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1st Buddhist council (5th century BC)
The first Buddhist council was held soon after the death of the Buddha under the patronage of king Ajatasatru, and presided by a monk named Mahakasyapa, at Rajagaha (today's Rajgir). Its objective was to record the Buddha's sayings (sutta) and the monastic discipline or rules (Vinaya).
2nd Buddhist council (383 BC)
The second Buddhist council was convened by king Kalasoka and held at Vaisali, following conflicts between the conservative and liberal elements of Sangha.
The conservative schools insisted on strict adherence to monastic rules (vinaya). The secessionist Mahasangikas argued for more relaxed monastic rules, which could appeal to a large majority of monastic and lay people (hence their name "majority" assembly).
The council ended with the rejection of the Mahasanghikas. They left the council and maintained themselves for several centuries in northwestern India and Central Asia according to Kharoshti inscriptions found near the Oxus and dated c. 1st century AD.
In time, up to 18 schools of the traditional Buddhist thought arose, the only remaining one today being the Eastern Theravada school. Other schools included the Sarvastivadin and the Dharmaguptaka in Northwestern India.
3rd Buddhist council (c. 250 BC)
The third Buddhist council was convened by the Mauryan king Ashoka (260–218 BC) at Pataliputra (today's Patna), and held by the monk Moggaliputta Tissa. Its objective was to reconcile the different schools of Buddhism, and to purify the Buddhist movement, particularly from opportunistic factions which had been attracted by the royal patronage. The responses to doctrinal questions and disputes formulated at the Third Council were recorded by Moggaliputta Tissa in the Kathavatthu, one of the books of the Abhidhamma Pitaka.
The Pali canon (Tipitaka, or Tripitaka in Sanskrit, lit. the "Three Baskets"), which are the texts of reference of traditional Buddhism and considered to be directly transmitted from the Buddha, was formalized at that time. They consist of the doctrine (the Sutra Pitaka), the monastic discipline (Vinaya Pitaka) and an additional new body of subtle philosophy (the Abhidharma Pitaka).
Also, emissaries were sent to various countries in order to spread Buddhism, as far as the Greek kingdoms in the West (in particular the neighboring Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and possibly even farther to the Mediterranean according to the inscriptions left on stone pillars by Ashoka).
After 250 BC, the Sarvastivadin (who had been rejected by the 3rd council, according to the Theravada tradition) and the Dharmaguptaka schools became quite influential in northwestern India and Central Asia, up to the time of the Kushan Empire in the first centuries of the common era. The Dharmaguptakas were characterized by a belief that Buddha was separate, and above, the rest of the Buddhist community. The Sarvastivadin believed that past, present and future are all simultaneous. They may have contributed some formative influence to Mahayana.
The Two Fourth Buddhist Councils (c. 30 BC and 100 AD)
see The Fourth Buddhist Councils
The Theravada had a Fourth Buddhist Council in around 30 BC in Sri Lanka, which focused on committing the teachings to writing.
The Fourth Buddhist Council of the Mahayana was convened by the Kushan emperor Kanishka, around 100 AD at Jalandhar or in Kashmir, and is usually associated with the formal rise of Mahayana Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism does not recognize the authenticity of this council, and it is sometimes called the "council of heretical monks".
It is said that Kanishka gathered 500 Bhikkhus in Kashmir, headed by Vasumitra, to edit the Tripitaka and make references and remarks. It is said that during the council, there were all together three hundred thousand verses and over nine million statements compiled, and that it took twelve years to complete.
The Mahayana Fourth Budhist Council did not rely on the original pali canon (the Tipitaka). Instead, a set of new scriptures were approved, as well as fundamental principles of Mahayana doctrine. The new scriptures, usually in the Gandhari vernacular and the Kharosthi script, were rewritten in the classical language of Sanskrit, to many scholars a turning point in the propagation of Buddhist thought.
The new Mahayana form of Buddhism was characterized by an almost God-like treatment of the Buddha, by the idea that all beings have a Buddha-nature and should aspire to Buddhahood, and by a syncretism due to the various cultural influences within northwestern India and the Kushan Empire, especially from Zoroastrianism and Greco-Buddhism.
From that point on, and in the space of a few centuries, Mahayana was to flourish and spread into Central Asia, China, Korea and Japan (introduction of Buddhism in 538 AD).
The First General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists
The first time in the history of the buddhism since the third council, monks and raitiy representatives from nearly every school and organisation of Buddhism in the Mahayana, Theravada and Vajrayana from 27 countries in Asia, Europe and North America gathered to found The World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB). The Aims and Objectives of the World Fellowship of Buddhists are:
- 1. To promote among the members strict observance and practice of the teachings of the Buddha
- 2. To secure unity, solidarity, and brotherhood amongst Buddhists
- 3. To propagate the sublime doctrine of the Buddha
- 4. To organize and carry on activities in the field of social, educational, cultural and other humanitarian services
- 5. To work for happiness, harmony and peace on earth and to collaborate with other organizations working for the same ends.
Theravada Buddhist council in 1871 (5th Buddhist council)
Another Buddhist Council, this time presided by Theravada monks took place in Mandalay Burma now known as Myanmar in 1871 in the reign of King Mindon. The chief objective of this meeting was to recite all the teachings of the Buddha and examine them in minute detail to see if any of them had been altered, distorted or dropped. It was presided over by three Elders, the Venerable Mahathera Jagarabhivamsa, the Venerable Narindabhidhaja, and the Venerable Mahathera Sumangalasami in the company of some two thousand four hundred monks (2,400). Their joint Dhamma recitation lasted for five months. It was also the work of this council to cause the entire Tripitaka to be inscribed for posterity on seven hundred and twenty-nine marble slabs in the Myanmar script after its recitation had been completed and unanimously approved. This monumental task was done by some two thousand four hundred (2,400) erudite monks and many skilled craftsmen who upon completion of each slab had them housed in beautiful miniature 'pitaka' pagodas on a special site in the grounds of King Mindon's Kuthodaw Pagoda at the foot of Mandalay Hill where it and the so called 'largest book in the world', stands to this day.
Theravada Buddhist council in 1954 (Sixth Buddhist Council)
The Sixth Council was called at Kaba Aye in Yangon, formerly Rangoon in 1954, eighty-three years after the fifth one was held in Mandalay. It was sponsored by the Burmese Government led by the then Prime Minister, the Honourable U Nu. He authorized the construction of the Maha Passana Guha, 'the great cave', an artificial cave very like India's Sattapanni Cave where the first Buddhist Council had been held. Upon its completion The Council met on the 17th of May, 1954. As in the case of the preceding councils, its first objective was to affirm and preserve the genuine Dhamma and Vinaya. However it was unique in so far as the monks who took part in it came from eight countries. These two thousand five hundred learned Theravada monks came from Myanmar, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand. The late Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw was appointed the noble task of asking the required questions about the Dhamma of the Venerable Bhadanta Vicittasarabhivamsa who answered all of them learnedly and satisfactorily. By the time this council met all the participating countries had had the Pali Tipitaka rendered into their native scripts, with the exception of India.
The traditional recitation of the Buddhist Scriptures took two years and the Tripitaka and its allied literature in all the scripts were painstakingly examined and their differences noted down and the necessary corrections made and all the versions were then collated. Happily, it was found that there was not much difference in the content of any of the texts. Finally, after the Council had officially approved them, all of the books of the Tipitaka and their Commentaries were prepared for printing on modern presses and published in the Myanmar (Burmese) script. This notable achievement was made possible through the dedicated efforts of the two thousand five hundred monks and numerous lay people. Their work came to an end in May, 1956, two and a half millennia after the Lord Buddha's Parinibbana. This council's work was the unique achievement of representatives from the entire Buddhist world. The version of the Tipitaka which it undertook to produce has been recognized as being true to the pristine teachings of the Buddha Gotama and the most authoritative rendering of them to date.
Doubts on the 6th Buddhist Council's Tipitaka
Since the year 2000, the authenticity of the currently published version of Tipitaka of the Sixth Budhist Council has been in some doubt, as some findings from the Dhamma Society Fund in Thailand have become more well known. The Dhamma Society Fund claims it has proof that after the first printing of the Tipitaka of Sixth Buddhist Council in 1958, it had been secretly replaced with the previous Burmese Fifth Buddhist Council Tipitaka. The Dhamma Society Fund found the inconsistencies by comparing some rare orginal Burmese versions of the 1957 and the 1958 Sixth Council editions with Burmese Fifth Council editions from before 1956, and all later (and current) Sixth Buddhist Council editions. It found that the current Sixth Council Edition is identical to the Bumese Fifth Council Edition. The motivation for this secret replacement would be that the other countries (Thailand, Sri Lanka) were not printing the Sixth Buddhist Council's Tipitaka, and were still publishing the old national editions also. Because of this Burma also went back to printing their old Tipitaka, but with the cover of the Sixth Buddhist Council's edition. The Dhamma Society Fund is currently printing the 'real' Sixth Buddhist Council Tiptaka with sponsorship from the Thai King and other Thai royalty, for distribution amongst the most prestigious libraries and institutes around the world. After this, they plan to publish the Sixth Buddhist Counil Tipitaka for free, via the internet.
External link
Dhamma Society Fund website (still under construction) History of Buddhism
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