What is "tripitaka"

Tripitaka \Tri*pit"a*ka\, n. [Skr. tripi[.t]aka.] The three divisions, or ``baskets'' (pitakas), of buddhist scriptures, -- the Vinayapitaka [Skr. Vinayapi[.t]aka], or Basket of Discipline; Suttapitaka [Pali], or Basket of Discourses; and Abhidhammapitaka [Pali], or Basket of Metaphysics.

, also referred to as Tipiṭaka or Pali Canon, is the traditional term for the Buddhist scriptures. These are canonical texts revered as exclusively authoritative in Theravada Buddhism. The Mahayana Buddhism also reveres them as authoritative but, unlike Theravadins, it also reveres various derivative literature and commentaries that were composed much later.

The Tripitakas were composed between about 500 BCE to about the start of the common era, likely written down for the first time in the 1st century BCE. Each Buddhist sub-tradition had its own Tripitaka for its monasteries, written by its sangha, each set consisting of 32 books, in three parts or baskets of teachings: (1) the basket of expected discipline from monks , (2) basket of discourse (, Nikayas), and (3) basket of special doctrine (). The structure, the code of conduct and moral virtues in the Vinaya basket particularly, have similarities to some of the surviving Dharmasutra texts of Hinduism. Much of the surviving Tripitaka literature is in Pali, some in Sanskrit, as well as other local Asian languages.