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months. Thera Moggaliputta Tissa condemned certain heretical views, established the pure Dhamma and compiled a text called Kathāvatthu, which came to be accepted as an integral part of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. After this council, King Asoka sent nine missions of Dhamma dūtas (Dhamma messengers) to far off countries for the propagation of Dhamma. These monks emphasized the practical aspect of the Dhamma in its pure universal form.
onins,
The Fourth Dhamma Council was convened in Sri Lanka in 29 B.C. during the reign of King Vattagāmini. It was presided over by Mahā Thera Rakkhita and 500 monks participated. The entire Tipitaka was recited and committed to writing for the first time.
The Fifth Dhamma Council took place at Mandalay, in Myanmar in 1871 A.D. under the patronage of the King Min Don Min. It was presided over respectively by Mahā Thera Jāgarābhivamsa, Mahā Thera Narindabhidhaja, and Mahā Thera Sumangala Sāmi. Two thousand four hundred monks participated in it. The recitation and the inscription of the Tipitaka onto marble slabs continued for five months.
The Sixth Council was convened in May, 1954 at Yangon (Rangoon) in Myanmar on the initiation of Prime Minister U Nu. Two thousand five hundred learned monks from Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Kampuchea, India, etc., took part in it. The Tipitaka and its allied literature was again examined and their authentic version printed in the Burmese script. The work of the Council was completed on the full moon day of Vesākha, the auspicious occasion of the 2,500th anniversary of the Buddha's Mahāparinibbāna.
These six historical councils--the first three in India, the fourth in Sri Lanka, and the fifth and sixth in Myanmar-served the invaluable purpose of helping to maintain the purity of the teaching, which continues to survive and flourish even today.
Printed publications of the Pāli Tipitaka and Athakathā are available in various scripts, such as Sinhalese, Burmese, Thai, Kampuchean, Roman, Devanāgarī, etc. The Tipitaka and some volumes of the Atthakathā were published for the first time in Devanāgari in the middle of the twentieth century by Nava Nalandā Mahāvihāra, Nalanda, in India. But the entire collection of Atthakathā and Tīkā are not available in Devanāgari script. With a view to removing
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