Is the Tripitaka fully adopted by all thraditions of Buddhism?

snGus

If not, which traditions don't fully and/or partially accept it?

Jeffrey

There is a tibetan buddhist canon, a chinese buddhist canon, and a Pali canon

snGus

There is a tibetan buddhist canon, a chinese buddhist canon, and a Pali canon

So the Mahayana and Zen traditions don't accept the Tripitaka?

Jeffrey

They have their own canons. They don't study the Pali Canon in their practice so it is hard to say that they don't accept it.

Jeffrey

The other canons have agamas, vinaya, and abhidharma that are closely related to the versions found in the Pali. I would be quite surprised if they were identical. Different translations of the Pali are not even identical.

Jeffrey

I am a mahayana buddhist and I study the pali canon occasionally. So I think there is variations in experience.

snGus

In the Access to Insight website (http://www.accesstoinsight.org/index.html) I can find and read lots of translated parts of the Tripitaka.

Is there a similar site, software or any other similar resource for the Mahayana and Zen schools?

And if they (the Mahayana and Zen schools) don't study the Pali canon or the Tripitaka, what is then their canonical scriptures?

KarmaDondrupTashi

Is there a similar site, software or any other similar resource for the Mahayana and Zen schools?

And if they (the Mahayana and Zen schools) don't study the Pali canon or the Tripitaka, what is then their canonical scriptures?

Wish there were. The TB canon is the Kangyur and Tengyur. I think a lot of it is online, but in Tibetan.

Jeffrey

Did you look at the wikipedia article? Some of the mahayana sutras are online.. I'll look for you.

Jeffrey

here

KarmaDondrupTashi

tu

Jeffrey

here's another

snGus

here

Thanks.

I haven't still decided what school I'll follow. I think I will only have this answer when I have studied the different traditions enough to decide which one better fulfills myself.

It will be obviously a lot easier to study the Therevada tradition, tho, since it's of easier access.

KarmaDondrupTashi

very kind

Jeffrey

the second link looks really good, looks like more time and love into that one.. the other one looks academic collection though probably still good.

NOTaGangsta

Chan (later Zen) is a school within "Mahayana" the Great Vehicle.

This school definitely use sutras etc from the Tripitaka.

jll

All the major schools acknowledge the Pali canon.
I think the Mahayana schools has additional sutras which they regard
as superior. I think its the same with Vajrayana.

Jeffrey

They have their own canon, translations and so forth. The pali canon is in pali.

In the US there is already a lot of debate about translations. In the other nations it has been hundreds of years since they imported them from India. Is my conjecture.

Akaliko

Madhamikaya or now known as Mahayana were originally from the Sarvastivadin school. Not surprising they would naturally have to adopt the Sarvastivada Agamas which is identical to the Theravada Pali canon.

But take note that Sarvastivada and Sthaviravada(Theravada) are 2 different schools. As for the Vajrayana, the answers are with the Yogacara school.

snGus

I did some Google research in this matter and Wikipedia was helpful but not accurate:

"The term Tripiṭaka had tended to become synonymous with Buddhist scriptures, and thus continued to be used for the Chinese and Tibetan collections, although their general divisions do not match a strict division into three piṭakas.[19] In the Chinese tradition, the texts are classified in a variety of ways,[20] most of which have in fact four or even more piṭakas or other divisions." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripiṭaka#Use_of_the_term_in_Indo-Tibetan_and_East_Asian_Mah.C4.81y.C4.81na)

"Mahāyāna Buddhism takes the basic teachings of the Buddha as recorded in early scriptures as the starting point of its teachings, such as those concerning karma and rebirth, anātman, emptiness, dependent origination, and the Four Noble Truths. Mahāyāna Buddhists in East Asia have traditionally studied these teachings in the Āgamas preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon. "Āgama" is the term used by those traditional Buddhist schools in India who employed Sanskrit for their basic canon. These correspond to the Nikāyas used by the Theravāda school." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana#Mah.C4.81y.C4.81na_scriptures)

So far I think we could conclude that the Tripitaka is adopted by both Therevada and Mahayana (and its subdivisions, like Zen and Tibetan schools). But it's not 100% equally interpreted or indexed in all the schools. The hard job is to know exactly what parts of the Tripitaka is adopted and not adopted by each school so we could finally reach the actual canon of each school so we can study and follow it.