n\n

      King Mindon, following the tradition of ancient kings like Aj\u0101tasattu, K\u0101l\u0101soka, Siridhamm\u0101soka, and Va\u1e6d\u1e6dag\u0101ma\u1e47i, once again felt the desire to hold a council where the Pi\u1e6dakas would be recited orally. Regarding this matter, he consulted with the Thathanabaing (head of the Sangha) and other venerable teachers in the royal city and decided to hold a council. Afterwards, he appointed the Dakkhi\u1e47\u0101r\u0101ma Sayadaw, the Thibin Sayadaw, and the Thidaw Myin Wut Sayadaw as leaders, invited 2,400 Sangha members to the royal palace, and on the 11th day of the waxing moon of Tagu, in the Burmese Era 1233, Buddhist Era 2415, and Christian Era 1871, he convened the Fifth Council.<\/p>\n\n

      At this council, the Pi\u1e6dakas were recited orally, and it was completed after 5 months and 3 days.<\/p>\n\n

      The Sixth Council<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

      In the Burmese Era of 1247, the nation of Myanmar fell under the rule of the British colonialists. The Burmese people struggled in various ways to escape from British rule. Not only laypeople, but also venerable monks of the Buddhist S\u0101sana, preached and participated in the independence movement. They formed associations and strove for the nation, language, and religion. At that time, many patriotic associations emerged.<\/p>\n\n

      The venerable Sangha also formed an association and strove for the propagation of the S\u0101sana. Among these organizations, the one called “Sa\u1e45gha S\u0101maggi” was a powerful organization. The monks from the Sa\u1e45gha S\u0101maggi association had been urging for the holding of a Sixth Council since around the year 1920. However, the British government did not pay the slightest attention to the matter of holding a council. Thus, in 1948, Myanmar gained its independence.<\/p>\n\n

      At that time, the great venerable teachers of Myanmar became enthusiastic about holding a Sixth Council. The existing Pi\u1e6dakas, through successive copying and printing, had accumulated errors in punctuation, paragraphs, letters, and words. If the punctuation and paragraphs are incorrect, and the letters are wrong, the meaning can also be distorted. If the meaning is distorted, the Pariyatti teachings can be destroyed.<\/p>\n\n

      Therefore, for the purification of the Pariyatti teachings, it was decided to hold a Sixth Council. For this great council, the President of the Union of Myanmar, U Ba U, took on the role of the S\u0101sana sponsor. The Prime Minister of the government, U Nu, took on the responsibility of providing extensive assistance with state power.<\/p>\n\n

      The State Buddhist S\u0101sana Organization, led by the Thado Thiri Thudhamma title-holding Abhidhaja Mah\u0101ra\u1e6d\u1e6dhaguru Sayadaw, took responsibility for supporting and worshipping with the four requisites on behalf of the citizens.<\/p>\n\n

      The Prime Minister’s wife, Daw Mya Yi, leading the women, also enthusiastically participated in the\u00a0veyy\u0101vacca<\/em>\u00a0(service) activities of the council, donating their efforts.<\/p>\n\n

      After being fully prepared from all sides, under the leadership of the Nyaung Yan Sayadaw of Mandalay, the Abhidhaja Mah\u0101ra\u1e6d\u1e6dhaguru Baddanta Revata, 2,500 Sangha members, at the Mah\u0101p\u0101s\u0101na Cave on the Kaba Aye grounds in Yangon\u2014<\/p>\n\n