Fourth Buddhist council

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Fourth Buddhist Council is the name of two separate Buddhist council
meetings. The first one was held in the 1st century BC, in Sri Lanka.
In this fourth Buddhist council the Theravadin Pali Canon was for the
first time committed to writing, on palm leaves. The second one was
held by the Sarvastivada school, in Kashmir around the 1st century AD.
Contents

1 Fourth Buddhist Council in Sri Lanka
2 Fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir
3 References
4 See also

Fourth Buddhist Council in Sri Lanka

The 1st Fourth Buddhist Council (Theravada tradition) was held in
response to a year in which the harvests in Sri Lanka were
particularly poor, and many monks subsequently died of starvation.
Because the Pali Canon was in that time solely remembered by heart,
the surviving monks recognized the danger of not writing the teachings
of the Tipitaka down, so that even if some of the monks (whose duty it
was to study and remember parts of the Tipitaka for later generations)
died, the teachings would not be lost. This Fourth Buddhist Council
took three years.

The Fourth Buddhist Council was held in Tambapanni (Sri Lanka) under
the patronage of King Vattagamani (r. 103-77 BCE). The main reason for
its convening was the realization that it was now not possible for the
majority of monks to retain the entire Tipitaka in their memories as
had been the case formerly for the Venerable Mahinda and those who
followed him soon after. Therefore, as the art of writing had, by this
time developed substantially it was thought expedient and necessary to
have the entire body of the Buddha's teaching written down.

King Vattagamani supported the monk's idea and a council was held
specifically to commit the entire Tipitaka to writing, so that the
genuine Dhamma might be lastingly preserved. To this purpose, the
Venerable Maharakkhita and five hundred monks recited the words of the
Buddha and then wrote them down on palm leaves. This remarkable
project took place in a cave called, the Aloka lena, situated in the
cleft of an ancient landslip near what is now Matale. Thus the aim of
the Council was achieved and the preservation in writing of the
authentic Dhamma was ensured. In the 18th century, King Vijayarajasiha
had images of the Buddha created in this cave.

After the Council, palm leaves books appeared, and were taken to other
countries, such as Burma, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The Tipitaka
and its commentaries were originally brought to Sri Lanka by the
missionary monk Mahinda of the Third Buddhist Council.
Fourth Buddhist Council in Kashmir

The 2nd Fourth Buddhist Council (Sarvastivada tradition) is said to
have been convened by the Kushan emperor Kanishka (r. 127-151 CE),
perhaps in 78 CE at Jalandhar or in Kashmir. The Fourth Council of
Kashmir is not recognized as authoritative in Theravada; reports of
this council can be found in scriptures which were kept in the
Mahayana tradition. The Mahayana tradition based some of its
scriptures on (refutations of) the Sarvastivadin Abhidharma texts,
which were systematized at this council.[citation needed]

It is said that for the Fourth Council of Kashmir, Kanishka gathered
500 monks headed by Vasumitra, partly, it seems, to compile extensive
commentaries on the (Sarvastivadin) Abhidharma, although it is
possible that some editorial work was carried out upon the existing
canon itself. The main fruit of this Council was the vast commentary
known as the Mahā-Vibhāshā ("Great Exegesis"), an extensive compendium
and reference work on a portion of the Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma.

Scholars[who?] believe that it was also around this time that a
significant change was made in the language of the Sarvāstivādin
canon, by converting an earlier Prakrit version into Sanskrit.
Although this change was probably effected without significant loss of
integrity to the canon, this event was of particular significance
since Sanskrit was the official holy language of Brahmanism in India,
and was also being used by other thinkers (regardless of their
specific religious or philosophical allegiance), thus enabling a far
wider audience to gain access to Buddhist ideas and practices. For
this reason, all major (Sarvastivad and Mahayana) Buddhist scholars in
India thereafter wrote their commentaries and treatises in Sanskrit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Buddhist_council