Page "Buddhist councils" Paragraph 14

Another Buddhist Council, this time presided by Theravada monks took place in Mandalay, Burma, in 1871 in the reign of King Mindon.

The chief objective of this meeting was to recite all the teachings of the Buddha and examine them in minute detail to see if any of them had been altered, distorted or dropped.

It was presided over by three Elders, the Venerable Mahathera Jagarabhivamsa, the Venerable Narindabhidhaja, and the Venerable Mahathera Sumangalasami in the company of some two thousand four hundred monks ( 2, 400 ).

Their joint Dhamma recitation lasted for five months.

It was also the work of this council to approve the entire Tripitaka inscribed for posterity on seven hundred and twenty-nine marble slabs in the Burmese script before its recitation.

This monumental task was done by the monks and many skilled craftsmen who upon completion of each slab had them housed in beautiful miniature ' pitaka ' pagodas on a special site in the grounds of King Mindon's Kuthodaw Pagoda at the foot of Mandalay Hill where it and the so called ' largest book in the world ', stands to this day.

This Council is not generally recognized outside Burma.