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Buddhist Councils Everything You Need To Know
Buddhist Councils Everything You Need To Know
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Following the death of the Gauthama Buddha, several assemblies were convened to
settle doctrinal disputes and to recite Buddhist texts. These Assemblies were known as
Buddhist Councils. This post will help readers to memorize the details of each Buddhist
Council, much faster.
Buddhism
Founded by Gautama Buddha (Sakyamuni) known originally as Siddhartha.
Teachings of Buddha:
1. Four Noble Truths (Arya satyas) – Dukkha, Samudaya, Niroda, and Magga.
2. Eight-Fold Path (Ashtangika Marga) – Right view, Right resolve, Right speech,
Right action, Right livelihood, Right effort, Right mindfulness and Right
samadhi (“concentration”).
3. Three Jewels (Triratnas) – the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.
4. Code of Conduct.
5. Belief in Nirvana.
6. Belief in Ahimsa.
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Buddhist Sangha: It consisted of monks and nuns, who acted as torchbearers of the
dhamma. The worshippers were called upasakas.
Also read:
1. Indian Philosophy: Orthodox and Heterodox Schools
2. Ancient India: Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism (NCERT)
Buddhist Councils
There were four Buddhist Councils. These Buddhist Councils are considered as the four
milestones in the history of Buddhism. In order to address the issues during that period in
Buddhism. They are as follows
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1. Vinaya Pitaka which mainly contains the rules of the Buddhist order. This was
recited by Upali.
2. Suttapitaka was recited by Ananda. It contains the great collections of Buddha’s
sermons on matters of doctrine and ethical beliefs.
The key issue was the use of ‘gold and silver’, which is an Indic idiom that includes
any kind of money.
Resulted in:
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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.
Resulted in:
1. Made Sthaviravada School as an orthodox school – believed that the past, present,
and future are all simultaneous. They may have contributed some formative
influence to Mahayana.
2. Codification of Abhidhamma Pitaka, dealing with Buddhist philosophy written in Pali.
Resulted in:
Note:
The Theravada Buddhist council in 1871 and Theravada Buddhist council in 1954 are
known as Fifth and Sixth Buddhist Councils respectively.
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