The Cariyapitaka (; where cariya is Pali for "conduct" or "proper conduct" and pitaka is usually translated as "basket"; abbrev. Cp) is a Buddhist scripture, part of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism. It is included there in the Sutta Pitaka's Khuddaka Nikaya, usually as the last of fifteen books. It is a short verse work that includes thirty-five accounts of the Buddha's former lives (similar to Jataka tales) when he as a bodhisattva exhibited behaviors known as "perfections," prerequisites to buddhahood. This canonical text, along with the Apadana and Buddhavamsa, is believed to be a late addition to the Pali Canon and has been described as "hagiographical."
Overview
In the first story (Cp. I), the Buddha says he will illustrate his practice of the perfections (Pali, pÃÂramitÃÂ or pÃÂrami) by stories of his past lives in this current age. The text contains 35 such stories, spanning 356 to 371 verses.
The body of the Cariyapitaka is broken into three divisions (vagga), with titles correlated to the first three of the ten Theravada pÃÂramitÃÂ:
- Division I (dÃÂna pÃÂramitÃÂ): 10 stories for the perfection of offering (dÃÂna)
- Division II (sëla pÃÂramitÃÂ): 10 stories for the perfection of conduct (sëla)
- Division III (nekkhamma pÃÂramitÃÂ): 15 stories distributed among five other perfections, as follows:
- renunciation (nekkhamma pÃÂramitÃÂ): five stories
- resolute determination (adhiá¹Âá¹ÂhÃÂna pÃÂramitÃÂ): one story
- truth (sacca pÃÂramitÃÂ): six stories
- loving-kindness (mettÃÂ pÃÂramitÃÂ): two stories
- equanimity (upekkhÃÂ pÃÂramitÃÂ): one story
The three remaining Theravada perfections — wisdom (paññÃÂ), energy (viriya), patience (khanti) — are mentioned in a closing stanza but no related Cariyapitaka stories have come down to us. Horner suggests that these latter three perfections are "implicit in the collection," referenced in both story titles and contexts.
Translations
- "The collection of the ways of conduct", in Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon, volume III, 1st edition, tr B. C. Law, 1938
- "Basket of conduct", in Minor Anthologies III (along with "Chronicle of Buddhas (Buddhavamsa)"), 2nd edition, tr I. B. Horner, 1975, Pali Text Societyhttp://www.palitext.com, Bristol
- Tr Bhikkhu Mahinda (Anagarika Mahendra), CariyÃÂpiá¹Âaka: Book of Basket of Conduct, Bilingual Pali-English First Edition 2022, Dhamma Publishers, Roslindale MA; https://api.learnbuddhism.org/downloads/Bhikkhu-Mahinda-Cariyapitaka-Edition-1.pdf.
See also
Notes
Sources
- Barua, B.M. (1945). Ceylon Lectures. Calcutta. Cited in Horner (2000), p. iii, n. 5.
- Hinüber, Oskar von (2000). A Handbook of PÃÂli Literature. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. .
- Horner, I.B. (trans.) (1975; reprinted 2000). The Minor Anthologies of the Pali Canon (Part III): 'Chronicle of Buddhas' (Buddhavamsa) and 'Basket of Conduct' (Cariyapitaka). Oxford: Pali Text Society. . (All references in this article to "Horner, 2000" use page numbers associated with this volume's Cariyapitaka, not the Buddhavamsa.)
- Rhys Davids, T.W. & William Stede (eds.) (1921-5). The Pali Text SocietyâÂÂs PaliâÂÂEnglish Dictionary. Chipstead: Pali Text Society. A general on-line search engine for the PED is available at http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/.