Third Buddhist council

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

Meaning

The Third Buddhist Council was a meeting of senior monks held at Pataliputra (modern Patna, Bihar), c. 250 BCE, with support from the Mauryan emperor Ashoka and led by the monk Moggaliputta Tissa. Its aim was to clean up the sangha (the community of monks and nuns) and fix one correct version of the teaching.

It matters for two reasons. It added the Kathavatthu to the Pali canon. It is also linked to the sending of Buddhist missionaries (teachers sent to spread the faith) to many lands, including Sri Lanka. This is how Buddhism began to grow from an Indian religion into an Asian one.

Explanation

Background: why a third council was needed

• The Buddha taught only by speaking. His followers memorised his words and recited them together. A council was a meeting where monks agreed on one shared version.
• An earlier council of elders at Vesāli (Vaiśhālī, Bihar) had already gathered the teachings after the Buddha's death.
• By Ashoka's time the sangha had changed:
• Royal support brought in new members. Ashoka gave generously, so some people became monks for food and comfort, not for faith. The chronicles say many of them held wrong views.
• Monks disagreed on teaching and rules. Different groups gave different meanings to the same teachings.

• The monks' joint ceremonies broke down. According to the Sri Lankan account, the monks could not hold their regular shared rituals because they did not trust each other.

• Ashoka wanted a united sangha. So he supported a council to sort out who held the correct teaching.

What happened at the council

• President: the elder monk Moggaliputta Tissa.
• Patron: Ashoka (Mauryan dynasty). A patron is a ruler or rich person who supports and pays for an activity.
• Place: Pataliputra, the Mauryan capital.
• Cleaning the sangha: according to the chronicles, monks were questioned about the teaching. Those with wrong views were expelled.
• The approved teaching: Vibhajjavada, "the doctrine of analysis". This school later became known as Theravada ("the way of the elders").
• The Kathavatthu: Moggaliputta Tissa put together the Kathavatthu ("points of controversy").
• It lists wrong views held by other groups and answers each one.
• It was added to the Abhidhamma Pitaka, the basket of philosophical matters in the Tipitaka ("three baskets").
• It is one of the few canonical texts linked to a named author and a known date.

Results: the missions

• According to the Sri Lankan chronicles, monks were sent out after the council to spread the teaching. Main examples:
• Mahinda (Ashoka's son) and Sanghamitta (Ashoka's daughter) went to Sri Lanka.
• Majjhantika went to Kashmir and Gandhara.

• Sona and Uttara went to Suvarnabhumi ("land of gold"), usually placed in South-East Asia.

• Long-term results:

• Sri Lanka became the main home of Theravada Buddhism.
• The Pali canon was first written down in Sri Lanka, probably in the 1st century BCE [1][2].
• The Sri Lankan chronicles later told the story of the council from the island's point of view [4].

Time, place and evidence

• When: c. 250 BCE. The date is approximate.
• Where: Pataliputra, capital of the Mauryan empire (present-day Bihar).
• Ruler and dynasty: Ashoka, Mauryan dynasty.
• Key people: Moggaliputta Tissa (president), Ashoka (patron), Mahinda and Sanghamitta (mission to Sri Lanka).
• How we know:
• Sri Lankan Pali chronicles. These are 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) [4]. They belong to the Pali vaṃsa ("lineage" or "chronicle") type of writing [5].
• The Kathavatthu itself, preserved in the Abhidhamma Pitaka.

• Pali commentaries (atthakatha), which the chronicles used as sources [3].

• Caution for historians:

• The chronicles were written about six to eight centuries after the council.
• They are the records of the Theravada school, so they tell the story from the winners' side.
• Ashoka's own inscriptions do not name the council. However, his "schism edict" warns monks and nuns not to split the sangha, which shows that division was a real worry in his time.

Don't confuse with

• Second Buddhist Council (Vaishali): this was held at Vaishali, about a century after the Buddha's death, over disputes about monastic rules. The Third Council was at Pataliputra under Ashoka.
• Fourth Buddhist Council: in the Theravada count, this is the gathering in Sri Lanka, probably in the 1st century BCE, where the Pali canon was first written down [1][2]. Another count places a Fourth Council in Kashmir under Kanishka. Neither is linked to Ashoka.
• Kathavatthu vs Tipitaka: the Tipitaka is the whole three-basket canon (Vinaya, Sutta, Abhidhamma). The Kathavatthu is one text inside the Abhidhamma Pitaka, compiled at the Third Council.
• Mahāvaṁsa vs Dīpavaṁsa: both are Pali chronicles from Sri Lanka that describe the council. The Dīpavaṁsa (c. 4th century CE) is older. The Mahāvaṁsa (5th–6th century CE) is ascribed to Mahānāma [4].

Prelims Hooks

• Third Buddhist Council: Pataliputra, c. 250 BCE, patron Ashoka, president Moggaliputta Tissa.
• Kathavatthu ("points of controversy") was compiled at the Third Council and added to the Abhidhamma Pitaka.
• The missions after the council sent Mahinda and Sanghamitta to Sri Lanka.
• The school approved at the council was Vibhajjavada, the ancestor of Theravada.
• The council is known mainly from the Dīpavaṁsa and Mahāvaṁsa, Pali chronicles from Sri Lanka [4]. Ashoka's inscriptions do not name it.
• Trap: the canon was written down at the Fourth Council in Sri Lanka (1st century BCE) [1][2], not at the Third Council.

Mains Points

• State patronage and religious change. Ashoka's gifts made the sangha large and rich, but they also brought in members with little faith. The council shows a ruler helping a religious order sort out its own disputes, without forcing his own faith on his subjects. This fits Ashoka's wider aim of social harmony through dhamma.
• From Indian sect to Asian religion. The missions linked to the council took Theravada Buddhism to Sri Lanka, and possibly to Kashmir–Gandhara and South-East Asia. Sri Lanka then kept the Pali canon, wrote it down [1][2], and wrote its own history of Buddhism [4]. This is a strong example for GS-I questions on India's cultural contacts with Asia.
• The problem of sources. Almost all we know comes from Theravada chronicles written centuries later [4]. They present the council as a victory for their own school. A careful answer treats the expulsions and the list of missions as one tradition's memory, not as a neutral record.

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