Buddhist Councils
The Buddhist councils were formal gatherings of monks held after the Buddha's death to preserve his teachings and resolve disputes. These councils didn't just protect the original message; they also triggered the disagreements that split Buddhism into its major schools.
The First Buddhist Council
The First Council was held shortly after the Buddha's death (his parinirvana) around 483 BCE in Rajagriha, India. Mahakasyapa, one of the Buddha's chief disciples, presided over it.
The problem was straightforward: the Buddha hadn't written anything down. His teachings existed only in the memories of his followers, and without some organized effort, they could easily be lost or distorted. So the council gathered to recite and agree upon two bodies of material:
- Ananda, the Buddha's personal attendant for 25 years, recited the suttas (the Buddha's discourses and dialogues)
- Upali, another senior disciple, recited the Vinaya (the monastic rules governing monks and nuns)
By having the assembled monks listen, verify, and collectively approve these recitations, the council established an agreed-upon oral canon that could be passed down reliably.
The Second Buddhist Council and the First Schism
About 100 years after the Buddha's death, a Second Council was convened in Vaishali, India. This time the purpose wasn't just preservation; it was to settle a growing dispute over monastic discipline.
The core disagreement centered on whether certain Vinaya rules could be relaxed. Some monks in Vaishali had adopted practices that others considered violations, such as handling gold and silver. Conservative monks insisted on strict adherence to the original rules, while the reformers argued the rules needed flexibility.
The council sided with the conservatives, but the disagreement didn't go away. It led to the first major schism in the Buddhist community:
- The conservative faction formed the Sthaviravada school (later evolving into Theravada Buddhism)
- The larger, more reform-minded group formed the Mahasanghika school, which planted seeds that would eventually contribute to the development of Mahayana Buddhism
It's worth being precise here: Mahayana didn't emerge directly or immediately from the Mahasanghika school. Mahayana developed gradually over several centuries, drawing on Mahasanghika ideas along with other influences. The Second Council schism was the starting point of a long process of diversification, not a clean two-way split into the schools we know today.
Major Buddhist Schools
Theravada Buddhism
Theravada means "The School of the Elders" or "The Ancient Teaching." It traces its lineage back to the Sthaviravada conservatives at the Second Council and considers itself the tradition closest to the Buddha's original teachings.
The spiritual goal in Theravada is to become an arhat, a fully enlightened being who has completely eradicated all mental defilements (greed, hatred, and delusion). The emphasis is on individual liberation through your own disciplined effort in meditation, ethical conduct, and wisdom.
- Theravada relies primarily on the Pali Canon, the earliest surviving written record of the Buddha's teachings, composed in the Pali language
- It's the predominant form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos
Mahayana Buddhism
Mahayana means "The Great Vehicle." It developed gradually from the Mahasanghika and other early schools, emerging as a distinct movement roughly around the 1st century BCE to the 1st century CE.
The defining feature of Mahayana is the bodhisattva ideal. Rather than seeking personal liberation as an arhat, a bodhisattva aspires to attain full Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Bodhisattvas deliberately postpone their own final nirvana to stay in the cycle of rebirth and help others along the path.
Mahayana also expanded the scriptural canon significantly beyond what Theravada accepts, incorporating texts like:
- The Prajnaparamita Sutras (on the "perfection of wisdom")
- The Lotus Sutra (emphasizing the universal potential for Buddhahood)
- The Pure Land Sutras (describing the possibility of rebirth in a Buddha's pure land)
Mahayana spread northward and eastward, becoming the dominant form of Buddhism in China, Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Tibet, adapting to local cultures along the way. (Tibetan Buddhism is sometimes classified separately as Vajrayana, though it's generally considered a branch within the broader Mahayana tradition.)
Key Buddhist Concepts
The Tripitaka
The Tripitaka (meaning "Three Baskets") is the name for the traditional collection of the Buddha's teachings. It's organized into three divisions, each serving a different purpose:
- Vinaya Pitaka: The rules and regulations governing monastic life for monks and nuns. This covers everything from major ethical violations to daily conduct.
- Sutta Pitaka: The Buddha's discourses and dialogues on the Dharma. This is where you'll find teachings on the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, and other core doctrines.
- Abhidhamma Pitaka: Systematic philosophical and psychological analysis of the Buddha's teachings. This is the most technical and abstract of the three baskets.
Different schools maintain their own versions of the Tripitaka. The Theravada tradition preserves the Pali Canon (Tipitaka in Pali), while Mahayana traditions work with the Chinese Buddhist Canon and the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, which include additional texts not found in the Pali version.
The Sangha
The Sangha is the community of Buddhist practitioners, and in its narrower sense, the monastic order of monks (bhikkhus) and nuns (bhikkhunis). It's one of the Three Jewels (also called the Three Refuges) in Buddhism, alongside the Buddha and the Dharma.
When Buddhists "take refuge" in the Three Jewels, they're committing to the Buddha as their teacher, the Dharma as their guide, and the Sangha as their community of practice.
The Sangha plays a central role in keeping Buddhism alive across generations:
- Monastics dedicate their lives to studying, meditating on, and teaching the Dharma
- Lay Buddhists support the Sangha through offerings (called dana) and in return receive teachings and spiritual guidance
This reciprocal relationship between monastics and laypeople is a defining feature of Buddhist communities. Different schools maintain their own lineages and ordination traditions, so the structure and practices of the Sangha can look quite different across Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana contexts.