What the Pali Canon is
The Pali Canon is the collection of scriptures preserved in the Pali language and accepted as authoritative by Theravada Buddhists. It is also called the Tipitaka (Sanskrit: Tripitaka), meaning “three baskets”. It is not the only Buddhist canon. Other schools preserved their own collections in Sanskrit, Chinese, Tibetan and other languages, and the Pali version is the one that survives complete in its original language from the early schools.
Pali is a language related to the dialects spoken in ancient northern India. It is not thought to be exactly the language the Buddha spoke, and scholars debate how closely the texts reflect his own words. Theravada tradition treats the canon as the record of the Buddha’s teaching and of the early communal rules.
The three baskets
Vinaya Pitaka. The rules of monastic discipline, with stories about how each rule came about and procedures for community life. It governs the conduct of monks and nuns and gives a picture of how early monasteries worked.
Sutta Pitaka. The discourses, attributed mostly to the Buddha and some to close disciples. It is organised into five collections (nikayas), grouped broadly by length and theme: the long discourses, the middle-length discourses, the connected discourses, the numerical discourses, and a miscellaneous collection that includes well-known works such as the Dhammapada and the Jataka tales. This is the part most readers meet first.
Abhidhamma Pitaka. Systematic analyses of the teachings, with detailed lists and categories of mental and physical phenomena. Theravada traditions regard it as part of the canon, while some other traditions and many modern scholars date it later than the discourses.
How it was passed on
Tradition holds that the teachings were memorised and recited by groups of monks for several centuries before being written down. The Sri Lankan chronicles say that the canon was committed to writing in Sri Lanka in the 1st century BCE, a date commonly repeated, though the detail comes from later accounts. Over the following centuries the texts were copied, studied and commented on in Sri Lanka, and later in Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.
Accounts of early recitation are tied to the Buddhist councils, which historians treat cautiously; the safer point is that the canon grew through a long process. Historians generally think it took shape over a few centuries, and that some layers are older than others.
Printed editions and translations
Modern readers usually meet the canon in printed editions. Several national editions exist, including those produced in Myanmar and Thailand and by the Pali Text Society in Britain. A major Burmese edition is associated with the sixth council held in Yangon in the 1950s. English translations also exist, though their quality and style vary, and many readers begin with selections.
Place in Theravada practice
For Theravada communities, in Sri Lanka and in the region sometimes called Theravada Southeast Asia, the canon is both an object of study and part of devotional life. Monks learn to recite portions, and lay people hear chants in Pali on Poya full moon days and at festivals, often without understanding every word. Verses from the Dhammapada and parts of the discourses are widely known. The canon is read together with commentaries, which are themselves an important layer of tradition.
Pilgrims at sites such as the Deer Park at Sarnath may hear the first discourse recited, since the traditional account of the first sermon appears in the canon. The recitation is respectful, and visitors can listen quietly.
Things to keep in mind
The Pali Canon is not a single book and was not designed to be read cover to cover. It contains different genres: rules, dialogues, poems, stories and lists. Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions give their own texts central roles, and many Mahayana communities also respect the early discourses that parallel those in the Pali collection.
Practices around scripture vary. Some communities emphasise study, others recitation or meditation, and some treat the book itself as an object of reverence. Follow local guidance on how to handle printed texts and sacred books, which are often kept in a high place and not placed on the floor.