The document summarizes key information about the Tipitaka, which is the central religious text of Theravada Buddhism. It discusses the three divisions of the Tipitaka - the Vinaya Pitaka, Sutta Pitaka, and Abhidhamma Pitaka. It then explains the Four Noble Truths, which are the core teachings of Buddhism found in the Sutta Pitaka. The Four Noble Truths are that life involves suffering, suffering is caused by craving and attachment, suffering can be overcome by eliminating craving, and the Eightfold Path provides the method to eliminate craving. The Eightfold Path consists of right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. In

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INTRODUCTION
The Tipitaka is one of the three main texts in Buddhism and the world’s largest book. Initially,
they were composed orally but by the 3 century BCE they were discussed in early councils and
were converted into a text format. The Tripitaka contains three sections, the Vinaya Pitaka, the
Sutta Pitaka and the Abhidhamma Pitaka. The Tipitaka is the only accepted sacred text of
Theravada Buddhism. It was also referred to as the Pali Cannon because it was originally written
in the language of Pali. It was also called the Three Baskets of Wisdom because the original texts
were carried in the three baskets. The Buddhist term, Tipitaka in Pali, Tripitaka in Sanskrit while
etymologically defined comes ‘Ti’, ‘Tri’ - three, ‘Pitaka’- basket containing manuscript or
traditional handing on. So together in combination the whole word literally means three baskets
of the doctrine or the separate divisions of Buddha’s teachings handed down from generation to
generation. The teachings of the Buddha here symbolize the Dhamma and Vinaya (Discipline).

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THERAVADA AND MAHAYANA
There are two major branch of Buddhism that exists in this world which is Theravada1 and
Mahayana. The major differences as it relates to these two branches were bound to happen due to
how human think.
Theravada was more conservative which took a literal and traditional view of the teachings of
the Buddha as central.
Mahayana, however, took an interpretative and populist view of the teachings in order for them
to adapt and build up on them to reach a wider audience and help explain complex teachings for
laypersons (while still retaining the original teachings of Budhha).
WHY IS TIPITAKA CONSIDERED THERAVADA
The school called Therevada Buddhism is considered the most orthodox of the schools. This is
mainly due to the Tripitaka and more specifically the Vinaya. It is this attributes that
distinguishes Theravada Buddhism from the other schools the most. Theravada Buddhism take
on the doctrines within the sacred text and apply their knowledge to it. This means they take the
Tipitaka more seriously than others and all of their teachings and major belief are either raw
extracts within the Vinaya or are in some way influenced by it. Most of the Abhidhamma
contains works that teaches on the Theravada positions of Budhha’s teachings. The Tipitaka is
also the only sacred text referred or studied by those who committed to Theravada Buddhism.
1
1 website: http://www.tipitaka.net/

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VINAYA-PITAKA
The first basket was known as the Vinaya-Pitaka. This basket consisted of the rules for a
monastic life, as well as all of the origins behinds those rules, providing a detailed account of the
Budhha’s solution to the question of how to maintain communal harmony within a large and
diverse spiritual community. Vinaya Pitaka consist of 5 books
1. Sutta-vibhanga
2. Panvara
3. Maha-vibhanga
4. Khandhaka
5. Bhikkhuni-vibhanga
SUTTA-PITAKA
The Sutta-Pitaka consisted of Buddha’s teachings and is the most important of the three. These
teachings include:
1. Digha Nikaya - the “long collection”
2. Majjhima Nikaya - the “middle-length collection”
3. Samyutta Nikaya - the “grouped collection”
4. Anguttara Nikaya - the “further-factored collection”
5. Khuddaka Nikaya - the “collection of little texts”

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ABHIDHAMMA PITAKA
The third basket is Abhidhamma-Pitaka which discusses the nature of consciousness and
includes the explanations of the second basket. It consists of seven books:
1. Dhamma-sangani
2. Vibhanga
3. Dhatu-katha
4. Puggala-pannatti
5. Kattha-vatthu
6. Yamaka
7. Patthana
THE CONTENT OF TIPITAKA
The extract out of the Tripitaka that we are discussed are the Four Noble Truths because they
are the core and main teachings of Buddhism. This Four Noble Truths are found deep within the
Tripitaka. Firstly, they are found within the Sutta-Pitaka, the second division of Tripitaka. Within
the Sutta-Pitaka, there are five collections of Suttas which are called Nikaya’s, the truths are
found within Samyutta Nikaya which itself contains 2000 Suttas. The name of Sutta which the
truths are found in is the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta. The Sutta’s translation is “the setting in
the motion of the wheel of Dharma” the wheel of Dharma related to the Eightfold Path of
Perfection which are eight steps to follow to life your life and get good karma, these are usually
seen as on a wheel.

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The Four Noble Truths are:
1. All is suffering (Dukkha)
2. The cause of suffering is desire (the arising of Dukkha)
3. There is a way out of suffering (the cessation of Dukkha)
4. The way out of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path (the path leading to the cessation of
Dukkha)
The four Noble Truths are important because they are the main teachings of Buddhism.
Buddhism came about to be able to achieve nirvana and the four Noble Truths is the way to
achieve it. The four Noble Truths represent Buddhism in the way that they are the core teachings
and without these teachings, Buddhism would not be what it is today, these teachings define
what Buddhism is and sets it apart from other religion.
THE FIRST NOBLE TRUTH
The first Noble Truth is very important, the concept that everything is suffering is quite large
one, and at the time of revolutionary. Suffering includes loss of happiness, pain, illness and even
the cycle of rebirths (samsara). This means that although we may be able to be happy at some
point in our life, we will not remain that way, and the happiness will pass leaving us in the same
state as before.

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THE SECOND NOBLE TRUTH
The second Noble Truth that the cause for suffering is desire is related to the first mark of the
existence, Annica which states that there is nothing in this world that does not undergo changes.
This means that you will constantly be in desire for something to make you happy, but once you
achieve that there will something new that’s pops up. Another desire is the attachments to life
and not wanting to die, which means staying in the cycle of rebirth.
THE THIRD NOBLE TRUTH
The third Noble Truth stating that there is a way out of suffering is quite simple; the state is
referred to Nirvana, meaning the state of no desire. It is described as a place of nothingness when
a person is one with the world. You can only achieve Nirvana after you die, but when you are
alive you may become enlightened, meaning that, you know you know you will not go into
samsara you will escape everything.
One of the last Buddhist teachings was to “kill the Buddha” meaning that wanting to achieve
Nirvana itself is a desire and that to achieve Nirvana; you must cease all the desire. The terms
“kill the Buddha” means that the person cannot desire what Buddha wants and must achieve
enlightenment on their own.
THE FOURTH NOBLE TRUTH
The Buddhism teaching’s state that the only way to end desire is to follow The Eightfold Path.

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THE EIGHTFOLD PATH
The Eightfold Path is a series of eight stages that leads to the end of desire. The first of these
are attainable in everyday life; the later one requires more effort, and concentration. Like many
of Buddha’s teachings, they appear simple at first, but take on subtle and intricate meaning when
study closely.
The Eightfold Path is;
1. Right opinion
2. Right intentions
3. Right speech
4. Right conduct
5. Right livelihood
6. Right effort
7. Right mindfulness
8. Right concentration
The first of these, right opinion, concerns understandings the Four Truths. Then, through right
intentions, a person decides to set his or her life on the correct path. Right speeches consist of not
lying, not criticizing others unjustly, not using harsh language or gossiping. Right conduct means
to abstain from killing, stealing, cruelty, or lustful activities. To follow right livelihood a person
must earn a living in a way that does not harm any living things. To practice right effort, a person
must conquer all evil thoughts, and strive to arouse and maintain only good thoughts. Right
mindfulness has a special meaning in Buddhism, in which a person becomes intensely aware of
all the states of his or her body, feeling, and mind. That leads to the final stage, right
concentration, which is deep meditation that leads to a higher stage of consciousness. A person
who practices right concentration will come to the enlightenment that Buddha attained.

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TIPITAKA vs. AL-QURAN
Tipitaka basically more a collection of teachings.
“Some Buddhist have many Gods, others have none… The Buddha said it was more important to
take steps to end your sufferings than to follow endless discussions on the ‘true’ nature of God
(and other such unanswerable questions).”WR-181f; EB-XIV-675; IV-326
Al-Quran is the words purely from Almighty God
[Quran 17:36] You shall not accept any information, unless you verify it for yourself. I have
given you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brain, and you are responsible for using them.
The above comparison between Al-Quran and Tipitaka shows that the Tipitaka is just a
compilation of teaching from human and it is not discussing about the Godness while, Al-Quran
is a word of Allah the Almighty God and He command to us to use all of our sense to prove the
Allah is the only One who is deserved to be worshiped.

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CONCLUSION
In brief, we can see that Tipitaka mostly discussed about sufferings (Dukkha), the cause of the
sufferings, and the way to be out of the sufferings which is to achieve Nirvana. As we can see,
the contains of Tipitaka is not complete to guide human in the real life. As we compared with Al-
Quran which covers all aspects of human life includes spiritual, moral, intellectual, social, and
politics. Thus, we can conclude that Islam is a complete way of life as guidance for whole human
beings and suitable for all races, time, and places. As Muslims, we must spread the message of
Islam to other people to complete our responsibility towards Islam.