What is the name of the Buddhist collection traditionally divided into three “baskets” of teachings?

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The Buddhist collection traditionally divided into three “baskets” of teachings is the Tripitaka.

Tripitaka, also written Tipitaka in Pali and meaning “Three Baskets,” is the traditional name for the Buddhist canon organized into three sections. In the Pali Canon, these are the Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutta Pitaka, and the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

The Vinaya contains monastic discipline, the Sutta collection contains discourses and related teaching material, and the Abhidhamma presents systematic analyses of Buddhist doctrine. The three-part structure reflects how the Theravada canon is organized.

The term can refer broadly to Buddhist canonical collections, but the contents and language vary among Buddhist traditions. The Chinese Buddhist canon and Tibetan Buddhist canon are not identical to the Pali Canon. Tripitaka is therefore a canonical category, not the title of one single uniform book.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Sept. 2026

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