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composed of his own statements of experience or those of his disciples and not merely flights of imagination of a poet. We can be confident of this because of the careful, systematic way that the Dhamma Literature has been preserved. The neighbouring countries of India have very conscientiously safeguarded this valuable treasure and, therefore not only India, but all of humanity is grateful to them.
Myanmar preserved not only the words of Dhamma but also the practical technique of Vipassana which is inherent in them. Fortunately, I received the wisdom of the Vipassana practice there in Myanmar from the traditional teacher Sayagyi U Ba Khin, of Yangon (Rangoon). In 1969, when I came to India with this teaching and started organizing meditation camps, I was pleasantly surprised to find that intelligent people in this country accepted their ancient wisdom with great delight. The number of practitioners of Vipassana has substantially increased during the last fifteen to twenty years. Many of the meditation students, who were benefited by their practice of Vipassana, began asking for the Buddha-vacana and translations of the original Pāli in order to augment their theoretical understanding and to take inspiration and guidance from the Buddha's noble words.
The Tipitaka which was published in Devanagari script by Nava Nālandā Mahāvihāra (Nalanda, India) in the 1960's has been long out of print and is currently unavailable. Therefore, the Vipassana Research Institute in Igatpuri, India, decided to publish the Tipitaka and its allied literature in the original Pāli language in Devanāgari script and, later on, to make the texts more accessible to meditators, as well as scholars, by offering these in Hindi translation.
The availability of modern equipment, such as computers and laser printers, has made it possible to quickly fulfill the demand for this literature. Meditators have come forward to help with great enthusiasm and cooperation. The Pāli literature was transcribed from Burmese script into Devanāgari script in a very short time and was then entered into the computer. Practitioners of Vipassana as well as some of the great scholars of Myanmar have given devoted service in computer entry and final proofreading so that the entire authentic literature of the Chattha-Sangāyana might emerge as faultlessly as possible, in the present publication.
What does the Tipitaka contain?
All of the Tipitaka is saturated with the noble and sacred personality of the Buddha. The Rūpakāya (material body) of the Buddha was one aspect of his personality and was very appealing; it possessed the thirty-two signs of a great man and radiated incomparable peace and beauty, pleasing all who beheld it. But the
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