The Pāli Canon is the standard collection of scriptures in the
Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pali language.
It is the only completely surviving early Buddhist canon, and
one of the first to be written down. It was transcribed from the
more ancient North Indian oral tradition, during the Fourth
Buddhist Council in Sri Lanka in the 1st century BC. The Pali
Canon was first printed in the nineteenth century, and is now
also available in electronic form and on the Internet. The Pāli
Canon falls into three general categories, called pitaka
(piṭaka, basket) in Pali. Because of this, the canon is
traditionally known as the Tipitaka (Tipiṭaka; three baskets).
The three pitakas are as follows: - Vinaya Pitaka, dealing with
rules for monks and nuns - Sutta Pitaka, discourses, mostly
ascribed to the Buddha, but some to disciples - Abhidhamma
Pitaka, variously described as philosophy, psychology,
metaphysics etc. The Vinaya Pitaka and the Sutta Pitaka are
remarkably similar to the works of other early