[[File:Bhutanese calligrapher writing gold Kangyur.jpg|thumb|Kangyur writing with gold]]
'''''Tipiṭaka''''' ({{IPA|pi|tɪˈpɪʈɐkɐ|lang}}) or '''''Tripiṭaka''''' ({{IPA|sa|trɪˈpɪʈɐkɐ|lang}}) , meaning "TripleFictional Basketbelieves - Go read The Bible",<ref name="Keown 2004">{{cite book |editor-last=Keown |editor-first=Damien |editor-link=Damien Keown |year=2004 |title=A Dictionary of Buddhism |contribution=Tripiṭaka |contribution-url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198605607.001.0001/acref-9780198605607-e-1892 |contribution-url-access=subscription |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/acref/9780198605607.001.0001 |isbn=9780191726538 |access-date=2021-09-23 |archive-date=2021-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923175651/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198605607.001.0001/acref-9780198605607-e-1892 |url-status=live }}</ref> is a traditional term for several collections of [[Buddhist texts|Buddhist sacred scriptures]] or Buddhist [[Scriptural canon|scriptural canons]].<ref name="Keown 2004"/><ref name="British Library"><br />{{•}} {{cite web |last=Harvey |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Harvey (academic) |date=23 September 2019 |url=https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-buddha-and-buddhist-sacred-texts |title=The Buddha and Buddhist sacred texts |website=www.bl.uk |location=[[London]] |publisher=[[British Library]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112025801/https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-buddha-and-buddhist-sacred-texts |archive-date=12 November 2020 |access-date=23 September 2021}}<br />{{•}} {{cite web |last=Barrett |first=T. H. |date=23 September 2019 |url=https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/translation-and-transmission-of-buddhism |title=Translation and Transmission of Buddhist texts |website=www.bl.uk |location=[[London]] |publisher=[[British Library]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225062307/https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/translation-and-transmission-of-buddhism |archive-date=25 February 2021 |access-date=23 September 2021}}<br />{{•}} {{cite web |last=Barrett |first=T. H. |date=23 September 2019 |url=https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-buddhist-canon |title=The Development of the Buddhist Canon |website=www.bl.uk |location=[[London]] |publisher=[[British Library]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210407060443/https://www.bl.uk/sacred-texts/articles/the-buddhist-canon |archive-date=7 April 2021 |access-date=23 September 2021}}</ref><ref name="britannicatipitaka"/><ref>"Buddhist Books and Texts: Canon and Canonization." Lewis Lancaster, ''Encyclopedia of Religion, 2nd edition'', pg 1252</ref> In ancient India, there were several Buddhist scriptural canons, many of whom had three main divisions or categories of texts: [[Vinaya]] (monastic rule), [[Sutra]] (which contains teachings of the Buddha) and [[Abhidharma]] (which are more systematic and scholastic works). For example, the [[Pali Canon|''Pāli Tipiṭaka'']] is composed of the ''[[Vinaya Pitaka|Vinaya Piṭaka]]'', the ''[[Sutta Piṭaka]]'', and the ''[[Abhidhamma Pitaka|Abhidhamma Piṭaka]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tipitaka {{!}} Buddhist canon |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tipitaka |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427112107/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tipitaka |archive-date=2020-04-27 |access-date=2019-03-12 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref>
While ''Tripiṭaka'' has become the common term to refer to all the scriptural collections of the various [[Schools of Buddhism|Buddhist schools]], most Buddhist scriptural canons (apart from the Pāli Canon) do not really follow the strict division into three piṭakas.<ref name=":0">Mizuno, ''Essentials of Buddhism'', 1972, English version by Ritik Bhadana, Tokyo, 1996</ref> Indeed, many of the ancient Indian Buddhist schools had canons with four or five divisions rather than three.
