Pali Canon/Bibliography

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Editions of the Canon

As no full bibliography seems to be available, this listing may be incomplete.

• Sinhalese textual family: as Theravada mainly spread from Ceylon to SE Asia, this is in a sense the oldest, with the qualification that parts of the Canon were lost and had to be reimported
  • [BJT]: Buddhajayanti Tripitaka Granthamālā/Series (Sinhalese/English title pages; the word jayanti does not appear in Pali dictionaries and has several meanings in Sinhalese), 52 volumes in 58, Sinhalese script with Sinhalese translation on facing pages, published under the patronage of (the government of) Ceylon/Sri Lanka (various wordings in different volumes), [Colombo?], 1957-1989. Apparently lacking in coordination between editors of different volumes..
    • apparently complete set of images at [1]
    • an unproofread digitization is available at [2], [3], [4]; this transcript makes changes in the text
  • Pali text series published by the trustees of the Simon Hewavitarne Bequest. This includes texts other than the Canon
  • At least one volume has appeared in the All-Ceylon Buddhist Congress Tripiṭaka Pāḷi Series.
• Burmese textual family: this involves a fair amount of "normalization"
  • 38 volumes, Burmese script, Philip H. Ripley, Haṃsavatī Press, Rangoon, 1900. The first complete printed edition of the Canon, it was copied from the inscriptions approved by the 5th Council. Sponsored by the British authorities
  • Burmese script, Tampadipa Time Press, 1912
  • Chaṭṭha Saṅgīti Piṭaka [6th Council Pitaka; this council was held in Rangoon from 1954 to 1956 by all 5 Theravada countries], 40 volumes. As of 1968, the Burmese government did not permit any other edition to be published. German Pali scholar Professor Dr Oskar von Hinüber describes CSP as an excellent edition.
    • 1st edition/impression, Burmese script, 1954-6
    • 2nd edition/impression, Burmese script, 1958-60
    • [5]: digital transcript by Vipassana Research Institute, Igatpuri, India
    • Latin-script edition, Ministry of Religious Affairs, Yangon, 2008.
      • [6]: pdfs ; downloadable free of charge from [7]; also at [8]
  • Nālandā Devanāgarī Pāli Granthamālā/Series (devanagari/English title pages), ed Bhikkhu J. Kashyap, 39 volumes in 41, devanagari script, Pali Publication Board (Government of Bihar), [Nalanda, Bihar, India?], 1957–1961. Based mainly on the 6th Council edition.
  • Mahācūḷātepiṭakaṃ, 45 volumes, Thai script, Mahācūḷālaṅkaraṇarājavidyālaya [Mahachulalongkorn Royal University], [Bangkok?], 1960-1990; based on the 6th Council edition.
  • Mahāsaṅgīti Tipiṭaka Buddhavasse 2500 [Great Council Tipiṭaka in Buddha Year 2500; the council ended at the beginning of 2500 in the calendar used in Burma and Ceylon, though it was still 2499 in Thailand], 40 volumes, Latin script, Dhamma Society Fund [sponsored by the Supreme Patriarch of Thailand], Bangkok, 2005. Text transcribed from the 6th Council edition, but more collation; a few differences in volume divisions.
    • digital version at [9]
  • A devanagari printing of the VRI has been published (c. 1993-8), with commentaries and subcommentaries added.
• Thai–Khmer textual family: intermediate between the above two
  • Chulachomklao Pāḷi Tipiṭaka [the first word is a name or title of the then king, Rama V, whose silver jubilee it celebrated], 39 volumes, Thai script, with tone markers, 1893/4. The first printed edition of the Canon, but incomplete, probably because not all was ready by the jubilee. A review of this edition was published in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, new series, volume XXX.
  • Mon script, Bangkok, 1940; states that it is based on the above.
  • Syāmaraṭṭhassa Tepiṭakaṃ [Tepiṭaka of the Kingdom of Siam], 45 volumes, Thai script, without tone markers; completion of 1893/4 edition
    • [1st edition], Mahāmakuṭarājavidyālaya [Mahamongkut Royal University], Bangkok, 1925–1928
    • [2nd edition/printing], c. 1960: more collation
    • reissues also known in 1980 and 1995
  • Braḥ Traipiṭakapāḷi, 110 volumes, Khmer script, with Khmer translation on facing pages, [Cambodian Royal National Library], Phnom Penh, 1931-1969. The Khmers Rouges burnt every set in the country, with only a few surviving elsewhere.
  • Dayyaraṭṭhassa Saṅgītitepiṭakaṃ [Thai Kingdom Council Tepiṭaka], 45 volumes, Thai script, 1987
  • The Bhumibalo project aims at printing all Pali texts surviving in manuscripts in Thailand
• Eclectic editions
  • Pāli Canon in Pāli (Tipiṭaka), Latin script, Pali Text Society, Bristol, 56 volumes; the standard Western scholarly edition, originally issued 1877-1927; a few volumes replaced by new editions, and index volumes added, since then
  • The Dhammakaya project (Thailand) has so far produced only a sample volume

Translations

• Pali Canon in English Translation, 1895- , in progress, 42 volumes so far, Pali Text Society, Bristol; for details see website.

Selections from all three pitakas:

• The Lion's Roar, ed & tr David Maurice, Rider, London, 1962

Selections from the Vinaya and Suttanta pitakas:

• Some Sayings of the Buddha, ed & tr F. L. Woodward, Oxford World Classics, 1924
• The Life of Gotama the Buddha, ed E. H. Brewster, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., London, 1926
• Buddhist Scriptures, ed & tr E. J. Thomas, Wisdom of the East Series, John Murray, London, 1931
• The Vedantic Buddhism of the Buddha, ed & tr J. G. Jennings, pub Geoffrey Cumberlege, London, 1947
• The Living Thoughts of Gotama the Buddha, ed Ananda K. Coomaraswamy & I.B. Horner, Cassell, London, 1948
• Early Buddhist Poetry, ed I. B. Horner, Ananda Semage, Colombo, 1963
• The Life of the Buddha, ed & tr Nanamoli, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1972

Selections from Suttanta Pitaka only:

• Buddhist Suttas, ed & tr T. W. Rhys Davids, Sacred Books of the East, volume XI, Clarendon/Oxford, 1881; reprinted by Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi (& ?Dover, New York)
• The Word of the Buddha, ed & tr Nyanatiloka, 1935
• The Book of Protection, tr Piyadassi, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1981; translation of paritta
• The Wings to Awakening, ed & tr Thanissaro, Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, Barre, Massachusetts, 1996; [10]
• In the Buddha's Words, ed & tr Bodhi, Wisdom Pubns, 2005
• Buddhist Meditation, ed & tr Sarah Shaw, Routledge, 2006
• Early Buddhist Discourses, ed & tr John J. Holder, 2006
• Basic Teachings of the Buddha, ed & tr Glenn Wallis, Modern Library, New York, 2007
• Sayings of the Buddha, ed & tr Rupert Gethin, Oxford University Press, 2008

Secondary sources

Books specifically about the Canon:

• History of Pali Literature, B. C. Law, volume I; [11]
• Analysis of the Pali Canon, Russell Webb, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka; [12]; includes extensive bibliography
• Guide to Tipitaka, Ko Lay, originally published in Burma, reprinted in India, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand, now
  • pdf
    • downloadable from
      • [13]
      • [14]
    • viewable online at [15]
  • online at [16]

More general books:

• Pali Literature, K. R. Norman, Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden, 1983
• Handbook of Pali Literature, Oskar von Hinüber, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, 1996