How has the Pali Canon been preserved and handed down to us?

How has the Pali Canon been preserved and handed down to us?

The First Rehearsal is naturally the most important, as all the word of the Buddha that was collected on this occasion, memorized and handed down, was treated as settled and final. From them on, it was only a matter of retaining and preserving the word of the Buddha collected in the First Rehearsal as accurately, purely and completely as possible – in short, pristinely and perfectly. For this reason, from then on the elders preserving the word of the Buddha would focus on preservation through recitation, devolving the retention of different divisions of the teachings to different groups of monks.

On this account, the First Rehearsal is the only one which truly collected the Buddha’s teachings. In later rehearsals, the elder monks who retained the word of the Buddha simply convened to rehearse and review what had been preserved in the First Rehearsal to ensure that the teachings were pristine and prefect, i.e. complete, accurate and unadulterated.

Due to the subsequently added burden of preventing bogus teachings and ways of the word of the Buddha had an additional emphasis on applying the teachings thus retained as criteria for verifying teachings and practices claimed to be Buddhist. As a result, the Pali word sangayana when used in Thai acquired the extended meaning of purging bogus teachings and practices.

Furthermore, after a long lapse of time, some people took this extended meaning to be the central meaning of rehearsal, sometimes even to the extent that they forgot its true meaning altogether. At present, some might go so far as to misunderstand that the participants in a rehearsal will collaborate in checking the teachings in the Pali Canon to see whether the ‘views’ or ‘opinions’ expressed therein are tight or wrong – which in effect amounts to judging whether some of the Buddha’s teachings here and there are right or wrong – and then proceed to amend them. It is thus necessary to understand clearly which meaning of sangayana is or original, and which meaning is derived.

Rehearsals in the true sense of the term – assemblies where the Buddha’s teachings as handed down to us were rehearsed, reviewed, and preserved as completely, accurately, pristinely and perfectly as possible – had two stages of development. The former stage involved reciting the teachings orally, called mukhpatha ‘oral transmision’, and the latter stage – in later periods – involved writing the teachings down, called potthakaropana ‘ putting down in books’.

In the initial stage of development or the first period, which extended from thee Buddha’s time up to approximately 460 years after that, the elders preserving the Teaching would retain and pass down the word of the Buddha orally, by means of mukhapatha, i.e. learning, memorizing, and transmitting from mount to mouth. This in effect entrusted the preservation to individuals, The good thing about this was that as monks in those days were of the Buddha, they would be very heedful, taking the best care to keep the teachings pristine and perfect. The preservation of the word of the Buddha was always regarded as the top priority in maintaining Buddhism.

The preservation through oral transmission was carried out by means of recitation, which can be divided into four levels:
(a) It was the responsibility of large groups of monks to pass down the teachings through the line of teachers, called acariyaparampara ‘succession of teachers’ (also known as theravamsa ‘lineage of elders’). This was started with the initial elders since the Discipline, had his line of pupils who were successively entrusted with preserving, teaching, and expounding that particular division of the teachings.
(b) It was the main activity in a monk’s way of life to learn the teachings to acquire the basis for proper practice, which in turn would lead to the penetration of Dhamma. Which division of the teachings to specialize in was at a monk’s who were well – versed in different parts of the Buddha’s teachings in the Pali Canon. For instance, the group with expertise in the Dighanikaya including its commentaries was called Dighabhanaka ‘reciter of the Collection of Long Discoursed’. Likewise, there were Majjhimabhanaka ‘reciter of the Collection of Middle Length Discourses’, Samyuttabhanaka ‘reciter of the Collection of connected discoursed’, and khuddakabhanaka ‘reciter of the Collection of Minor Works’, and so on.
(c) It was the routine of monks in each monastery or group to assemble and perform ‘group recitations’, or chanting the word of the Buddha together. (This practice may have been the origin of the daily routine of morning and evening chanting we are familiar with nowadays.)
(d) It was the routine or daily practice of individual monks – as evidenced from the commentaries, among other scriptures – to recite the word of the Buddha when they were free from other tasks, e.g. when they were by themselves. Thus reciting the word of the Buddha was in effect a part of their daily Dhamma practice.

Regulated by the monastic rules of the Sangha to lead their lives along the path of the Threefold Training, and living in an atmosphere of learning, or transmitting and seeking knowledge, for the purpose of proper practice, monks would naturally be prompted to preserve the teachings through recitation, review and cross – checking on a regular basis all along.

The following are the five precepts rendered in English and then Pali

The Buddha is said to have taught the five precepts out of compassion, and for the betterment of society. Thus they are to be undertaken voluntarily rather than as commandments from a god. The precepts are intended to help a Buddhist live free from remorse, so that they can progress more easily on the Path.
The precepts are considered differently in a Mahayana context to that of the Theravada school of thought. To Theravada they are as they appear, but Mahayana schools consider this a beginers view. The reason for this is because Theravada rejects any realisation of non-duality in favour of the Pali Canon alone. In the written form, the precepts appear to be similar to the Christian commandments. However to the Mahayana schools, the first precept for example does not mean thou shall not kill. Rather, the precept of not killing highlights with deeper understanding that one cannnot see things in these terms. That is to say one cannot find anything fixed to call a victim, nor a specific entity that one can call a killer. In fact, one can find nothing fixed at all. It is this flux that the precepts point to. By engaging these precepts, one is engaging in the effort to be awake in the non conceptual, non dualistic reality.

The following are the five precepts rendered in English and then Pali:
1. I undertake the precept to refrain from taking the life (killing) of living beings.Pānātipātā veramani sikkhāpadam samādiyāmi
2. I undertake the precept to refrain from stealing. (lit. "taking what is not offered")Adinnādānā veramani sikkhāpadam samādiyāmi
3. I undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct (adultery, rape, exploitation, etc).Kāmesu micchācāra veramani sikkhāpadam samādiyāmi
4. I undertake the precept to refrain from false speech (lying).Musāvāda veramani sikkhāpadam samādiyāmi
5. I undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicants which lead to heedlessness. (Can include intoxicating ideas)Surā meraya majja pamādatthānā veramani sikkhāpadam samādiyāmi