Sixth Buddhist council

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The Sixth Buddhist Council (Pali: छट्ठ सॅगायना (Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana); Burmese: ဆဋ္ဌမသင်္ဂါယနာ; Sinhala: ඡට්ඨ සංගායනා) was a general council of Theravāda Buddhism, held in a specially built Mahā Pāsāṇa Guhā (Great Cave) and pagoda complex at Kaba Aye Pagoda in Yangon, Burma. The council was attended by 2500 monastics from eight Theravādin Buddhist countries. The Council lasted from Vesak (Visākha) 1954 to Vesak 1956, its completion coinciding with the traditional 2500th anniversary of the Gautama Buddha's Parinibbāna. In the tradition of past Buddhist councils, a major purpose of the Sixth Council was to preserve the Buddha's teachings and practices as understood in the Theravadin tradition.

Over the two-year period, monks (sangīti-kāraka) from different countries recited from their existing redaction of the Pāli Canon and the associated post-canonical literature. As a result, the Council synthesized a new redaction of the Pali texts ultimately transcribed into several native scripts.