Early Morning Buddhist Inspiration - 3/3/2007

A Miracle?

The fact that the Pali Canon every came to exist in such a highly developed form is something of a miracle. After the Buddha's parinibbana - his death and final entry into nibbana - the Buddha's followers met at what was called the First Council, and a consensus was formed on what the Buddha's teachings actually were. There were then committed to memory and passed down orally from generation to generation. An amazing feat! It was not until the first century BCE that the Buddha's teachings were finally written down. The language used was Pali, the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism. The scriptures were written on palm leaves and stored in three baskets, hence the name Tipitaka.