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Great Sutra 1 - Southern Transmission - No 1
In today’s session, the sound of the mindfulness bell resounded, reminding us to return to the present moment through our breath and a peaceful mind. Then, the sangha received a set of materials, including the Pali sutras known as the Southern Transmission Canon—the sutras transmitted and preserved in the South, in contrast to the Northern Transmission—and the Chinese text with an excerpted table of contents. Before studying, we chanted the mantra:
Namo to the Original Teacher, Shakyamuni Buddha,
may we enter the ocean of wisdom, thoroughly understanding the profound teachings.
The term “Southern Transmission” is used instead of “Southern School” or “Southern Region” because it fully conveys the meaning: transmitted from and preserved in the South. The countries following Southern Transmission Buddhism include:
- Sri Lanka
- Thailand
- Myanmar
- Laos
- Cambodia
- a part of Vietnam
The Northern Transmission Canon is twenty to forty times more extensive, including both the Early Buddhist sutras and the Mahayana sutras.
The lineage of transmission began after the Buddha entered nirvana (488 BCE), with two schools dividing in 140 BCE: the Sthavira (Elders) and the Mahāsāṃghika (Great Assembly); around 244 BCE, the Vibhajjavāda split from the Sarvāstivāda, and from Vibhajjavāda arose the Tamrasatiya school—the origin of Theravāda in Sri Lanka thanks to Mahinda and King Ashoka. The Southern Transmission scriptures were transmitted orally for 300–400 years before being written on palm leaves, while the Northern Transmission was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese. The Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo edition (1924–1934) includes 100 volumes of the Main Canon and 150 volumes of the Supplementary Canon, while the Vietnamese Tripitaka underwent woodblock printing during the Ly–Tran dynasties, was destroyed under the Ming, restored under the Later Le, and reprinted in 1943 (Collection de Textes Bouddhiques Annamites). The next course will study the Tripitaka (Sutra, Vinaya, Abhidharma) with a regular schedule on Sundays and Thursdays, along with review sessions and a Sanskrit class to read the original texts.