The Vedas, the Tripitaka and the Analects

1A song, a basket and a conversation

The scriptures in Lessons 1 to 3 were written to be read and heard. The three in this lesson began in other ways. The Vedas were hymns, memorised and chanted by priests for many centuries before anyone wrote them down. The Buddhist Tripitaka is named after "three baskets", the containers that once held its palm-leaf manuscripts. The Analects are notes of conversations, the sayings of a teacher written down by his students.

This lesson describes the structure and authorship of each, and the core message it carries.

2Structure at a glance

3The Vedas

There are four Vedas. The Rigveda, the oldest, is dated to about 1500–1200 BCE; the other three to about 1200–900 BCE. Each Veda has layers: hymns (Samhitas), ritual explanations (Brahmanas), forest treatises (Aranyakas) and, last, the Upanishads, whose ideas of Brahman, atman, karma and moksha you met in Unit 10. Hindus regard the Vedas as shruti, eternal truth heard by the ancient sages rather than composed by them. For centuries they were passed on orally with extraordinary precision, priests learning every syllable and accent by heart.

4The Tripitaka

After the Buddha's death his followers recited his teaching together and memorised it. The early canons were organised in three divisions, the "three baskets":

• Vinaya Pitaka: rules for monks and nuns, with the stories of why each rule was made;
• Sutta Pitaka: the Buddha's discourses, including the much-loved Dhammapada;
• Abhidhamma Pitaka: systematic analysis of the mind and of the teaching.

The Dhammapada opens with the Buddhist emphasis on the mind: "All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts" (verse 1, Müller). Unlike the Abrahamic scriptures, the Tripitaka does not claim to be the word of a creator God; it is the teaching of the Buddha, the Awakened One.

5The Analects

The Analects have 20 short books. Scholars think they were compiled by Confucius's disciples and their followers over about two centuries, mostly during the Warring States period (475–221 BCE), reaching their final form under the Han dynasty. They contain no revelation from a god: their authority is the wisdom and example of Confucius. Two sayings show their message (Legge's translation):

• On government by virtue: "He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it." (II, 1)
• On learning: "Learning without thought is labour lost; thought without learning is perilous." (II, 15)

6Six scriptures compared