Fourth Buddhist council

Topic: Buddhism, Jainism and Heterodox Traditions · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Fourth Buddhist Council is the name used for two different gatherings. In the Theravada tradition, it is the meeting in Sri Lanka, probably in the 1st century BCE, where the Buddha's teachings (the Pali canon) were first written down in Pali [2][3]. In the northern tradition, it is a later council in Kashmir under the Kushana king Kanishka, where commentaries were written in Sanskrit.

It matters because it marks the move from memory to manuscript. It also shows that Buddhism had split into schools that kept separate records, so each school counts its councils differently.

Explanation

Background: why a council was needed

• The Buddha taught only by speaking. Nothing was written down while he was alive.
• After his death (c. fifth–fourth century BCE), a council of "elders" (senior monks) at Vesāli (Vaiśhālī, in present-day Bihar) put his teachings together.
• For the next few centuries, monks kept the teachings alive by memorising and chanting them in groups. This chanting tradition of Theravada Buddhism still survives as a living oral tradition [1].
• Memory alone was risky:
• Monks could die, and their knowledge could die with them.
• Different groups of monks began to remember slightly different versions.
• A written copy would fix one agreed version.

The Sri Lankan council (Theravada count)

• The Pali canon was first written down in Pali in Sri Lanka, probably in the 1st century BCE [2][3].
• According to Sri Lankan tradition, this took place at Aluvihara (Matale) under King Vattagamani Abhaya. The exact date is approximate.
• What they wrote was the Tipitaka ("three baskets"):
• Vinaya Pitaka: rules for those who joined the sangha (the community of monks and nuns).
• Sutta Pitaka: the Buddha's teachings, including the Therigāthā (verses by nuns).

• Abhidhamma Pitaka: philosophical matters [4].

• The result is the Pali canon, the oldest complete canon in Buddhism and the canon of the Theravada school [2].

The Kashmir council (northern count)

• According to Buddhist tradition, it was held at Kundalvana in Kashmir under the Kushana king Kanishka, usually dated to the 1st century CE. The date and place are debated.
• It was presided over by Vasumitra, with Ashvaghosha as his deputy.
• It produced commentaries called the Vibhasha (Mahavibhasha, a detailed explanation of the Abhidharma) in Sanskrit.
• These commentaries belonged mainly to the Sarvastivada school (a northern school that held that past, present and future all "exist").
• Textbooks often link this council with the growing split between Hinayana and Mahayana (the "Great Vehicle", a later form of Buddhism that worships the Buddha and bodhisattvas).

Results

• Writing fixed the canon. About three to four hundred years after the Buddha spoke, his words became a manuscript [2][3].
• Language changed. The oldest texts are in Pali. Later texts, like the Kashmir commentaries, are in Sanskrit.
• Commentaries grew. In Pali, commentaries are called atthakatha (explanations of hard words and ideas). The Sri Lankan chronicles later used them as sources [5].

Time, place and evidence

• Sri Lankan council: probably 1st century BCE, in Sri Lanka [2][3]. Tradition names Aluvihara and King Vattagamani Abhaya.
• Kashmir council: 1st century CE (approximate), Kundalvana, Kashmir, under Kanishka (Kushana dynasty). Key people were Vasumitra (president) and Ashvaghosha (deputy).
• How we know:
• The Pali canon itself, which has survived in written form [2].
• The Sri Lankan Pali chronicles: the Dīpavaṁsa ("chronicle of the island", c. 4th century CE) and the Mahāvaṁsa ("great chronicle", 5th or 6th century CE, probably by the monk Mahānāma) [6].
• For the Kashmir council, northern Buddhist tradition and later accounts, including texts preserved in Chinese and Tibetan translation. Much of this literature survived in monasteries outside India.

Don't confuse with

• The first council of elders at Vesāli (Vaiśhālī): this was the first compilation, made from memory soon after the Buddha's death. The Fourth Council (Sri Lanka) is where the canon was first written [2][3].
• The Sri Lankan "Fourth Council" vs the Kashmir "Fourth Council": Sri Lanka = Theravada, Pali, written canon, 1st century BCE. Kashmir = Kanishka, Sanskrit, Vibhasha commentaries, 1st century CE. Check which one the question means.
• Ashvaghosha vs Vasumitra: Vasumitra presided over the Kashmir council, and Ashvaghosha was the deputy. Questions often swap the two.
• Mahāvaṁsa vs Vibhasha: the Mahāvaṁsa is a Pali chronicle from Sri Lanka [6]. The Vibhasha is a Sanskrit commentary from the Kashmir council.

Prelims Hooks

• The Pali canon was first written down in Sri Lanka, probably in the 1st century BCE, at the gathering called the Fourth Buddhist Council [2][3].
• The Kashmir Fourth Council: Kanishka (Kushana), Kundalvana, president Vasumitra, deputy Ashvaghosha.
• Kashmir council output = Vibhasha commentaries in Sanskrit. Sri Lankan council output = Tipitaka in Pali.
• Tipitaka means "three baskets": Vinaya, Sutta and Abhidhamma Pitaka. The Therigāthā is in the Sutta Pitaka.
• The Pali canon is the oldest complete Buddhist canon and belongs to Theravada [2].
• Trap: the oldest Buddhist texts are in Pali and later ones in Sanskrit, so a "Sanskrit canon written in 1st-century BCE Sri Lanka" is wrong.

Mains Points

• From memory to manuscript. A three-to-four-century gap between the Buddha's speech and the first Pali manuscript [2][3] means the canon records what monks agreed to remember. Historians should read it as a remembered version, not his exact words.
• Two "fourth councils" show a divided tradition. Theravada in Sri Lanka wrote its canon in Pali. Northern schools under Kanishka wrote commentaries in Sanskrit. Each school counted its own councils, which shows that Buddhism was splitting into schools with different languages and records. This is a good example of continuity and change in Indian religious history.
• Institutions decide what survives. Councils, monasteries and royal patrons (a Sri Lankan king, or Kanishka) preserved Buddhist texts. Groups without such support, like the Ājīvikas and Lokāyatas, left no texts of their own. They are known only through the writings of their rivals.

Related concepts

• Tipitaka
• Vinaya Pitaka
• Sutta Pitaka
• Abhidhamma Pitaka
• Abhidhamma Divas
• Pali
• Pali classical language
• Buddhist councils
• First Buddhist council
• Second Buddhist council

Read more

• Preserving the traditions: texts and transmission