What does the "Three Treasures" (sutras, disciplines, and treatises) in Buddhism mean?

　
    What are the texts of Buddhism? Where did the teachings and theories of Buddhism come from? The most familiar should be the Buddhist "sutras". For example, the Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra are Buddhist texts that everyone is familiar with. The so-called "Three Treasures" in Buddhism refers to these books. "Three Treasures" is further divided into "sutras", "disciplines" and "treatises", so they are collectively called "Three Treasures". As for why it is called "Three Treasures"? I think it may have the meaning of "treasure" and "collection"!
　
    The first and most primitive Buddhist teachings came from the teachings that Buddha Shakyamuni said and spread out in India more than 2,000 years ago. These teachings later became the theories and methods of practice for later generations of Buddhists. Because of the collection, recording, and translation of these teachings by later disciples of the Buddha, we now have easy access to a wide variety of Buddhist texts.
　
    After the ancient Chinese monks and Buddhist disciples worked hard to accumulate and sort out the texts of Mahayana Buddhism, the government led the assembly, sorting out all texts related to Buddhism, took away the unsuitable and kept those essential texts, and then collected them into the "Tripitaka". The content and quantity of the Tripitaka are quite large, and in modern times, it has become an important source of Buddhist studies.
　
There are three types of Chinese Buddhist texts:
　
    "Sutra" refers to the texts that record "Buddha's own teachings". Most of them are based on the content of one single lecture and are called one "sutra". Although some "Theravada Sutras" have been re-arranged by Buddhist disciples, they still are the texts said by the Buddha. And there are some omissions in some "sutras" due to their age , so they cannot fully present the content of one preaching lecture.
　
    "Discipline" refers to the texts of "precepts formulated by the Buddha". In order to help Buddhist disciples to more effectively practice the various teachings explained by the Buddha, the Buddha formulated the precepts. These precepts are the rules that Buddhist disciples should obey in daily life. There are not many important precepts, but, if we want to fully record all the detailed precepts of daily life and all the various precepts that various practitioners should keep, they still need to be recorded into texts, which is convenient for future reference and discussion.
　
    "Treatise" refers to texts written by accomplished Buddhist disciples in later generations to explain Buddhist sutras and Dharma. Most treatises should consult sutras, except those great treatises that are not written for the explanation of sutras. When there is a conflict between the theories of sutras and of treatises, we should follow the teachings of sutras. After all, there is a gap between the practicing states of later Buddhist disciples and the Buddha, and their understandings of the Buddhist Dharma are of course different.
　
    Chinese Buddhism has “Three Treasures” —— sutras, disciplines, and treatises, Theravada Buddhism also has the so-called "Pali Three Treasures".  And, Theravada Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism also have Tripitaka, which is similar to Chinese Buddhism, and gathers all suitable Buddhist texts.
　
    We often hear people call Master Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty "唐三藏 (Three Treasures master in Tang Dynasty)". In fact, "三藏 (Three Treasures master)" is not his name. Buddhism refers to monks who are proficient in sutras, disciplines, and treatises as "Three Treasures Master". This title has been used until now, and now some people don't know his original name.
　
    In the modern era of rapid and developed information, we can already see electronic Buddhist texts on the Internet. The most famous electronic Buddhist texts of Chinese Buddhism are "CBETA", which can be downloaded or used by everyone for free. Think about it, more than 2,000 years have passed since the Buddha entered Nirvana, and the language he uses is different from ours, and yet, fortunate us, we can use Buddhist texts to study the Dharma easily. That is “the ancient people planted trees, and the future people can rest in shades”.  In addition to thanking predecessors for their selfless efforts, if we have the opportunity, we should also do something, which is the best way to repay them.
　


 

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