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Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana
The Six Dhamma Councils

The authentic teachings of Gotama the Buddha have been preserved and
handed down to us and are to be found in the Tipiṭaka. The Pāli word,
Tipiṭaka’, literally means `the three baskets’ (ti=three +
piṭaka=collections of scriptures). All of the Buddha’s teachings were
divided into three parts.

1.The first part is known as the Vinaya Piṭaka and it contains all the rules which Buddha laid down for monks and nuns.
2.The second part is called the Suttaṅta Piṭaka and it contains the Discourses.
3.The third part is known as the Abhidhamma Piṭaka and comprises the psycho-ethical teachings of the Buddha.

It is known, that whenever the Buddha gave a discourse to his ordained
disciples or lay-followers or prescribed a monastic rule in the course
of his forty-five year ministry, those of his devoted and learned monks,
then present would immediately commit his teachings word for word to
memory. Thus the Buddha’s words were preserved accurately and were in
due course passed down orally from teacher to pupil. Some of the monks
who had heard the Buddha preach in person were Arahants, and so by
definition, `pure ones’ free from passion, ill-will and delusion and
therefore, was without doubt capable of retaining, perfectly the
Buddha’s words. Thus they ensured that the Buddha’s teachings would be
preserved faithfully for posterity.

Even those devoted monks who
had not yet attained Arahantahood but had reached the first three stages
of sainthood and had powerful, retentive memories could also call to
mind word for word what the Buddha had preached and so could be worthy
custodians of the Buddha’s teachings. One such monk was Ānanda, the
chosen attendant and constant companion of the Buddha during the last
twenty-five years of the his life. Ānanda was highly intelligent and
gifted with the ability to remember whatever he had heard. Indeed, it
was his express wish that the Buddha always relate all of his discourses
to him and although he was not yet an Arahanta he deliberately
committed to memory word for word all the Buddha’s sermons with which he
exhorted monks, nuns and his lay followers. The combined efforts of
these gifted and devoted monks made it possible for the Dhamma and
Vinaya, as taught by the Buddha to be preserved in its original state.

The Pāli Tipiṭaka and its allied literature exists as a result of the
Buddha’s discovery of the noble and liberating path of the pure Dhamma.
This path enables all those who follow it to lead a peaceful and happy
life. Indeed, in this day and age we are fortunate to have the authentic
teachings of the Buddha preserved for future generations through the
conscientious and concerted efforts of his ordained disciples down
through the ages. The Buddha had said to his disciples that when he was
no longer amongst them, that it was essential that the Saṅgha should
come together for the purpose of collectively reciting the Dhamma,
precisely as he had taught it. In compliance with this instruction the
first Elders duly called a council and systematically ordered all the
Buddha’s discourses and monastic rules and then faithfully recited them
word for word in concert.

The teachings contained in the Tipiṭaka
are also known as the Doctrine of the Elders [Theravāda]. These
discourses number several hundred and have always been recited word for
word ever since the First Council was convened. Subsequently, more
Councils have been called for a number of reasons but at every one of
them the entire body of the Buddha’s teaching has always been recited by
the Saṅgha participants, in concert and word for word. The first
council took place three months after the Buddha’s attainment of
Mahāparinibbāṇa and was followed by five more, two of which were
convened in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. These collective
recitations which were performed by the monks at all these Dhamma
Councils are known as the `Dhamma Saṅgītis’, the Dhamma Recitations.
They are so designated because of the precedent set at the First Dhamma
Council, when all the Teachings were recited first by an Elder of the
Saṅgha and then chanted once again in chorus by all of the monks
attending the assembly. The recitation was judged to have been
authentic, when and only when, it had been approved unanimously by the
members of the Council. What follows is a brief history of the Six
Councils.

The First Council

King Ajātasattu sponsored the
First Council. It was convened in 544 B.C. in the Sattapaāāī Cave
situated outside Rājagaha three months after the Buddha had passed away.
A detailed account of this historic meeting can be found in the
Cūllavagga of the Vinaya Piṭaka. According to this record the incident
which prompted the Elder Mahākassapa to call this meeting was his
hearing a disparaging remark about the strict rule of life for monks.
This is what happened. The monk Subhadda, a former barber, who had
ordained late in life, upon hearing that the Buddha had expired, voiced
his resentment at having to abide by all the rules for monks laid down
by the Buddha. Many monks lamented the passing of the Buddha and were
deeply grieved. However, the Elder Mahākassapa heard Subhadda say:
“Enough your Reverences, do not grieve, do not lament. We are well rid
of this great recluse (the Buddha). We were tormented when he said,
`this is allowable to you, this is not allowable to you’ but now we will
be able to do as we like and we will not have to do what we do not
like'’. Mahākassapa was alarmed by his remark and feared that the Dhamma
and the Vinaya might be corrupted and not survive intact if other monks
were to behave like Subhadda and interpret the Dhamma and the Vinaya
rules as they pleased. To avoid this he decided that the Dhamma must be
preserved and protected. To this end after gaining the Saṅgha’s approval
he called to council five hundred Arahants. Ānanda was to be included
in this provided he attained Arahanthood by the time the council
convened. With the Elder Mahākassapa presiding, the five-hundred Arahant
monks met in council during the rainy season. The first thing
Mahākassapa did was to question the foremost expert on the Vinaya of the
day, Venerable Upāli on particulars of the monastic rule. This monk was
well qualified for the task as the Buddha had taught him the whole of
the Vinaya himself. First of all the Elder Mahākassapa asked him
specifically about the ruling on the first offense [pārājika], with
regard to the subject, the occasion, the individual introduced, the
proclamation, the repetition of the proclamation, the offense and the
case of non-offense. Upāli gave knowledgeable and adequate answers and
his remarks met with the unanimous approval of the presiding Saṅgha.
Thus the Vinaya was formally approved.

The Elder Mahākassapa then
turned his attention to Ānanda in virtue of his reputable expertise in
all matters connected with the Dhamma. Happily, the night before the
Council was to meet, Ānanda had attained Arahantship and joined the
Council. The Elder Mahākassapa, therefore, was able to question him at
length with complete confidence about the Dhamma with specific reference
to the Buddha’s sermons. This interrogation on the Dhamma sought to
verify the place where all the discourses were first preached and the
person to whom they had been addressed. Ānanda, aided by his
word-perfect memory was able to answer accurately and so the Discourses
met with the unanimous approval of the Saṅgha. The First Council also
gave its official seal of approval for the closure of the chapter on the
minor and lesser rules, and approval for their observance. It took the
monks seven months to recite the whole of the Vinaya and the Dhamma and
those monks sufficiently endowed with good memories retained all that
had been recited. This historic first council came to be known as the
Paācasatika because five-hundred fully enlightened Arahants had taken
part in it.

The Second Council

The Second Council was
called one hundred years after the Buddha’s Parinibbāṇa in order to
settle a serious dispute over the `ten points’. This is a reference to
some monks breaking of ten minor rules. they were given to:

1. Storing salt in a horn.
2. Eating after midday.
3. Eating once and then going again to a village for alms.
4. Holding the Uposatha Ceremony with monks dwelling in the same locality.
5. Carrying out official acts when the assembly was incomplete.
6. Following a certain practice because it was done by one’s tutor or teacher.
7. Eating sour milk after one had his midday meal.
8. Consuming strong drink before it had been fermented.
9. Using a rug which was not the proper size.
10. Using gold and silver.

Their misdeeds became an issue and caused a major controversy as
breaking these rules was thought to contradict the Buddha’s original
teachings. King Kāḷāsoka was the Second Council’s patron and the meeting
took place at Vesāli due to the following circumstances. One day,
whilst visiting the Mahāvana Grove at Veāsli, the Elder Yasa came to
know that a large group of monks known as the Vajjians were infringing
the rule which prohibited monk’s accepting gold and silver by openly
asking for it from their lay devotees. He immediately criticized their
behavior and their response was to offer him a share of their illegal
gains in the hope that he would be won over. The Elder Yasa, however
declined and scorned their behavior. The monks immediately sued him with
a formal action of reconciliation, accusing him of having blamed their
lay devotees. The Elder Yasa accordingly reconciled himself with the lay
devotees, but at the same time, convinced them that the Vijjian monks
had done wrong by quoting the Buddha’s pronouncement on the prohibition
against accepting or soliciting for gold and silver. The laymen
immediately expressed their support for the Elder Yasa and declared the
Vajjian monks to the wrong-doers and heretics, saying “the Elder Yasa
alone is the real monk and Sākyan son. All the others are not monks, not
Sākyan sons'’.

The Stubborn and unrepentant Vajjian monks then
moved to suspend the Venerable Yasa Thera without the approval of the
rest of the Saṅgha when they came to know of the outcome of his meeting
with their lay devotees. The Elder Yasa, however escaped their censure
and went in search of support from monks elsewhere, who upheld his
orthodox views on the Vinaya. Sixty forest dwelling monks from Pāvā and
eighty monks from the southern regions of Avanti who were of the same
view, offered to help him to check the corruption of the Vinaya.
Together they decided to go to Soreyya to consult the Venerable Revata
as he was a highly revered monk and an expert in the Dhamma and the
Vinaya. As soon as the Vajjian monks came to know this they also sought
the Venerable Revata’s support by offering him the four requisites which
he promptly refused. These monks then sought to use the same means to
win over the Venerable Revata’s attendant, the Venerable Uttara. At
first he too, rightly declined their offer but they craftily persuaded
him to accept their offer, saying that when the requisites meant for the
Buddha were not accepted by him, Ānanda would be asked to accept them
and would often agree to do so. Uttara changed his mind and accepted the
requisites. Urged on by them he then agreed to go and persuade the
Venerable Revata to declare that the Vajjian monks were indeed speakers
of the Truth and upholders of the Dhamma. The Venerable Revata saw
through their ruse and refused to support them. He then dismissed
Uttara. In order to settle the matter once and for all, the Venerable
Revata advised that a council should be called at Vāḷikārāma with
himself asking questions on the ten offenses of the most senior of the
Elders of the day, the Thera Sabbjakāmi. Once his opinion was given it
was to be heard by a committee of eight monks, and its validity decided
by their vote. The eight monks called to judge the matter were the
Venerables Sabbakāmi, saḷha, Khujjasobhita and Vāsabhagāmika, from the
East and four monks from the West, the Venerables Revata,
Sambhuta-Sāṇavāsī, Yasa and Sumana. They thoroughly debated the matter
with Revata as the questioner and sabbakāmī answering his questions.
After the debate was heard the eight monks decided against the Vajjian
monks and their verdict was announced to the assembly. Afterwards
seven-hundred monks recited the Dhamma and Vinaya and this recital came
to be known as the Sattasatī because seven-hundred monks had taken part
in it. This historic council is also called, the Yasatthera Sangīti
because of the major role the Elder Yasa played in it and his zeal for
safeguarding the Vinaya. The Vajjian monks categorically refused to
accept the Council’s decision and in defiance called a council of there
own which was called the Mahāsaṅgiti.

The Third Council

The Third Council was held primarily to rid the Saṅgha of corruption and
bogus monks who held heretical views. The Council was convened in 326
B.C. At Asokārāma in Paṭaliputta under the patronage of Emperor Asoka.
It was presided over by the Elder Moggaliputta Tissa and one thousand
monks participated in this Council. Tradition has it that Asoka had won
his throne through shedding the blood of all his father’s son’s save his
own brother, Tissa Kumāra who eventually got ordained and achieved
Arahantship.

Asoka was crowned in the two hundred and eighteenth
year after the Buddha’s Mahaparinibbāna. At first he paid only token
homage to the Dhamma and the Saṅgha and also supported members of other
religious sects as his father had done before him. However, all this
changed when he met the pious novice-monk Nigrodha who preached him the
Appamāda-vagga. Thereafter he ceased supporting other religious groups
and his interest in and devotion to the Dhamma deepened. He used his
enormous wealth to build, it is said, eighty-four thousand pagodas and
vihāras and to lavishly support the Bhikkhus with the four requisites.
His son Mahinda and his daughter Saṅghamittā were ordained and admitted
to the Saṅgha. Eventually, his generosity was to cause serious problems
within the Saṅgha. In time the order was infiltrated by many unworthy
men, holding heretical views and who were attracted to the order because
of the Emperor’s generous support and costly offerings of food,
clothing, shelter and medicine. Large numbers of faithless, greedy men
espousing wrong views tried to join the order but were deemed unfit for
ordination. Despite this they seized the chance to exploit the Emperor’s
generosity for their own ends and donned robes and joined the order
without having been ordained properly. Consequently, respect for the
Saṅgha diminished. When this came to light some of the genuine monks
refused to hold the prescribed purification or Uposatha ceremony in the
company of the corrupt, heretical monks.

When the Emperor heard
about this he sought to rectify the situation and dispatched one of his
ministers to the monks with the command that they perform the ceremony.
However, the Emperor had given the minister no specific orders as to
what means were to be used to carry out his command. The monks refused
to obey and hold the ceremony in the company of their false and
`thieving’ companions [theyyasinivāsaka]. In desperation the angry
minister advanced down the line of seated monks and drawing his sword,
beheaded all of them one after the other until he came to the King’s
brother, Tissa who had been ordained. The horrified minister stopped the
slaughter and fled the hall and reported back to the Emperor Asoka was
deeply grieved and upset by what had happened and blamed himself for the
killings. He sought Thera Moggaliputta Tissa’s counsel. He proposed
that the heretical monks be expelled from the order and a third Council
be convened immediately. So it was that in the seventeenth year of the
Emperor’s reign the Third Council was called. Thera Moggaliputta Tissa
headed the proceedings and chose one thousand monks from the sixty
thousand participants for the traditional recitation of the Dhamma and
the Vinaya, which went on for nine months. The Emperor, himself
questioned monks from a number of monasteries about the teachings of the
Buddha. Those who held wrong views were exposed and expelled from the
Saṅgha immediately. In this way the Bhikkhu Saṅgha was purged of
heretics and bogus bhikkhus.

This council achieved a number of
other important things as well. The Elder Moggaliputta Tissa, in order
to refute a number of heresies and ensure the Dhamma was kept pure,
complied a book during the council called the Kathāvatthu. This book
consists of twenty-three chapters, and is a collection of discussion
(kathā) and refutations of the heretical views held by various sects on
matters philosophical. It is the fifth of the seven books of the
Abhidhamma Piṭaka. The members of the Council also gave a royal seal of
approval to the doctrine of the Buddha, naming it the Vibhajjavāda, the
Doctrine of Analysis. It is identical with the approved Theravāda
doctrine. One of the most significant achievements of this Dhamma
assembly and one which was to bear fruit for centuries to come, was the
Emperor’s sending forth of monks, well versed in the Buddha’s Dhamma and
Vinaya who could recite all of it by heart, to teach it in nine
different countries. These Dhammadūta monks included the Venerable
Majjhantika Thera who went to Kashmir and Gandhāra. He was asked to
preach the Dhamma and establish an order of monks there. The Venerable
Mahādeva was sent to Mahinsakamaṇḍaḷa (modern Mysore) and the Venerable
Rakkhita Thera was dispatched to Vanavāsī (northern Kanara in the south
of India.) The Venerable Yonaka Dhammarakkhita Thera was sent to Upper
Aparantaka (northern Gujarat, Kathiawar, Kutch and Sindh].

The
Venerable Mahārakkhita Thera went to Yonaka-loka (the land of the
lonians, Bactrians and the Greeks.) The Venerable Majjhima Thera went to
Himavanta (the place adjoining the Himalayas.) The Venerable Soṇa and
the Venerable Uttara were sent to Suvaṇṇabhūmi [now Myanmar]. The
Venerable Mahinda Thera, The Venerable Ittiya Thera, the Venerable
Uttiya Thera, the Venerable Sambala Thera and the Venerable Bhaddasāla
Thera were sent to Tambapaṇṇi (now Sri Lanka). The Dhamma missions of
these monks succeeded and bore great fruits in the course of time and
went a long way in ennobling the peoples of these lands with the gift of
the Dhamma and influencing their civilizations and cultures.

With the spread of Dhamma through the words of the Buddha, in due course
India came to be known as Visvaguru, the teacher of the world.

The Fourth Council

The Fourth Council was held in Tambapaṇṇi [Sri Lanka] in 29 B.C. under
the patronage of King Vaṭṭagāmaṇi. The main reason for its convening was
the realization that is was now not possible for the majority of monks
to retain the entire Tipiṭaka in their memories as had been the case
formerly for the Venerable Mahinda and those who followed him soon
after. Therefore, as the art of writing had, by this time developed
substantially, it was thought expedient and necessary to have the entire
body of the Buddha’s teaching written down. King Vaṭṭagāmaṇi supported
the monk’s idea and a council was held specifically to reduce the
Tipiṭaka in its entirety to writing. Therefore, so that the genuine
Dhamma might be lastingly preserved, the Venerable Mahārakhita and five
hundred monks recited the words of the Buddha and then wrote them down
on palm leaves. This remarkable project took place in a cave called, the
Āloka lena, situated in the cleft of an ancient landslip near what is
now Matale. Thus the aim of the Council was achieved and the
preservation in writing of the authentic Dhamma was ensured. Later, in
the Eighteenth Century, King Vijayarājasīha had images of the Buddha
created in this cave.

The Fifth Council

The Fifth Council
took place in Māndalay, Burma now known as Myanmar in 1871 A.D. in the
reign of King Mindon. The chief objective of this meeting was to recite
all the teachings of the Buddha and examine them in minute detail to see
if any of them had been altered, distorted or dropped. It was presided
over by three Elders, the Venerable Mahāthera Jāgarābhivaṃsa, the
Venerable Narindābhidhaja, and the Venerable Mahāthera Sumaṅgalasāmi in
the company of some two thousand four hundred monks (2,400). Their joint
Dhamma recitation lasted for five months. It was also the work of this
council to cause the entire Tipiṭaka to be inscribed for posterity on
seven hundred and twenty-nine marble slabs in the Myanmar script after
its recitation had been completed and unanimously approved. This
monumental task was done by some two thousand four hundred erudite monks
and many skilled craftsmen who upon completion of each slab had them
housed in beautiful miniature `piṭaka’ pagodas on a special site in the
grounds of King Mindon’s Kuthodaw Pagoda at the foot of Māndalay Hill
where this so called `largest book in the world’, stands to this day.

The Sixth Council

The Sixth Council was called at Kaba Aye in Yangon, formerly Rangoon in
1954, eighty-three years after the fifth one was held in Mandalay. It
was sponsored by the Burmese Government led by the Prime Minister, the
Honorable U Nu. He authorized the construction of the Mahā Pāsāna Gūhā,
the great cave that was built from the ground up, to serve as the
gathering place much like India’s Sattapānni Cave–the site of the first
Dhamma Council. Upon its completion, the Council met on the 17th of
May, 1954. As in the case of the preceding councils, its first objective
was to affirm and preserve the genuine Dhamma and Vinaya. However it
was unique in so far as the monks who took part in it came from eight
countries. These two thousand five hundred learned Theravāda monks came
from Myanmar, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and
Vietnam. The late Venerable Mahāsi Sayadaw was appointed the noble task
of asking the required questions about the Dhamma of the Venerable
Bhadanta Vicittasārābhivaṃsa Tipiṭakadhara Dhammabhaṇḍāgārika who
answered all of them learnedly and satisfactorily. By the time this
council met, all the participating countries had the Pāli Tipiṭaka
rendered into their native scripts, with the exception of India.

The traditional recitation of the Dhamma Scriptures took two years
during which the Tipiṭaka and its allied literature in all the scripts
were painstakingly examined. Any differences found were noted down, the
necessary corrections were made and all the versions were then collated.
Happily, it was found that there was not much difference in the content
of any of the texts. Finally, after the Council had officially approved
them, all the volumes of the Tipiṭaka and their Commentaries were
prepared for printing on modern presses and published in the Myanmar
(Burmese) script. This notable achievement was made possible through the
dedicated efforts of the two thousand five hundred monks and numerous
lay people. Their work came to an end in May, 1956, two and a half
millennia after the Lord attained Parinibbāna. This council’s work was
the unique achievement of representatives from the entire Buddhist
world. The version of the Tipiṭaka which it undertook to produce has
been recognized as being true to the pristine teachings of Gotama the
Buddha and the most authoritative rendering of them to date.

The
volumes printed after the Sixth Saṅgāyana were printed in Myanmar
script. In order to make the volumes to the people of India, Vipassana
Research Institute started the project to print the Tipiṭaka with its
Aṭṭhakathās and ṭikas in Devanagari in the year 1990.

This
Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana CD-ROM which is a reproduction of the text
authenticated in the Sixth Saṅgāyana is now being presented to the world
so that the words of the Buddha are easily made available to the
devotees and the scholars. The Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana CD-ROM can presently be
viewed in the following scripts Devanagari, Myanmar and Roman., Sri
Lankan, Thai and Mongol scripts.

May All beings be happy

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