Buddhist teaching

The canon of the Buddha's teachings or dharma, established at group councils of thousands of Buddhist monks. The first council was held within months of the Buddha's death in 483 BC. The teachings were passed down by recitation for about 400 years; monks would answer a series of questions with the appropriate portion of the canon. The Tripitaka (‘three baskets’), or Pali Canon, was written down for the first time in the 1st century BC. Its three parts are the Vinaya-pitaka, governing the rules of the monasteries; the Sūtra-pitaka, including the Dhammapada; and the Abhidharma-pitaka, the Buddha's higher teachings. The Dhammapada contains the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path.