Pali,
nounlit.
basket. In the context of the
Pali Cannon of
Theravada Buddhism, a pitaka is one of the three
divisions of the
Tipitaka: the
Vinaya Pitaka,
Sutta Pitaka, and
Abhidhamma Pitaka. The use of the term 'basket' is thought to stem from the earliest days when the
canon was commited to writing. As each
sutta was bound on a thread, groups of related suttas were placed in large baskets to be transported or sorted. See
sutta.