The Tripitaka is the oldest collection of scriptures in Buddhism. Tripitaka translated is “Three Baskets” as it was organized into three sections. These scriptures were not written in the time of Buddha but according to http://buddhism.about.com/ “The Tripitaka was not, however, written during the life of the Buddha, in the late 5th century BCE, but in the 1st century BCE.” And the source further states “ The texts were kept alive through the years, according to legend, by being memorized and chanted by generations of monks. This is a matter that must be accepted on faith, as there is little historical corroboration of the origins of the texts.” Apparently “little historical corroboration of the origins of the books.” either.
Interesting that a “philosophy” as most Buddhists will call it relies on “faith”. Furthermore, the texts were “kept alive through the years,” “according to legend” by “memorization and chanting by generations of monks.”
Why is it that Buddhist’s will not accept the Holy Bible as the Word of our Creator Jesus? The New Testament was written by eyewitnesses to the miracles of Jesus. The risen Jesus was seen by hundreds and maybe thousands of witnesses and yet the Buddhist is more set on reading and worshiping words in the Tripitaka other than the Holy Words of God! Council after council were convened to come up with their writings, in fact, the first council has not been proven to have happened at all.
“Did the First Buddhist Council happen? I do not believe there is any contemporary documentation or archaeological evidence that corroborates Buddhist accounts, which mostly come from a section of the Pali Vinaya called the Cullavagga. I have read histories that say some meeting probably did take place, while other historians are not sure.”
http://buddhism.about.com/od/thefirstbuddhists/fl/The-First-Buddhist-Council.htm
My question is this, “If this is the oldest scripture of Buddhism, and is nebulous in its origin, why would anyone believe it?”
Buddhism is of the flesh, that’s why! Humanity loves it sins and will do anything that keeps our Creator in the closet. Buddhism is a tool of Satan and the followers unless they repent will join Satan in the Lake of Fire! Call that “self-enlightenment” if you wish.
Buddha did NOT conquer death. Jesus Christ DID!
John 14: 6 “Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Please pray for the Buddhist to turn to God, repent and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God Bless
Brian Mason
Beacon Apologetics 
8 responses to “A Problem With The Tripitaka”
Peter I pray that your spiritual eyes become open by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Psalm 53:1 The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God,”They are corrupt, and have committed abominable injustice; There is no one who does good.
The unbeliever cannot see the Truth. The fool will not understand: Clearly Stated;
Matthew 13: 10-13
10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”11 [d]Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12 For whoever has, to himmore shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. 14 [e]In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘[f]You will keep on hearing, [g]but will not understand;
[h]You will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
15 For the heart of this people has become dull,
With their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes,
Otherwise they would see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart and return,
And I would heal them.’
The unbeliever cannot see the Truth. The fool will not understand. This is why you cannot see in scripture what is plainly obvious. I do not say that to condescend but to witness to you.
God Bless
Okay. I see nothing in your post that would cast doubt on what Jamie or I said. But yes, I know that a lot of Christians would take your side, and would see Jesus as being the only person ever to know the truth. It makes a mockery of religion, but each to his own. I’ll stop bothering you. 🙂
Sorry Peter J but Christianity teaches a completely different message.
1 Corinthians 15: 1-4 Now I make known to you brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures . . . ”
Acts 4: 12 12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
You see we cannot remove our own sins!
Jesus is God in flesh John 1:1 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1 Peter 2:24 24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.
He bore our sins on the cross!
Is this a “poor interpretation”?
Buddha died, Jesus is still alive in flesh. There is no other way to the Father but through Jesus!
God Bless
I think it would be impossible to understand Buddhism or Christianity without seeing that they teach the same message. Only a poor interpretation would have them saying different things. To say they are saying different things is to make the whole of religion implausible. All major religions can be interpreted as sending the same message, and this would be the most generous interpretation. So I’m with Jamie here.
Consider this comment above. ” Jesus rose from the tomb after 3 days. Buddha did not, he is dead so he did not conquer death. I don’t see your reasoning.”
This objection is not possible if one understands what ‘conquer death’ means. It does not mean that ones body conquers death. As if. Bodies die. This is why Mohammed tells us ‘Die before your death’, and why Jesus says, ‘Blessed is he whose end is before his beginning’. The trick is to stop retying on ones body for ones existence. Then one has conquered death.
But all this is just words. As Jamie says, a Buddhist will go and find out the truth.
Thanks Jamie for your comments,
I was to get into analyzing your comments point by point but you have a failed argument. You state “Buddha himself and Jesus, one would conclude they both taught practically the same thing” “Practically is a very strong word here. Jesus taught that He was “The Way The Truth and The Life”! That leaves no room for a buddha. There is no compromise.
Regarding reincarnation, the the Bible tells us in Hebrews 9:27 that it is appointed to men to die once; after this comes judgment. Reincarnation would contradict this teaching. Therefore, reincarnation is not true; and the Christian should not believe in it neither should you.
If you really believe that there is not much difference between Buddhism and Christianity then why not become a Christian?
Please repent believe in our Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
God Bless
Hang on, you say Buddhism is of the flesh even though Buddhism is all about seperating yourself from the things of this world, aka seperating ourselves from the non-eternal and seeking the eternal.
It explicitly talks about not getting attached to the things of the flesh.
Sounds to me like you’ve barely studied it before presuming it was against Christianity.
Please open your mind and read this short explanation, the Tipitaka is really not how it appears and only uneducated Buddhists would say it disagrees with the bible:
Reincarnation according to Buddha is not what you think it is. Reincarnation is just like the judgement after death. When you die, if you were good you go to one of the heavens (the more good, the higher the heaven, the bible agrees with this at least at one point), if you were bad you go to hell or become an animal.
Even the bible says that the first heaven you go to is not your final destination (in revelations it talks of a new heaven and earth and the second death). Which agrees with Buddhism, which says that you can eventually be kicked out of heaven and go to hell or back to earth (this comes under reincarnation).
Buddha was not an atheist, he simply new that the people of India’s ideas of God were out of place and new the words they described as “Gods” were not perfect enough to describe the actual real deal. (Just like the OT law speaks out against Idolatry).
Reality/existence itself is exactly like the biblical God, and Buddha explicitly said that reality “as it is”, is our real authority. Both reality and God are omnipresent, the source of all power and consciousness, 100% involved in our personal lives and eternal.
Seriously, on close inspection, comparison and examination, throwing aside the claims of anyone besides those of Buddha himself and Jesus, one would conclude they both taught practically the same thing:
Non-Self/Selflessness/Love is the true authority.
Seek the eternal rather than the impermanent.
Study the impermanent and suffering of the world closely so as to help get rid of it and bring heaven to earth.
i know what you might be thinking, “But Jesus said we are saved through his sacrifice!” yes, that is true, but you are also saved through your dedication to what he stood for, which is practically and spiritually the same as what Buddha stood for.
If Jesus had not lived and died, the western world would not have heard properly of the teachings that Jesus believed, which again were basically those of Buddha. Israel, the last strong remainder of the covanent was to be destroyed 40 years after Jesus’ death, how could Judaism convert people in that destroyed state? No, it took Jesus to convert the western world to understanding. It was indeed his sacrifice that did it.
I recommend to you to study Buddha and Jesus together and help their teachings to overcome any sin of ignorance that is in your mind or others. I just takes some patience and a seriously open but strict mind to see it.
Thanks for your comments!
You wrote “Of course the Buddha conquered death” Jesus rose from the tomb after 3 days. Buddha did not, he is dead so he did not conquer death. Idon’t see your reasoning. When I see Buddhists kneeling before statues and the worship of idols (and that is exactly what that is), then as a Christian I must implore them to stop their Satanic ways of life. If self-enlightenment is going to hell then I as a Christian have a responsibility to reach these souls. If they are right and I am wrong then so be it. However if I Christianity is right, and there is ample proof of it then eternity is a real long time. The Bible on idol worship is clear: Ex 20: 5 5 “You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, Lev 26:1 1 ‘You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God.
God Bless
I think some of this betrays a misunderstanding. Buddhists are not ‘people of the book’. They are people who are not content with books. If the first council did not take place. so what? If the oral tradition was not infallible, so what? Buddhist are not asked to believe anything except as a methodology. Even faith would be a means and a method, and not an end. They are asked to verify the truth of the sutras, not worry endlessly about who wrote them. Generations of Buddhists have authenticated the texts as being true in what they state and have endorsed them, and who spoke them in the first place hardly matters. I could hardly care less.
Of course the Buddha conquered death. So did Jesus. This would explain why they both delivered the same message.
I respect your view, of course, and understand that many Christians feel some antipathy towards Buddhism, but would see this as merely a problem of interpretation. I could never agree that Buddhism and Christianity need be at odds. Your ‘God’ that Buddhists need to turn to is not a necessary interpretation of Jesus’ teachings, and I suspect that most Buddhists already do trust in Jesus. Jesus taught for two years to a (generally) non-academic audience, while Buddha taught for forty to a (generally) well-educated audience, often committed monks. Their means of teaching varies accordingly.
No need to create tensions where none exist.