It has been argued that, since the Theravadin multinational Sixth Buddhist council received the name of "Sixth Buddhist council", this involved implicitly recognizing the fifth, even though most other nations were not involved in the fifth council, and the results of the fifth council were limited to the Burmese edition of the Pali Canon only. However, there were a number of other councils held in Ceylon and Siam between the fourth and sixth, so the total can be made up in other ways.
It has been proposed that the Theravadin multinational Sixth Buddhist council implicitly acknowledged the fifth council due to its name, even though most nations did not participate in the fifth council's activities. Furthermore, other councils held in Ceylon and Siam between the fourth and sixth could be considered to complete the total.