At any rate, it was in this language that the Buddhist Law was carried (probably by Mahendra) into Ceylon, and the whole Canon is thought by some to have been handed down orally till it was written down there about 85 B.C. Oral transmission, we know, was common in India, but if edicts were written by Aṡoka (p. 67), why should not the Law have been written down also? As, however, Pāli was not spoken in Ceylon, the Pāli commentaries brought by Mahendra were translated by him into Sinhalese, and the Pāli originals being lost, were not retranslated into Pāli till about the beginning of the fifth century of our era. Turning next to the final arrangement of the Pāli Canon, we find that it resolved itself into three collections (called Tri-piṭaka, Pāli Tipiṭaka, ‘Three baskets,’ the word piṭaka, however, not occurring in the early texts), namely: 1. Yinaya, ‘discipline’ for the Order; 2. Sūtra-(Pāli Sutta), ‘precepts,’ which at first constituted the principal Dharma, or moral Law (p. 56); 3. Abhi-dharma (Abhi-dhamma), ‘further Dharma,’ or additional precepts relative to the law and philosophy. This division was not logical, as each collection may treat of the subjects belonging to the others. Taking, then, in the first place, the Vinaya or discipline portion of the Buddhist bible, we ought to observe that a portion of it (the Pātimokkha) is not only the oldest, but also the most important in its bearing on the whole theory of Buddhism. For, as we shall point out more fully hereafter, the Buddha’s paramount aim was to convince others that to get rid of ignorance, gain knowledge, practise morality, and obtain deliverance, it was incumbent on a wise man to renounce married life and become a member of a monastic Order. Pure Buddhism, in fact, was pure monachism—implying celibacy, poverty, and mendicancy—and this could not be maintained without rules for discipline and outward conduct, which, as adopted by the Buddha, were simply a modification of the rules for the two religious orders of the Brahma-ćārī and Sannyāsī, already existing in Brāhmanism. With regard to the classification of the Vinaya rules, they were divided into three sets: _a._ the Khandhaka, in two collections called Mahā-vagga (Mahā-varga), ‘great section,’ and Ćulla-vagga, ‘minor section’ (vagga = varga); _b._ the Vibhaṅga (including the two works called Pārājika and Pāćittiya), or a systematic arrangement and explanation of certain ancient ‘release-precepts’ (pratimoksha-sūtra, Pāli Pātimokkha) for setting free, through penances, any who had offended against the Order; _c._ Parivāra-pāṭha, or a comparatively modern summary of the above two divisions. Mark, however, that the Vinaya abounds in details of the life and teaching of Gautama.