Pali Canon/Bibliography

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Editions of the Canon

• 1st Siamese edition (incomplete), 39 volumes, 1893.
• 1st Burmese edition, based on the Fifth Council inscriptions, 1900, 38 volumes. It was later superseded by the Sixth Council edition.
  • Burmese edition 1912. Probably much the same.
• Pali Text Society edition, 1877-1927, 57 volumes, including index volumes. Individual volumes and subsets are also available separately. Details can be found on the Society's website. A few volumes have been replaced with new editions since 1927.
  • CD-ROM from Dhammakaya Foundation, Thailand: 1st edition no longer available; 2nd edition in preparation
• 2nd Siamese edition, 45 volumes, 1925-1928. It is more accurate than the PTS edition, but gives fewer variant readings.
  • Thai edition, c. 1960. Essentially the same text, but with added variants.
  • later Thai editions. Probably basically the same.
  • CD-ROM available from BUDSIR (BUDdhist Studies Information Retrieval), Mahidol University, Thailand
  • it is also supposed to be available online at [1], with options for Latin, Thai, Sinhalese and devanagari scripts, but there seem to be problems with accessing this site.
• edition approved by the Sixth Council (Rangoon, 1954-1956), 40 volumes. This is more accurate than the Siamese edition, but with fewer variant readings. Recently, in addition to the original Burmese script edition, Latin and devanagari versions have appeared in print. Three online transcripts are now available:
  • [2]: has options for a variety of scripts; downloadable free of charge.
  • [3]: pdfs of a Latin-script printing; downloadable free of charge from [4]
  • ?mp3/pdf downloadable (seems to be only selections, but more being added continually)
• Nalanda edition (first Indian edition), 39 nominal volumes in 41 actual volumes (in devanagari script), 1957-1961. It was based mainly on the 6th Council text. It gradually went out of print.
• Khmer edition, 110 volumes: This is a parallel-text edition, with Khmer translations on facing pages. 1931-1969. The Khmers Rouges burnt every set in the country, with only a few surviving elsewhere.
• Buddha Jayanti edition: This Sinhalese edition is another parallel-text one, 1958-?1993, 52 nominal volumes in 58 actual volumes.
  • transcript of the Sinhalese edition (not yet fully proofread), Sri Lanka Tripitaka Project: it's not clear where, if anywhere, the original files are; the following 4 sites at present have partial copies:
    • searchable database at [5], apparently public-domain; seems to omit Maha Niddesa and Puggalapannatti
    • [6]: Suttanta Pitaka only (including Maha Niddesa), and omitting Nettippakarana and Petakopadesa
    • [7]: Vinaya and first 4 nikayas
    • [8]: many segments of the Canon, but this too seems to omit the Puggalapannatti, which thus seems to be unavailable anywhere
• Bhumibalo edition (Thailand) This is a currently ongoing project.

Translations

• Pali Canon in English Translation, 1895- , in progress, 43 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
• 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
• Early Buddhist Poetry, ed I. B. Horner, Ananda Semage, Colombo, 1963
• The Book of Protection, tr Piyadassi, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 1981; translation of paritta
• In the Buddha's Words, ed & tr Bodhi, Wisdom Pubns, 2005
• 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
• Analysis of the Pali Canon, Russell Webb, Buddhist Publication Society, Kandy, Sri Lanka
• Guide to Tipitaka, Ko Lay, originally published in Burma, reprinted in India and Thailand, now
  • pdf
    • downloadable from
      • [9]
      • [10]
    • viewable online at [11]
  • online at [12]

More general books:

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