Buddhist councils

1st Buddhist council (5th century BC)

King Ajatasattu sponsored the First Council. It was convened in 544 B.C. in the sattaparnaguha Cave situated outside Rajagaha three months after the Buddha had passed away. A detailed account of this historic meeting can be found in the Cullavagga of the Vinaya Pitaka.

According to this record the incident which prompted the Elder Mahakassapa 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 Mahakassapa 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."

Mahakassapa 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 Sangha's approval he called to council five hundred Arahants. Ananda was to be included in this provided he attained Arahanthood by the time the council convened.

With the Elder Mahakassapa presiding, the five-hundred Arahant monks met in council during the rainy season. The first thing Mahakassapa did was to question the foremost expert on the Vinaya of the day, Venerable Upali 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 Mahakassapa asked him specifically about the ruling on the first offense [parajika], 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. Upali gave knowledgeable and adequate answers and his remarks met with the unanimous approval of the presiding Sangha. Thus the Vinaya was formally approved.

The Elder Mahakassapa then turned his attention to Ananda in virtue of his reputable expertise in all matters connected with the Dhamma. Happily, the night before the Council was to meet, Ananda had attained Arahantship and joined the Council. The Elder Mahakassapa, 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.

Ananda aided by his word-perfect memory was able to answer accurately and so the Discourses met with the unanimous approval of the Sangha. 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 Pancasatika because five-hundred fully enlightened Arahants had taken part in it.

2nd Buddhist council (383 BC)

The Second Buddhist Council

The Second Council was called one hundred years after the Buddha's Parinibbāna 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 Kalasoka was the Second Council's patron and the meeting took place at Vesali due to the following circumstances.

One day, whilst visiting the Mahavana grove in Vesali, 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 Vajjian 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 Sakyan son. All the others are not monks, not Sakyan sons."

The Stubborn and unrepentant Vajjian monks then moved to suspend the Venerable Yasa Thera without the approval of the rest of the Sangha 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 western countries 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, Ananda 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 Valikarama with himself asking questions on the ten offenses of the most senior of the Elders of the day, the Thera Sabbakami. 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 Sabbakami, salha, Khujjasobhita and Vasabhagamika, from the East and four monks from the West, the Venerables Revata, Sambhuta-Sanavsai, Yasa and Sumana.

They thoroughly debated the matter with Revata as the questioner and Sabbakami 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 Sattasati because seven-hundred monks had taken part in it. This historic council is also called, the Yasatthera Sangiti 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 Mahasangiti (The Great Council).

3rd Buddhist council (c. 250 BC)

The Third Council was held primarily to rid the Sangha of corruption and bogus monks who held heretical views. The Council was convened in 326 B.C. At Asokarama in Patiliputta 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 Kumara 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 Sangha 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 Appamada-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 viharas and to lavishly support the Bhikkhus with the four requisites. His son Mahinda and his daughter Sanghamitta were ordained and admitted to the Sangha.

Eventually, his generosity was to cause serious problems within the Sangha. 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 Sangha 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 [theyyasinivasaka].

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 Sangha immediately. In this way the Bhikkhu Sangha 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 Kathavatthu. This book consists of twenty-three chapters, and is a collection of discussion (Points of Controversy: refutations of the heretical views held by various sects on matters philosophical). It is the fifth of the seven books of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. The members of the Council also gave a royal seal of approval to the doctrine of the Buddha, naming it the Vibhajjavada, the Doctrine of Analysis. It is identical with the approved Theravada 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.

Country Name

Missionary Name

(1) Kasmira-Gandhara

Majjhantikathera.

(2) Mahisamandala

Mahadevathera.

(3) Vanavasi

Rakkhitathera.

(4) Aparantaka

Yona-Dhammarakkhitathera.

(5) Maharattha

Mahadhammarakkhitathera.

(6) Yona

Maharakkhitathera.

(7) Himavanta

Majjhimathera.

(8) Suvannabhumi

Sonathera and Uttarathera.

(9) Lankadipa

Mahamahindathera.

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.

Fourth Buddhist Council

The Fourth Council was held in Tambapanni (Sri Lanka) in 29 B.C. under the patronage of King Vattagamani. The main reason for its convening was the realization that it was now not possible for the majority of monks to retain the entire Tipitaka 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 Vattagamani supported the monk's idea and a council was held specifically to reduce the Tipitaka in its entirety to writing. Therefore, so that the genuine Dhamma might be lastingly preserved, the Venerable Maharakkhita 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 Aloka 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. In the Eighteenth Century, King Vijayarajasiha had images of the Buddha created in this cave.

After the Council, palm leaves books appeared, and were taken to the other countries such as Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

(The Tipitaka and its commentaries were brought to Sri Lanka by the missionary monk Mahinda of the Third Buddhist Council.)

The First General Conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists

The international Buddhist flag was designed in Sri Lanka in the 1880s with the assistance of Henry Steele Olcott and was later adopted as a symbol by the World Fellowship of Buddhists.

The first time in the history of the buddhism since the third council, monks and raitiy representatives from nearly every school and organisation of Buddhism in the Mahayana, Theravada and Vajrayana from 27 countries in Asia, Europe and North America gathered to found The World Fellowship of Buddhists (WFB). The Aims and Objectives of the World Fellowship of Buddhists are:

1. To promote among the members strict observance and practice of the teachings of the Buddha

2. To secure unity, solidarity, and brotherhood amongst Buddhists

3. To propagate the sublime doctrine of the Buddha

4. To organize and carry on activities in the field of social, educational, cultural and other humanitarian services

5. To work for happiness, harmony and peace on earth and to collaborate with other organizations working for the same ends.

5th Buddhist council

The Fifth Council took place in Mandalay, Burma (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 Mahathera Jagarabhivamsa, the Venerable Narindabhidhaja, and the Venerable Mahathera Sumangalasami in the company of 2,400 monks. Their joint Dhamma recitation lasted five months.

It was also the work of this council to cause the entire Tipitaka to be inscribed on 729 marble slabs for posterity in the Myanmar script after its recitation. Each marble slab was 5 1/2 feet high, 3 1/2 feet wide and about 5 inches thick. This monumental task was done by many skillful craftsmen. Upon completion, each slab was housed in beautiful "miniature Pitaka" pagodas on a special site in the grounds of King Mindon's Kuthodaw Pagoda at the foot of Mandalay Hill. It is the largest book in the world that stands to this day.

6th Buddhist council

The Sixth Council was held in Kaba Aye in Yangon (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 Maha Passana Guha, "the great cave," which was an artificial cave like the one the First Buddhist Council was held. Upon its completion, the Council met on the 17th of May, 1954.

As in the preceding councils, its aim was to affirm and preserve the genuine Dhamma and Vinaya. However it was unique that the monks who joined it came from eight different countries. These 2,500 learned Elders came from Myanmar, Cambodia, India, Laos, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. The late Venerable Mahasi Sayadaw was appointed the noble task of asking the required questions about the Dhamma to the Venerable Bhadanta Vicittasarabhivamsa, who answered all of them learnedly and satisfactorily.

The Council took two years, and the Tipitaka and its allied literature in all scripts were painstakingly examined with their differences noted down, the necessary corrections made, and collated. Fortunately, it was found that there was not much difference in the content of any of the texts. Finally, after the Council had officially approved the texts, all of the books of the Tipitaka and their Commentaries were prepared for printing on modern presses. This notable achievement was made possible through the dedicated efforts of the 2,500 monks and numerous lay people. Their work came to an end in May, 1956, 2,500 years after the Lord Buddha's Parinibbāna.

This Council's work was a unique achievement in Buddhism history. The version of the Tipitaka in this Council has been recognized as the pristine teachings of Buddha Gotama and the most authoritative rendering today.

After the scriptures had been examined thoroughly several times, they were put into print, covering 52 treatises in 40 volumes, or 8025 pages in total. At the end of this Council, all the participating countries had the Pali Tipitaka rendered into their native scripts, with the exception of India.