Question

What were the three pitakas? How were these texts prepared andpreserved?

Answer 1

Tripitakan also referred to as Tipitaka, is the traditional term for the Buddhist scriptures. The version canonical to Theravada Buddhism is often referred to as Pali Canon in English.

Mahayana Buddhism also reveres the Tripitaka as authoritative but, unlike Theravadins, it also reveres various derivative literature and commentaries that were composed much later.

 The TripIt akas were composed between about 500 BCE to about the start of the common era, likely written down for the first time in the 1st century BCE.

The monks who had previously memorized the Tipitaka and its commentary orally now wrote them down in books, because of the threat posed by famine and war.

The Mahavamsa also refers briefly to the writing down of the canon and the commentaries at this time.