Sutta Piṭaka

Suttas from the Pāli Canon

translated by
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

Index for handhelds …

Introduction & about …

How to …

Some prefer to learn by trial and error; others prefer an explanation. This short guide to using this “accordion” table of contents is for the latter.

There are three fundamental actions, 1) following links, 2) expanding, and 3) collapsing.

1) Links, which navigate to a new page, usually to a sutta, will always appear as a rounded white button on a gray panel, like the “Translator’s note,” above.

After following the link, if you hit the back button on your browser, it will return you to same place, and with the accordion in the same expanded state, as you were before. This is useful for reading suttas sequentially.

If instead you hit the home button on the footer, it will return you to the accordion in its default, collapsed state. This might be useful for those who want to start fresh without having to manually close a bunch of subsections.

2) Expanding the accordion to reveal a) another subsection or b) a short summary of the referenced sutta, is accomplished by clicking on the gray panel.

Sometimes a white link button will appear by itself without any text at all in the gray panel. In these cases there is nothing to expand, and clicking on anything other than the link itself will simply result in nothing happening. If there is something to expand, there will always be some kind of text in the gray, even if only a minimal indicator, such as the ellipses (…) alongside the links to the Itivuttaka suttas.

Also, on desktops and laptops only, the field will turn orange when hovering with the mouse cursor if expansion is possible, and remain gray if not.

3) Collapsing subsections of the accordion has to be done manually for technical reasons. There are incidental benefits, though, for being able to maintain a number of subsections or descriptions open without the accordion automatically closing those you previously opened. Ultimately, for the sake of simplicity and control, it’s left to the user to manually expand and collapse the various subsections and descriptions by toggling the gray panels.

On smart phones and tablets only, the last tapped gray panel will turn orange and stay that way until something else is tapped. This may prove helpful in finding your previous position in the table of contents after an insouciant scrolling binge.

Alternatively a non-accordion style table of contents, where the short descriptions of the suttas are not hidden by default, is also available. See “Default sutta index,” below.

Offline edition …

The sutta translations can also be browsed and read offline by downloading an eBook version. The entire Sutta Piṭaka, with full hyperlinked cross-references provides a similar, if not superior experience, to online browsing (or even offline browsing with a mirrored website stored locally). Page loading and following cross-references are snappier without internet latency, and the eBooks have some additional features like nested tables of contents, bookmarking, note taking and highlighting. There’s also the ability to load them onto handheld devices and eReaders like the Kindle or Kobe, and eReaders are particularly good for taking into the wilderness because of their light weight and extremely long battery life.

Due to the internal structure of the eBooks (specifically the epub, azw3 and mobi formats), even very large ones like this hardly lag in navigation and page rendering, even on the oldest, smallest and most underpowered devices. On a computer, the responsiveness is immediate. Large pdfs, on the other hand, are basically unusable on small devices, and not recommended even for powerful computers.

All that is needed is an eReader. For Kindles, the azw3 format is better, but the mobi also works. For everything else, the epub format is the best. For a laptop or desktop computer, Calibre is free and excellent eReader software that works on Windows, OSX and Linux. For Android eBookDroid is free and popular, and the iPhone has iBooks installed by default.

Translator’s note

Re accesstoinsight.org

Glossary

Abbreviations

Dīgha Nikāya …

.: The Long Collection :.

The Dīgha Nikāya, or Long Collection, is named after the length not of the collection, but of its individual suttas. There are 34 in all, many of them among the most polished literary compositions in the Pali Canon. This anthology contains complete translations of twelve suttas, and partial translations of two.

DN 1Brahmajāla Sutta | The Brahmā Net

An introductory portrait of the Buddha, dealing both with the minor reasons for which people might praise him—his virtues—and the more subtle and profound reasons for praising him: his comprehension of the difference between right and wrong view, and the release that comes from going beyond both. The Buddha uses right view about kamma and dependent co-arising to analyze 62 instances of wrong view, focusing less on the content of the views and more on the kamma of clinging to them: what actions give rise to them, and the destinations that come from acting on them. His analysis shows that right view, used in this way, is superior because it leads to the highest freedom.

DN 2Sāmaññaphala Sutta | The Fruits of the Contemplative Life

King Ajātasattu, disappointed with the other spiritual teachers of the day, approaches the Buddha and asks, “What are the fruits of the contemplative life, visible in the here and now?” His account of why other teachers disappointed him with their answers to this question shows clearly both what the Dhamma is not and also how a teacher should not teach: In all the cases, the teachers present a canned doctrine that doesn’t address the question. The Buddha’s answer, which does address the question, gives a comprehensive account of what the Dhamma is—a path of training leading to a clear goal—illustrating each stage of the training with vivid similes.

DN 9Poṭṭhapāda Sutta | About Poṭṭhapāda

Poṭṭhapāda the wanderer presents the Buddha with a series of questions on the topic of perception. In response, the Buddha shows his skill as a teacher—adopting, for Poṭṭhapāda’s sake, the terms in which the questions are phrased, but then giving those terms new meanings, in line with the practice of the Dhamma.

DN 11Kevaṭṭa Sutta | To Kevaṭṭa

This discourse explores the role of miracles and conversations with heavenly beings as a possible basis for faith and belief. The Buddha does not deny the reality of such experiences, but he points out that—of all possible miracles—the only reliable one is the miracle of instruction in the proper training of the mind. As for heavenly beings, they are subject to greed, anger, and delusion, and so the information they give—especially with regard to the miracle of instruction—is not necessarily trustworthy. Thus the only valid basis for faith is the instruction that, when followed, brings about the end of one’s own mental defilements. The tale that concludes the discourse is one of the finest examples of the early Buddhist sense of humor.

DN 12Lohicca Sutta | To Lohicca

When a person gains awakening and then teaches the path to others, doesn’t he or she necessarily get involved in fruitless entanglements? Shouldn’t such a person, to avoid criticism, remain silent? The Buddha addresses these questions, showing that they are motivated by ill will, and then sets out the standards for measuring whether a teacher can or cannot legitimately be criticized.

DN 15Mahā Nidāna Sutta | The Great Causes Discourse

One of the most profound discourses in the Pali Canon, giving an extended treatment of the teachings of dependent co-arising (paṭicca samuppāda) and not-self (anattā) in an outlined context of how these teachings function in practice.

DN 16Mahā Parinibbāna Sutta | The Great Total Unbinding Discourse

This vast discourse, a memorial to the Buddha, narrates the events of the last year of his life and the weeks immediately following his total unbinding. As with any memorial, the narrative seems to be shaped by two concerns: the desire (1) to show that the person memorialized was worthy of love and respect, and (2) to indicate the importance of continuing to live by the good traditions that the person established. In particular, this sutta presents both a detailed etiquette for how the Buddha should be honored, and a more summary account of how the Dhamma should be practiced in a way to keep it alive. Its account shows how a devotional attitude to the Buddha does not have to conflict with the practice of the Dhamma, and how, in fact, the practice of the Dhamma is the best way to show homage to the Buddha.

DN 20Mahā Samaya Sutta | The Great Meeting

A large group of devas pays a visit to the Buddha one night, and the Buddha tells the monks, in a long poem, the names of the major devas who came to see him. This sutta is the closest thing in the Pali Canon to a “Who’s Who” of the deva worlds, providing useful material for anyone interested in the cosmology of early Buddhism.

DN 21Sakka-pañha Sutta | Sakka’s Questions (Excerpt)

In this excerpt, Sakka, the deva-king, asks the Buddha about the sources of conflict, and about the path of practice that can bring it to an end. This discourse ends with a humorous account about Sakka’s frustration in trying to learn the Dhamma from other contemplatives. It's hard to find a teacher when you’re a king.

DN 22Mahā Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta | The Great Establishing of Mindfulness Discourse

This sutta sets out the full formula for the practice of establishing mindfulness, and then gives an extensive account of one phrase in the formula: what it means to remain focused on any of the four frames of reference—body, feelings, mind, and mental qualities—in and of itself.

DN 26Cakkavatti Sutta | The Wheel-turning Emperor (Excerpt)

In this excerpt, the Buddha tells the monks of the rewards that come from staying in their own “ancestral territory,” i.e., the four establishings of mindfulness.

DN 29Pāsādika Sutta | The Inspiring Discourse

Toward the end of his life, the Buddha describes his accomplishment in establishing, through the Dhamma and Vinaya, a complete holy life that will endure after his passing. Listing some of the criticisms that might be leveled against him and his Dhamma-Vinaya, he shows how those criticisms should be refuted.

DN 33Saṅgīti Sutta | The Discourse for Reciting Together

A large compilation of lists of dhammas arranged numerically, from lists with one member to lists with ten.

DN 34Dasuttara Sutta | Progressing by Tens

A second large compilation of lists of dhammas, arranged both numerically and according to function.

Majjhima Nikāya …

.: The Middle Collection :.

The Majjhima Nikāya — the Middle Collection — is the second collection in the Sutta Piṭaka. It takes its name from the length of the discourses it contains: shorter than those in the Long Collection, longer than those in the Connected and Numerical Collections. There are 152 suttas in all. This anthology offers complete translations of 103 of these suttas, and excerpts from three. Majjhima Syllabus. The suttas in the Majjhima Nikāya are among the most interesting and informative of the Canon. However, when they were collected they were organized for ease of memorization, not for ease of study. So, as an introduction to the collection, here is a list of suttas organized by topic, from the more fundamental to the more advanced.

MN 1–33 …

MN 1Mūlapariyāya Sutta | The Root Sequence

The Majjhima Nikāya opens with one of the few suttas where his listeners did NOT delight in his words. In it, the Buddha dismisses the tendency—common both in his time and in ours—to posit a metaphysical principle from which the universe emanates.

MN 2Sabbāsava Sutta | All the Effluents

The Buddha lists seven approaches for eliminating the āsavas, or effluents: deep-seated defilements that “flow out” of the mind and prevent liberation.

MN 4Bhaya-bherava Sutta | Fear & Terror

The qualities of mind necessary for living in the wilderness without fear.

MN 5Anaṅgaṇa Sutta | Unblemished

Ven. Sāriputta explains the blemishes of the mind: the influences of evil, unskillful wishes.

MN 6Ākaṅkheyya Sutta | If One Would Wish

The wishes that can be fulfilled by bringing the precepts to perfection, being committed to inner tranquility of awareness, not neglecting jhāna, being endowed with insight, and frequenting empty dwellings.

MN 7Vatthūpama Sutta | The Simile of the Cloth

A mind cleansed of defilements is like a piece of cloth cleansed of stains. This sutta also addresses beliefs related to the washing away of sins.

MN 9Sammādiṭṭhi Sutta | Right View

Ven. Sāriputta explains how the four noble truths, dependent co-arising, and the ending of the effluents can be derived from the basic dichotomy of skillful and unskillful actions.

MN 10Satipaṭṭhāna Sutta | The Establishing of Mindfulness Discourse

MN 11Cūḷasīhanāda Sutta | The Shorter Lion’s Roar Discourse

If you don’t fully comprehend clinging, you can’t gain awakening.

MN 12Mahāsīhanāda Sutta | The Great Lion’s Roar Discourse

The Buddha describes something of the range of his knowledge and powers.

MN 13Mahā Dukkhakkhandha Sutta | The Great Mass of Stress

With graphic similes, this sutta describes the allure, the drawbacks, and the escape from sensuality, physical form, and feeling.

MN 14Cūḷa Dukkhakkhandha Sutta | The Lesser Mass of Stress

How the pleasure of jhāna, rather than the practice of austerities, is what allows the mind both to avoid the drawbacks that come from attachment to sensual pleasures and to achieve the even greater pleasure of unbinding.

MN 17Vanapattha Sutta | Forest Hinterlands

Standards a monk should use in deciding where to live and practice.

MN 18Madhupiṇḍika Sutta | The Ball of Honey

A brahman looking for a debate asks the Buddha a question. The Buddha’s answer stymies him, and when the Buddha later explains his answer to the monks before returning to his dwelling, they are mystified as well. At their request, Ven. Mahā Kaccāna explains the Buddha’s explanation by showing how conflict derives from the perceptions and categories of papañca: mental objectification.

MN 19Dvedhāvitakka Sutta | Two Sorts of Thinking

The Buddha describes how he found the path to awakening by dividing his thoughts into two sorts: those imbued with sensuality, ill will, or harmfulness on the one hand, and those imbued with renunciation, non-ill will, and harmlessness on the other.

MN 20Vitakkasaṇṭhāna Sutta | The Relaxation of Thoughts

The Buddha offers five practical approaches for freeing the mind from distracting thoughts connected with desire, aversion, or delusion.

MN 21Kakacūpama Sutta | The Simile of the Saw

The Buddha chides a monk who has become so entangled with the nuns that he cannot bear hearing them criticized, and they cannot bear hearing him criticized. The Buddha then tells the story of a slave who deliberately tests her mistress’s reputation for gentleness and patience. He concludes with some memorable similes that suggest the right frame of mind for maintaining patience and goodwill in the face of the vagaries of human speech.

MN 22Alagaddūpama Sutta | The Water-Snake Simile

After presenting two memorable similes for how and when the Dhamma is to be grasped, the Buddha discusses doctrines of self, rejecting not only those that define the self in terms of the aggregates, but also those that define it in terms of all that can be pondered and known, and in terms of the cosmos as a whole.

MN 24Ratha-vinīta Sutta | Relay Chariots

Using the simile of a set of relay chariots, Ven. Puṇṇa Mantāṇiputta explains the relationship of the stages of the path to the goal of the holy life.

MN 25Nivāpa Sutta | Poison-grass

Four types of contemplatives compared to four herds of deer.

MN 26Ariyapariyesana Sutta | The Noble Search

After distinguishing the noble search—for what is deathless—from the ignoble search—for what is subject to death—the Buddha relates the way he sought and found the deathless.

MN 27Cūḷa Hatthipadopama Sutta | The Shorter Elephant Footprint Simile

When do you know for sure that the Buddha's awakening was genuine?

MN 28Mahā Hatthipadopama Sutta | The Great Elephant Footprint Simile

After stating that all the Dhamma is contained in the four noble truths, Ven. Sāriputta appears to embark on a discussion of all four truths. His discussion, though, focuses on only one part of the first noble truth—the form clinging-aggregate—but in the course of the discussion he is able to show how all the other truths relate to that one part.

MN 29Mahā Sāropama Sutta | The Longer Heartwood Simile Discourse

The Buddha compares the rewards of the practice to different parts of a large tree, with total release the most valuable part: the heartwood.

MN 30Cūḷa Sāropama Sutta | The Shorter Heartwood Simile Discourse

The Buddha compares the rewards of the practice to different parts of a large tree, with total release the most valuable part: the heartwood.

MN 31Cūḷagosiṅgasāla Sutta | The Shorter Gosiṅga Sāla-tree Discourse

How arahants practice for the welfare and happiness of the many.

MN 33Mahā Gopālaka Sutta | The Greater Cowherd Discourse

Comparing the skills of a monk to those of a cowherd, the Buddha discusses eleven factors that obstruct, and eleven that promote, growth in line with his teaching.

MN 35–69 …

MN 35Cūḷa Saccaka Sutta | The Shorter Discourse to Saccaka

Saccaka, a sophist, seeks to overthrow the Buddha in argument—on the topic of self and not-self—but gets overthrown instead.

MN 36Mahā Saccaka Sutta | The Longer Discourse to Saccaka

After being challenged by Saccaka—who had insinuated that the Buddha’s mind was not overcome by pleasure or pain simply because he had never experienced extreme pleasures or pains—the Buddha recounts the extreme pleasures and pains he encountered in his quest for awakening.

MN 38Mahā Taṇhāsaṅkhaya Sutta | The Greater Craving-Destruction Discourse

A long discourse in which the Buddha discusses how a proper understanding of consciousness—as a causally-dependent process—not only helps to explain how it leads to birth but also is useful in inducing the dispassion that can actually bring about the end of birth.

MN 39Mahā Assapura Sutta | The Greater Discourse at Assapura

The Buddha outlines the complete course of training by which one qualifies as a true contemplative.

MN 40Cūḷa-Assapura Sutta | The Shorter Discourse at Assapura

What makes a true contemplative.

MN 41Sāleyyaka Sutta | (Brahmans) of Sāla

The Buddha discusses the ten unskillful types of bodily, verbal, and mental conduct, the corresponding ten types of skillful conduct, and the rewards of pursuing the course of skillful conduct.

MN 43Mahā Vedalla Sutta | The Greater Set of Questions & Answers

Ven. Sāriputta answers questions on topics of discernment, the first jhāna, and the higher meditative attainments.

MN 44Cūḷa Vedalla Sutta | The Shorter Set of Questions & Answers

Dhammadinnā the nun answers questions posed by her former husband, Visākha. Topics include: self-identification, the noble eightfold path, fabrication, feeling, and the cessation of feeling and perception.

MN 45Cūḷa Dhammasamādāna Sutta | The Shorter Discourse on Taking on Practices

Is a practice right because it feels right?

MN 48Kosambiyā Sutta | In Kosambī

Teaching a group of monks who have been quarreling over a minor matter, the Buddha outlines the causes for harmony in a group and reminds the monks of the purpose of their training: the right ending of suffering and stress.

MN 49Brahma-nimantanika Sutta | The Brahmā Invitation

The Buddha, both through argument and a display of psychic powers, shows his superiority to two powerful but deluded opponents.

MN 51Kandaraka Sutta | To Kandaraka

Human beings are a convolution, while an animal is perfectly clear.

MN 52Aṭṭhakanāgara Sutta | To the Man from Aṭṭhakanagara

Ven. Ānanda describes eleven “doors to the deathless.”

MN 53Sekha-paṭipadā Sutta | The Practice for One in Training

“Consummate in clear-knowing and conduct” is a standard epithet for the Buddha. This sutta explains what it means, and shows that it can be used to describe an arahant as well.

MN 54Potaliya Sutta | To Potaliya (Excerpt)

Using seven graphic similes for the drawbacks of sensual passions, the Buddha in this excerpt teaches Potaliya the householder what it means, in the discipline of a noble one, to have entirely cut off one's worldly affairs.

MN 55Jīvaka Sutta | To Jīvaka

On the circumstances under which a monk may and may not eat meat, and demerit that comes from having an animal killed specifically to feed the Buddha or one of his disciples.

MN 56Upālivāda Sutta | The Teaching to Upāli

A disciple of the Nigaṇṭhas goes to debate the Buddha and ends up getting converted.

MN 58Abhaya Rāja-kumāra Sutta | To Prince Abhaya

The Buddha explains his criteria for what is and isn’t worth saying. In so doing, he also displays his skill in answering questions. In other words, here he is not only talking about right speech but also demonstrating right speech in action.

MN 59Bahuvedanīya Sutta | Many Things to Be Felt

The Buddha explains many ways of analyzing feelings and concludes by showing how to use the pleasures of concentration as a basis for reaching a pleasure—unbinding—that lies beyond feelings.

MN 60Apaṇṇaka Sutta | A Safe Bet

The Buddha explains to a group of householders why certain tenets concerning action, rebirth, and non-material realities can be safely adopted as working hypotheses in the conduct of one’s life, prior to their being affirmed on awakening.

MN 61Ambalaṭṭhikā Rāhulovāda Sutta | The Exhortation to Rāhula at Mango Stone

The Buddha teaches Rāhula, his son, the importance of truthfulness and one of the most essential lessons in Dhamma practice: the need to reflect on one’s actions before, while, and after doing them. (This sutta is apparently one of the series of passages that King Asoka recommended for study and reflection by all practicing Buddhists.)

MN 62Mahā Rāhulovāda Sutta | The Greater Exhortation to Rāhula

The Buddha teaches breath meditation to his son, Rāhula, after first explaining series of reflections that put the mind in the proper frame to benefit most from that meditation.

MN 63Cūḷa Māluṅkyovāda Sutta | The Shorter Exhortation to Māluṅkya

The famous simile of the man shot with the arrow: If you insist on engaging in useless theoretical discussions, you are like a man who, shot by an arrow, refuses to have the arrow removed until he has satisfied his curiosity about how the arrow was made and who shot it.

MN 64Mahā Māluṅkyovāda Sutta | The Longer Exhortation to Māluṅkya

How to cut through the five lower fetters.

MN 66Laḍukikopama Sutta | The Quail Simile

Fetters are strong, not because of their own tensile strength, but because of the tenacity of our unwillingness to let them go.

MN 67Cātumā Sutta | Near Cātumā

Some of the dangers that new monks might face.

MN 69Golissāni Sutta | About Golissāni

How a wilderness-dwelling monk should behave.

MN 70–111 …

MN 70Kīṭāgiri Sutta | At Kīṭāgiri

A discourse on the importance of conviction in the Buddhist path. Not only is conviction a prerequisite for listening to the Buddha’s teachings with respect, but—as is shown by the unusual discussion here categorizing the types of noble disciples—it can underlie the practice all the way to the deathless.

MN 72Aggi-vacchagotta Sutta | To Vacchagotta on Fire

The Buddha explains why he doesn’t answer speculative questions about the world, the self, and the fate of an awakened person after death. He concludes with two similes—the extinguished fire and the boundless sea—to indicate how an awakened person lies beyond the categories of existence, non-existence, both, or neither.

MN 74Dīghanakha Sutta | To LongNails

A discussion of how to abandon doctrinaire views of radical acceptance, radical rejection, and any combination of the two.

MN 75Māgaṇḍiya Sutta | To Māgaṇḍiya

The Buddha teaches a member of a hedonist sect about the nature of true pleasure and true health.

MN 77Mahāsakuludāyi Sutta | The Greater Discourse to Sakuludāyin

Why do the Buddha’s followers hold him in such high regard?

MN 78Samaṇa-Muṇḍika Sutta | Muṇḍika the Contemplative

The highest attainment is not simply the abandoning of unskillful actions and a reversion to childlike harmlessness. It requires first developing skillful habits and skillful resolves, and then letting them go.

MN 82Raṭṭhapāla Sutta | About Raṭṭhapāla

The story of the monk whom the Buddha praised as foremost among his disciples in going forth through faith. The first part deals with his parents’ opposition to his ordaining, and their attempts to lure him back to the lay life after he was ordained. In the second part, he explains to a king what inspired him to go forth in the first place.

MN 85Bodhirājakumāra Sutta | Prince Bodhi

In response to a prince’s comment on how pleasure is not to be found by pleasure, the Buddha recounts his quest for awakening, beginning with his going forth, and ending with his teaching the five brethren the path to arahantship. He also discusses the five factors of exertion that determine how quickly a disciple will attain the Dhamma.

MN 86Aṅgulimāla Sutta | About Aṅgulimāla

A murderous bandit takes refuge in the Buddha, develops a heart of compassion, and becomes an arahant.

MN 87Piyajātika Sutta | From One Who Is Dear

King Pasenadi of Kosala figures prominently in many discourses as a devout follower of the Buddha. In this discourse we learn how—thanks to Queen Mallika's astuteness—the king first became favorably disposed toward the Buddha.

MN 90Kaṇṇakatthala Sutta | At Kaṇṇakatthala

A case study in how social advantages can be a spiritual liability. The discussion focuses on the factors needed for release—attainable by all people, regardless of caste or race—while the gently satirical frame story shows how the life of a king, or any highly placed person, presents obstacles to developing those factors.

MN 91Brahmāyu Sutta | To Brahmāyu (Excerpt)

A Young brahman reports on the Buddha’s personal habits.

MN 92Sela Sutta | To Sela

(This sutta is identical to Sn 3:7.) Sela the brahman praises the Buddha to see how the latter responds to praise.

MN 93Assalāyana Sutta | With Assalāyana

The Buddha enters into a debate with a brahman on whether one's worth as a person is determined by birth or by behavior. Although some of the arguments he presents here deal with the specifics of brahman caste pride, many of them are applicable to issues of racism and nationalism in general.

MN 95Caṅkī Sutta | With Caṅkī

A pompous brahman teenager questions the Buddha about safeguarding, awakening to, and attaining the truth. In the course of his answer, the Buddha describes the criteria for choosing a reliable teacher and how best to learn from such a person.

MN 97Dhanañjānin Sutta | To Dhanañjānin

A poignant story of a lay person whose welfare was of special concern to Ven. Sāriputta, this discourse teaches two lessons in heedfulness. (1) If you're engaging in wrong livelihood, don't expect to escape the karmic consequences even if you're doing it to fulfill your duties to your family, parents, or friends. (2) Don't be satisfied with mundane levels of attainment in meditation when there is still more to be done.

MN 98Vāseṭṭha Sutta | To Vāseṭṭha

(This sutta is identical to Sn 3:9.) Is one worthy of respect because of one’s birth, or because of one’s actions?

MN 101Devadaha Sutta | At Devadaha

The Buddha refutes a Jain theory of kamma, which claims that one's present experience is determined solely by one’s past actions, and that the effects of past unskillful actions can be “burned away” through austerities. The Buddha here sketchs one of his most important teachings on kamma: that present experience is shaped both by the results of past deeds and by present actions. This interaction of present and past is what opens up the possibility of awakening.

MN 102Pañcattaya Sutta | Five & Three (Excerpt)

This excerpt discusses views that can get in the way of awakening. Some of the views are speculative, whereas as the most subtle obstructions come from overestimating your meditation attainment.

MN 105Sunakkhatta Sutta | To Sunakkhatta

The Buddha addresses the problem of meditators who overestimate their progress in meditation. The sutta ends with a warning: Anyone who claims awakening as license for unrestrained behavior is like someone who fails to follow the doctor’s orders after surgery, who knowingly drinks a cup of poison, or who deliberately extends a hand toward a deadly snake.

MN 106Āneñja-sappāya Sutta | Conducive to the Imperturbable

Advanced meditation instruction: how the fourth jhāna and the formless attainments can be developed and used as a basis for unbinding, and how it is important not to cling to the equanimity resulting from insight and strong concentration.

MN 107Gaṇaka Moggallāna Sutta | To Gaṇaka Moggallāna

The step-by-step training of a monk, along with the Buddha’s explanation for why not all his monks attain nibbāna.

MN 108Gopaka Moggallāna Sutta | Moggallāna the Guardsman

Ven. Ānanda explains how the Sangha maintains its unity and internal discipline after the Buddha’s passing. As his discussion shows, early Buddhist practice had no room for many practices that developed in later Buddhist traditions, such as appointed lineage holders, elected ecclesiastical heads, or the use of mental defilements as a basis for concentration practice.

MN 109Mahā Puṇṇama Sutta | The Great Full-Moon Night Discourse

A thorough discussion of issues related to the five aggregates. Toward the end of the discussion, a monk thinks that he has found a loophole in the teaching. The way the Buddha handles this incident shows the proper use of the teachings on the aggregates: not as a metaphysical theory, but as a tool for questioning clinging and so gaining release.

MN 110Cūḷa Puṇṇama Sutta | The Shorter Full-Moon Night Discourse

How to recognize—and become—a person of integrity.

MN 111Anupada Sutta | One After Another

A description of how insight can be developed either while in, or immediately after withdrawing from, the different jhānas or formless attainments.

MN 113–152 …

MN 113Sappurisa Sutta | A Person of Integrity

How a person of integrity differs from one of no integrity in relation to the various stages of the practice, from going-forth up through the formless attainments.

MN 117Mahā Cattārīsaka Sutta | The Great Forty

A discussion of many aspects of the noble eightfold path: how the first seven factors are requisites for noble right concentration; how all the factors depend on right view, right mindfulness, and right effort; how right mindfulness is concerned, not with radical acceptance, but with abandoning the factors of the wrong path and developing the factors of the right; and how the path of the stream-enterer relates to the path of the arahant.

MN 118Ānāpānasati Sutta | Mindfulness of Breathing

A sixteen-step program for using mindfulness of breathing as a path leading all the way to full awakening.

MN 119Kāyagatā-sati Sutta | Mindfulness Immersed in the Body

The rewards of developing a full awareness of the body as both a mindfulness practice and a concentration practice. This sutta includes graphic analogies to illustrate the four jhānas.

MN 121Cūḷa Suññata Sutta | The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness

The Buddha instructs Ven. Ānanda in the various levels of what it means to dwell in emptiness, and how to go from one level to the next, culminating in full release.

MN 122Mahā Suññata Sutta | The Greater Discourse on Emptiness

Practical issues surrounding the attempt to develop an internal meditative dwelling of emptiness, to maintain it, and to see it through to awakening.

MN 123Acchariy’abbhūtadhamma Sutta | Amazing & Astounding Qualities

A miraculous account of the Buddha’s birth.

MN 125Dantabhūmi Sutta | The Level of the Tamed

The Buddha compares the training of a monk to the training of an elephant.

MN 126Bhūmija Sutta | To Bhūmija

Does the desire for awakening get in the way of awakening? According to this discourse, the question of desiring or not desiring is irrelevant as long as you develop the qualities that constitute the path to awakening. The discourse is also very clear on the point that there are right and wrong paths of practice. As a geographer might say, not every river flows to the sea.

MN 128Upakkilesa Sutta | Defilements

If you tend to experience visions of light and forms in your meditation, this discourse shows how to use them as preliminary exercises for balancing the focus of the mind prior to practicing jhāna.

MN 130Devadūta Sutta | The Deva Messengers

The Buddha’s eyewitness account of the various hells.

MN 131Bhaddekaratta Sutta | An Auspicious Day

The Buddha’s explanation of why the present moment is important: There’s work to be done, and although you don’t know how much time you have left, you do have now.

MN 133MahāKaccāna Bhaddekaratta Sutta | Mahā Kaccāna & the Auspicious Day

Ven. Mahā Kaccāna gives an alternative interpretation of the verse in MN 131.

MN 135Cūḷa Kamma-vibhaṅga Sutta | The Shorter Analysis of Action

Why are people born unequal in terms of such things as status, wealth, health, and discernment? The Buddha explains the actions that lead to a good rebirth and a bad.

MN 136Mahā Kamma-vibhaṅga Sutta | The Greater Analysis of Action

Two lessons in the dangers of quick generalization. In the first, the Buddha points out that the perception of all feeling as stressful is not appropriate at all stages of the practice. In the second, he shows that generalizing too quickly on the basis of what one sees in meditation—particularly concerning the relationship between good and bad actions on the one hand, and good and bad immediate rebirth on the other—can lead to serious wrong view.

MN 137Saḷāyatana-vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis of the Six Sense-Media

A discussion of the emotions: where they come from, how they function in the path of practice, and how they manifest in an awakened person who is fit to teach others.

MN 138Uddesa-vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis of the Statement

Ven. Mahā Kaccāna explains how to attend to outside objects without letting the mind become externally scattered, and how to focus in strong states of absorption without becoming internally positioned. It’s not easy, but it can be done.

MN 140Dhātu-vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis of the Properties

A poignant story in which a wanderer, searching for the Buddha, meets the Buddha without realizing it. He recognizes his mistake only after the Buddha gives him a profound discourse on four determinations and the six properties of experience. An excellent illustration of the Buddha’s statement, “Whoever sees the Dhamma sees me.”

MN 141Sacca-vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis of the Truths

Ven. Sāriputta gives a detailed explanation of the four noble truths.

MN 143Anāthapiṇḍikovāda Sutta | The Exhortation to Anāthapiṇḍika

When Anāthapiṇḍika the lay-follower is on his deathbed, Ven. Sāriputta visits him and counsels non-clinging in a thoroughgoing way.

MN 146Nandakovāda Sutta | Nandaka’s Exhortation

Ven. Nandaka teaches a group of nuns twice on the theme of inconstancy, driving his point home with striking similes. It was an effective teaching: After the second round, all the nuns attained, at the very least, the first level of awakening.

MN 147Cūḷa Rāhulovāda Sutta | The Shorter Exhortation to Rāhula

Through a contemplation of stress, inconstancy, and not-self with regard to the six sense media, the Buddha leads his son, Ven. Rāhula, to arahantship.

MN 148Chachakka Sutta | The Six Sextets

A contemplation on not-self based on six aspects of each of the six sense media: the internal medium, the external medium, the consciousness, the contact, the feeling, and the craving based on each pair of sense media.

MN 149Mahā Saḷāyatanika Sutta | The Great Six Sense-Media Discourse

How a clear comprehension of the six sense media leads to the development of the 37 wings to awakening (bodhi-pakkhiya-dhamma) and fulfills the duties relevant to the four noble truths.

MN 151Piṇḍapātapārisuddhi Sutta | The Purification of Almsfood

A monk should repeatedly reflect on how far he’s come in fulfilling the duties of the four noble truths.

MN 152Indriya-bhāvanā Sutta | The Development of the Faculties

What qualifies as full mastery of the six senses?

Saṁyutta Nikāya …

.: The Connected Collection :.

The Saṁyutta Nikāya, a collection of short to medium-length discourses, takes its name from the way the discourses are organized into groups connected (saṁyutta) by a particular theme. In some cases, the theme is a topic. In others it may be the name of an interlocutor, a place, a group of people, or—as in the Simile-Connected discourses—a formal attribute of the discourses themselves. The complete collection, counting all its formulaic expansions, contains more than 2,900 discourses, of which 457 are translated here.

Sagatha-vagga | Verses …

SN 1:1Ogha-taraṇa Sutta | Crossing over the Flood

SN 1:2Nimokkha Sutta | Freedom

How the Buddha found the way to freedom for all beings.

SN 1:7Appaṭividitā Sutta | Unpenetrated

Wake up by penetrating the nature of phenomena.

SN 1:8Susammuṭṭha Sutta | Thoroughly Confused

Wake up!

SN 1:9Manakāma Sutta | Fond of Conceit

When living in the wilderness, be heedful.

SN 1:10Arañña Sutta | The Wilderness

Why do monks living in the wilderness look so serene?

SN 1:17Dukkara Sutta | Hard to Do

Keep your thoughts under control, just as a tortoise keeps its limbs safe.

SN 1:18Hiri Sutta | Shame

A healthy sense of shame is both rare and valuable.

SN 1:20Samiddhi Sutta | About Samiddhi

A deva tries to seduce a young monk.

SN 1:21Satti Sutta | A Sword

As if struck by a sword, develop a sense of urgency in the practice.

SN 1:25Arahanta Sutta | An Arahant

Even though they have abandoned the conceit, “I am,” arahants still speak in line with the conventions of the world.

SN 1:36Saddhā Sutta | Conviction

The lessons you learn when taking conviction as your companion.

SN 1:38Sakalika Sutta | The Stone Sliver

After the Buddha is wounded by Devadatta’s attempt on his life, devas congregate to praise the way he responds to the pain.

SN 1:41Āditta Sutta | On Fire

When the world is on fire with aging and death, how do you salvage your possessions?

SN 1:42Kindada Sutta | A Giver of What

The rewards of various kinds of giving.

SN 1:51Jarā Sutta | Old Age

What are your lasting possessions?

SN 1:55Jana Sutta | Engendered (1)

The Buddha answers questions on what’s involved in being a being.

SN 1:56Jana Sutta | Engendered (2)

Answers to more questions on what’s involved in being a being.

SN 1:57Jana Sutta | Engendered (3)

Answers to more questions on what’s involved in being a being.

SN 1:59Dutiya Sutta | Companion

Riddles and their answers.

SN 1:62Citta Sutta | The Mind

Answer to more riddles.

SN 1:63Taṇhā Sutta | Craving

Different answers to the riddles in SN 1:62.

SN 1:64Saññojana Sutta | Fettered

Answers to more riddles.

SN 1:65Bandhana Sutta | Bondage

Answers to still more riddles.

SN 1:69Icchā Sutta | Desire

The world is tied down with desire, and freed with its subduing.

SN 1:71Chetvā Sutta | Having Killed

What is the one instance of killing of which the Buddha would approve?

SN 1:73Vitta Sutta | Wealth

What is your best wealth?

SN 2:2Kassapa Sutta | Kassapa the Deva’s Son

How to practice to reach the heart’s attainment.

SN 2:5Dāmali Sutta | Dāmali the Deva’s Son

Arahants have gone beyond duties.

SN 2:7Pañcālacaṇḍa Sutta | Pañcālacaṇḍa the Deva’s Son

Jhāna as release from confinement.

SN 2:8Tāyana Sutta | Tāyana the Deva’s Son

The contemplative life, if wrongly grasped, drags you down.

SN 2:17Subrahma Sutta | Subrahma the Deva’s Son

How to go beyond the trouble of having duties.

SN 2:19Uttara Sutta | Uttara the Deva’s Son

How to respond to the impending danger of death.

SN 2:22Khema Sutta | Khema the Deva’s Son

Don’t be like the cart driver who left the smooth highway to go up a rough side path.

SN 2:23Serī Sutta | Serī the Deva’s Son

The story of a king’s great generosity.

SN 2:25Jantu Sutta | Jantu the Deva’s Son

A deva criticizes some poorly-behaved monks.

SN 2:26Rohitassa Sutta | Rohitassa the Deva’s Son

How the end of the cosmos is to be found within.

SN 3:1Dahara Sutta | Young

Four things that shouldn’t be despised for being young.

SN 3:2Purisa Sutta | A Man

What, arising from within you, can destroy you?

SN 3:3Rāja Sutta | The King

Death comes to everyone, but the Dhamma doesn’t die.

SN 3:4Piya Sutta | Dear

People who engage in misconduct don’t really love themselves.

SN 3:5Atta-rakkhita Sutta | Self-protected

The Buddha’s defense policy.

SN 3:6Appaka Sutta | Few

It’s rare, when people become wealthy, for them not to become intoxicated with their wealth.

SN 3:7Atthakaraṇa Sutta | In Judgment

Even people who are already wealthy will tell lies for the sake of greater wealth.

SN 3:8Mallikā Sutta | Mallikā

King Pasenadi asks Queen Mallikā, “Is there anyone dearer to you than yourself?” Perhaps he’s hoping that she’ll say, “Yes, your majesty. You.” But he gets a much more truthful answer.

SN 3:9Yañña Sutta | Sacrifice

What kind of sacrifice bears great fruit?

SN 3:10Bandhana Sutta | Bonds

Internal bonds are stronger than external ones.

SN 3:11Jaṭila Sutta | Coiled-hair Ascetics

How to know another person’s character.

SN 3:13Doṇapāka Sutta | A Gallon Measure

The Buddha shows sympathy not only for a king’s mental welfare, but also for his physical welfare.

SN 3:14Saṅgāma Sutta | A Battle (1)

Both winning and losing lead to suffering.

SN 3:15Saṅgāma Sutta | A Battle (2)

He who has plundered gets plundered in turn.

SN 3:17Appamāda Sutta | Heedfulness

Heedfulness secures benefits in this life and in the next.

SN 3:19Aputtaka Sutta | Heirless (1)

The proper use of wealth.

SN 3:20Aputtaka Sutta | Heirless (2)

The long-term results of kamma.

SN 3:21Puggala Sutta | Persons

Four types of individuals: born in darkness and headed for darkness, born in darkness and headed for light, born in light and headed for darkness, and born in light and headed for light.

SN 3:22Ayyikā Sutta | Grandmother

How to respond to the thought that all life ends in death.

SN 3:23Loka Sutta | (Qualities of) the World

Greed, aversion, and delusion bring harm, stress, and discomfort.

SN 3:24Issattha Sutta | Archery Skills

Where should a gift be given? A gift given where bears great fruit?

SN 3:25Pabbatopama Sutta | The Simile of the Mountains

Aging and death are rolling in, like mountains rolling in from all four directions.

SN 4:1Tapokamma Sutta | Ascetic Actions

Māra tries to convince the Buddha that he’s not really awakened.

SN 4:8Nandana Sutta | Delight

Do acquisitions bring delight or grief?

SN 4:13Sakalika Sutta | The Stone Sliver

Māra taunts the Buddha after the latter has been wounded.

SN 4:18Piṇḍa Sutta | Alms

Māra arranges that the Buddha doesn’t get alms.

SN 4:19Kassaka Sutta | The Farmer

Escape from Māra by abandoning your sense of “mine.”

SN 4:20Rajja Sutta | Rulership

Māra invites the Buddha to exercise rulership.

SN 4:21Sambahula Sutta | A Large Number

Disguised as a brahman, Māra tries to persuade young monks to return to lay life.

SN 4:24Sattavassa Sutta | Seven Years

Māra tries one last time to find a way to attack the Buddha.

SN 4:25Māradhītu Sutta | Māra’s Daughters

Māra’s daughters try to bring the Buddha under their sway.

SN 5:1Āḷavikā Sutta | Sister Āḷavikā

Māra tries to tempt a nun to enjoy sensuality.

SN 5:2Somā Sutta | Sister Somā

Do women have the discernment needed for awakening?

SN 5:3Gotamī Sutta | Sister Gotamī

Māra taunts a nun who has lost her sons.

SN 5:4Vijayā Sutta | Sister Vijayā

Māra tries to tempt another nun to enjoy sensuality.

SN 5:5Uppalavaṇṇā Sutta | Sister Uppalavaṇṇā

Māra tries to inspire fear in a nun alone in the forest.

SN 5:6Cālā Sutta | Sister Cālā

The dangers of birth.

SN 5:7Upacālā Sutta | Sister Upacālā

Māra tries to tempt a nun to enjoy the pleasures of heaven.

SN 5:8Sīsupacālā Sutta | Sister Sīsupacālā

A nun who approves of the Dhamma approves of no one’s philosophy.

SN 5:9Selā Sutta | Sister Selā

How the body is made.

SN 5:10Vajirā Sutta | Sister Vajirā

Nothing but stress comes to be, nothing ceases but stress.

SN 6:1Āyācana Sutta | The Request

A brahmā requests the Buddha to teach.

SN 6:2Gārava Sutta | Reverence

The Buddha decides to honor and respect the Dhamma.

SN 6:13Andhakavinda Sutta | At Andhakavinda

A Brahmā praises the Buddha and the holy life he founded.

SN 6:14Aruṇavatī Sutta | At Aruṇavatī

A previous Buddha and one of his foremost disciples subdue the pride of some brahmās.

SN 6:15Parinibbāna Sutta | Total Unbinding

Four responses to the Buddha’s final passing away.

SN 7:2Akkosa Sutta | Insult

An insult that provokes no response returns to the person who hurls it.

SN 7:6Jaṭā Sutta | The Tangle

How to untangle the tangle.

SN 7:12Udaya Sutta | Udaya

Again and again you take birth and die.

SN 7:14Mahāsāla Sutta | Very Rich

The Buddha helps an old brahman whose sons have thrown him out of the house.

SN 7:16Paccanika Sutta | Contradiction

If you’re intent on arguing, it’s hard to understand the Dhamma.

SN 7:17Navakammika Sutta | The Builder

A builder asks the Buddha what he delights in getting done.

SN 7:18Kaṭṭhahāraka Sutta | Firewood-gathering

A brahman imagines that the Buddha has gone to the forest to attain union with Brahmā.

SN 8:4Ānanda Sutta | Ānanda (Instructions to Vaṅgīsa)

How to put out the fire of lust.

SN 9:1Viveka Sutta | Seclusion

A deva counsels a monk secluded in the forest: Don’t let the dust of the sensual pull you down.

SN 9:3Kassapa Gotta Sutta | Kassapa Gotta

Have a sense of who is and who isn’t ready to receive the teachings.

SN 9:4Sambahula Sutta | Many

The monks dwell without a fixed abode.

SN 9:5Ānanda Sutta | Ānanda

Don’t spend too much time teaching others when you still have work to do.

SN 9:6Anuruddha Sutta | Anuruddha

A deva tries to tempt a monk to return to heaven.

SN 9:9Vajjīputta Sutta | The Vajjian Princeling

A deva helps a monk in the forest who, hearing the music of a festival, feels sorry for himself.

SN 9:11Ayoniso-manasikāra Sutta | Inappropriate Attention

A deva counsels a monk who spends his meditation engaged in wrong resolves.

SN 9:14Padumapuppha Sutta | The Thief of a Scent

A deva warns a monk who sniffs the scent of a lotus.

SN 10:4Maṇibhadda Sutta | With Maṇibhadda

Mindfulness is not a cure-all.

SN 10:8Sudatta Sutta | About Sudatta (Anāthapiṇḍika)

Anāthapiṇḍika’s first meeting with the Buddha.

SN 10:12Āḷavaka Sutta | To the Āḷavaka Yakkha

A yakkha challenges the Buddha with riddles and threatens to “hurl out his mind, rip open his heart, or hurl him across the River Ganges” if he doesn’t solve the riddles to the yakkha’s satisfaction.

SN 11:3Dhajagga Sutta | The Top of the Standard

How to ward off fear when practicing alone in the wilderness.

SN 11:5Subhāsita-jaya Sutta | Victory Through What is Well Spoken

How to deal wisely with angry fools.

SN 11:14Daḷidda Sutta | Poor

People are reborn, not in line with their past status, but in line with their actions.

SN 11:15Rāmaṇeyyaka Sutta | A Delightful Place

Delightful human beings are more delightful than delightful places.

SN 11:22Dubbaṇṇiya Sutta | Ugly

Sakka gets rid of an anger-eating yakkha.

SN 11:24Accaya Sutta | A Transgression

Admit your transgressions, and pardon those who admit theirs.

Nidāna-vagga | on Causation …

SN 12:2Paṭiccasamuppāda Vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis of Dependent Co-arising

The factors of dependent co-arising defined.

SN 12:10Gotama Sutta | About Gotama

The Buddha describes how he contemplated dependent co-arising prior to his awakening.

SN 12:11Āhāra Sutta | Nutriment

This discourse incorporates the teaching on the four nutriments (see SN 12:63–64) into the pattern for dependent co-arising, placing them in the position usually occupied by clinging: after craving and before becoming.

SN 12:12Phagguna Sutta | To Phagguna

A monk tries to understand the factors of dependent co-arising in terms of who does them. The Buddha shows why this is an invalid way of interpreting them.

SN 12:15Kaccānagotta Sutta | To Kaccāna Gotta

The Buddha describes the highest level of right view, in which the mind abandons thoughts of existence and non-existence, and sees all arising and passing away as stress (dukkha).

SN 12:17Acela Sutta | To the Clothless Ascetic

How dependent co-arising avoids answering questions as to whether pain is self-made, other-made, both self-made and other-made, or spontaneously arisen.

SN 12:18Timbarukkha Sutta | To Timbarukkha

This sutta is similar to the preceding one, with the difference that the questions about pain in the preceding sutta are here expanded to include pleasure as well.

SN 12:19Bāla-paṇḍita Sutta | The Fool & the Wise Person

What is the difference between a fool and a wise person when both are sensitive to pleasure and pain?

SN 12:20Paccaya Sutta | Requisite Conditions

The Buddha lists the questions that hold no interest for a person who has seen dependent co-arising and dependently co-arisen phenomena as they have come to be.

SN 12:23Upanisa Sutta | Prerequisites

How ignorance, in leading to suffering, can lead beyond suffering to conviction and, based on conviction, to release and to the knowledge of the ending of suffering.

SN 12:25Bhūmija Sutta | To Bhūmija

Pleasure and pain are dependent on contact, as are doctrines that would hold that they are self-made, other-made, both self-made and other-made, or spontaneously arisen.

SN 12:31Bhūtamidaṁ Sutta | This Has Come Into Being

At the Buddha’s request, Ven. Sāriputta explains a verse from the Sutta Nipāta (5:1) on what it means to have fathomed the Dhamma.

SN 12:35Avijjāpaccaya Sutta | From Ignorance as a Requisite Condition

The Buddha refuses to answer the question of whether there is anyone or anything lying behind the processes described in dependent co-arising.

SN 12:38Cetanā Sutta | Intention

This discourse describes the link between fabrications and consciousness in dependent co-arising, and shows how intention and underlying obsessions—with ignorance of the four noble truths being the basis for all obsessions—play a role in constructing awareness of the present moment.

SN 12:44Loka Sutta | The World

The Buddha uses dependent co-arising to explain the origination and ending of the world of the six senses.

SN 12:46Aññatara Sutta | A Certain Brahman

Is the one who acts the same one who experiences the results of the act?

SN 12:48Lokāyatika Sutta | The Cosmologist

Dependent co-arising avoids answering questions that lie at the basis of cosmology: Does everything exist? Does everything not exist? Is everything a Oneness? Is everything a plurality?

SN 12:51Parivīmaṁsa Sutta | Investigating

How to investigate dependent co-arising so as to lead to the ending of suffering and stress.

SN 12:52Upādāna Sutta | Clinging

Focusing on the allure of the objects of clinging leads to stress. Focusing on their drawbacks leads to the ending of stress. This sutta illustrates this principle with the analogy of feeding and not feeding a large fire.

SN 12:55Mahārukkha Sutta | The Great Tree

Uprooting clinging and craving is like uprooting a great tree.

SN 12:61Assutavā Sutta | Uninstructed (1)

People cling more readily to the mind than to the body, even though the mind is much more changeable than the body.

SN 12:62Assutavā Sutta | Uninstructed (2)

This sutta builds on the previous one, showing how to develop dispassion for the mind through a contemplation of feeling.

SN 12:63Puttamaṁsa Sutta | A Son’s Flesh

A meditation on inter-relatedness, showing with four striking similes the suffering inherent in everything the body and mind depend upon for nourishment.

SN 12:64Atthi Rāga Sutta | Where There is Passion

With two striking similes, this sutta describes what happens when consciousness, through passion, lands and grows on any of its four nutriments, and what happens when it abandons that passion.

SN 12:65Nagara Sutta | The City

The Buddha describes his discovery of dependent co-arising with the simile of a man finding an ancient road to a long-abandoned city.

SN 12:66Sammasa Sutta | Scrutiny

How to scrutinize the allures of the world so as not to suffer.

SN 12:67Naḷakalāpiyo Sutta | Sheaves of Reeds

Ven. Sāriputta analyses the factors of dependent co-arising down to a mutual dependence between consciousness on the one hand, and name-&-form on the other.

SN 12:68Kosambī Sutta | At Kosambī

Ven. Nārada uses the simile of the well to describe the difference between stream-entry and arahantship.

SN 12:69Upayanti Sutta | Rises

The rising and ebbing of ignorance, and its effect on the other factors of dependent co-arising, is compared to the rising and ebbing of the ocean, and its effect on rivers and lakes.

SN 12:70Susima Sutta | About Susima

A wanderer from another sect attempts to “steal” the Dhamma, but ends up actually awakening to it.

SN 13:1Nakhasikhā Sutta | The Tip of the Fingernail

The Buddha uses a striking simile to make the point that the suffering remaining for a person who has reached stream-entry is much, much less than the suffering remaining for someone who hasn’t.

SN 13:2Pokkharaṇī Sutta | The Pond

The Buddha uses another simile to make the same point as in the preceding sutta.

SN 13:8Samudda Sutta | The Ocean

Yet another simile to make the same point.

SN 14:11Sattadhātu Sutta | Seven Properties

An alternative to the standard list of the levels of concentration, in which concentration attainments are described in terms of seven properties.

SN 15:3Assu Sutta | Tears

Which is greater: the water in all the oceans or the tears you have shed while wandering through transmigration?

SN 15:5Pabbata Sutta | A Mountain

How long is an eon? The Buddha gives a simile.

SN 15:6Sāsapa Sutta | Mustard Seed

How long is an eon? The Buddha gives another simile.

SN 15:8Gangā Sutta | The Ganges

How many eons have gone by?

SN 15:9Daṇḍa Sutta | The Stick

The randomness of transmigration.

SN 15:10Puggala Sutta | Person

In this course of transmigrating, one person would leave behind a heap of bones as large as a mountain—if there were someone to collect the bones and the collection were not destroyed.

SN 15:11Duggata Sutta | Fallen on Hard Times

A contemplation to keep your compassion from being condescending: When you see someone who has fallen on hard times, you should conclude that you have experienced just that sort of thing in the long course of transmigration.

SN 15:12Sukhita Sutta | Happy

A contemplation to prevent envy and resentment of others’ good fortune:When you see someone who is well-provided in life, you should conclude that you have experienced just that sort of thing in the long course of transmigration.

SN 15:13Tiṁsa Sutta | Thirty

The Buddha leads a group of monks to awakening by teaching that the blood they have shed in the course of transmigration—through being executed for crimes or through being slaughtered as animals—is greater than the water in all the oceans.

SN 15:14Mātu Sutta (SN 15:14–19) | Mother

It would be hard to find someone who has not been a close relative in the long course of transmigration.

SN 16:2Anottāpī Sutta | Without Compunction

What it means to be ardent and to have compunction.

SN 16:5Jiṇṇa Sutta | Old

Why Ven. Mahā Kassapa continued to practice austerities even when he was old.

SN 16:11Cīvara Sutta | The Robe

Ven. Mahā Kassapa tells of how he went forth and first met the Buddha.

SN 16:13Saddhammapaṭirūpaka Sutta | A Counterfeit of the True Dhamma

What it means for the True Dhamma to disappear.

SN 17:3Kumma Sutta | The Turtle

A simile for the dangers posed by gains, offerings, and fame.

SN 17:5Kaṁsaḷakā Sutta | The Dung Beetle

Another simile for the dangers posed by gains, offerings, and fame.

SN 17:8Sigala Sutta | The Jackal

Yet another simile for the same dangers.

SN 20:2Nakhasikhā Sutta | The Tip of the Fingernail

Few are the beings reborn among human beings. Far more are those reborn elsewhere.

SN 20:4Okkhā Sutta | Serving Dishes

The development of goodwill, even for a moment, is more fruitful than many lavish gifts of food.

SN 20:5Satti Sutta | The Spear

Goodwill protects the mind from being deranged.

SN 20:6Dhanuggaha Sutta | The Archer

Life rushes to its end faster than the speed of the sun and moon.

SN 20:7Āṇi Sutta | The Peg

How “improvements” to the Dhamma make it disappear.

SN 21:1Kolita Sutta | Kolita

The meaning of noble silence.

SN 21:2Upatissa Sutta | About Upatissa (Sāriputta)

When there is no I-making or mine-making, there is no reason for grief.

SN 21:3Ghaṭa Sutta | The Barrel

Ven. Sāriputta praises Ven. Moggallāna for his psychic powers; Ven. Moggallāna praises Ven. Sāriputta for his discernment.

SN 21:6Bhaddiya Sutta | Bhaddiya

Greatness is a matter of the mind, not of the physique.

SN 21:8Nanda Sutta | Nanda

The Buddha’s half brother, even as a monk, tries to dress up.

SN 21:9Tissa Sutta | Tissa

A monk makes himself miserable because he can’t stand being admonished.

SN 21:10Theranāma Sutta | (A Monk) by the Name of Elder (On Solitude)

The true meaning of living in solitude.

Khandha-vagga | on the Aggregates …

SN 22:1Nakulapitar Sutta | To Nakulapitar

What it means to be afflicted in body but not afflicted in mind.

SN 22:2Devadaha Sutta | At Devadaha

Ven. Sāriputta’s recommendations for how to explain the Dhamma to people new to it.

SN 22:3Haliddikāni Sutta | To Haliddikāni

Ven. Mahā Kaccāna explains a verse from the Aṭṭhaka Vagga (Sn 4:9).

SN 22:5Samādhi Sutta | Concentration

When the mind is concentrated, it can discern the origination and disappearance of the aggregates.

SN 22:18Hetu Sutta | Cause (1)

How can anything whose cause is inconstant be constant?

SN 22:19Hetu Sutta | Cause (2)

How can anything whose cause is stressful be easeful?

SN 22:20Hetu Sutta | Cause (3)

How can anything whose cause is not-self be self?

SN 22:22Bhāra Sutta | The Burden

The Buddha explains the burden, the carrier of the burden, the taking up of the burden, and the casting off of the burden.

SN 22:23Pariñña Sutta | Comprehension

The four noble truths are to be comprehended. This sutta explains what comprehension means.

SN 22:36Bhikkhu Sutta | The Monk

If you are obsessed with the aggregates, you define yourself by them and limit yourself to them. If you are not obsessed with them, you are unlimited and undefined.

SN 22:39Anudhamma Sutta | In Accordance with the Dhamma (1)

Toward the end of his life, the Buddha stated that the proper way to pay homage to him was to “practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” This sutta explains what that means, in terms of cultivating disenchantment (nibbidā).

SN 22:40Anudhamma Sutta | In Accordance with the Dhamma (2)

SN 22:41Anudhamma Sutta | In Accordance with the Dhamma (3)

SN 22:42Anudhamma Sutta | In Accordance with the Dhamma (4)

SN 22:47Samanupassanā Sutta | Assumptions

How the assumption “I am” colors the experience of the five physical senses, and how that assumption can be overcome.

SN 22:48Khandha Sutta | Aggregates

The difference between aggregates and clinging-aggregates.

SN 22:53Upaya Sutta | Attached

The bases on which consciousness lands and grows.

SN 22:54Bīja Sutta | Means of Propagation

This sutta explains the principle from the preceding sutta with an example from plant propagation.

SN 22:55Udāna Sutta | Exclamation

How the contemplation of the theme, “It should not be, it should not occur to me; it will not be, it will not occur to me” can lead to awakening.

SN 22:56Parivaṭṭa Sutta | The (Fourfold) Round

The Buddha’s fourfold knowledge concerning each of the five aggregates: knowledge of the aggregate itself, of its origination, of its cessation, and of the path of practice leading to its cessation.

SN 22:57Sattaṭṭhāna Sutta | Seven Bases

The Buddha recommends knowing each aggregate in terms of the aggregate itself, its origination, its cessation, the path of practice leading to its cessation, its allure, its drawbacks, and the escape from it. He also describes three ways of investigating the aggregates: in terms of the six sense media, in terms of properties, and in terms of dependent co-arising.

SN 22:58Buddha Sutta | Awakened

Some schools of Buddhism teach that there is a qualitative difference between the liberation of a Buddha and that of an arahant disciple — namely, that a Buddha awakens to one level of truth, whereas an arahant awakens to another. This sutta shows that the Buddha saw the distinction in different terms.

SN 22:59Pañca Sutta | The Five (Brethren)

This discourse is also known as the Anatta-lakkhaṇa Sutta, the Discourse on the Not-self Characteristic, although this title is not found in the Canon. According to Mv I, this was the first of the Buddha’s discourses during which his listeners became arahants.

SN 22:60Mahāli Sutta | To Mahāli

Sometimes it is said that people are attached to things because they believe those things to have an inherent essence or existence. Here, however, the Buddha points out that people are attached to things because they pay attention to the pleasure offered by those things, and ignore the stress they cause.

SN 22:76Arahanta Sutta | Arahants

How happy are the arahants!

SN 22:78Sīha Sutta | The Lion

The terror that the Buddha’s teaching on the aggregates inspires in the heavenly worlds.

SN 22:79Khajjanīya Sutta | Chewed Up

This sutta defines the aggregates in terms of verbs. It also shows how, when you feed on the aggregates through clinging, they chew you up in return.

SN 22:80Piṇḍolya Sutta | Almsgoers

After having dismissed the monks, the Buddha returns to teach them out of compassion for the monks newly gone-forth.

SN 22:81Pālileyyaka Sutta | At Pālileyyaka

After the Buddha has gone into seclusion, Ven. Ānanda leads a group of monks to visit him and to hear the Dhamma. The Buddha responds by addressing the question, “Knowing in what way, seeing in what way, does one without delay put an end to effluents?”

SN 22:82Puṇṇama Sutta | The Full-moon Night

SN 22:83Ānanda Sutta | Ānanda

Ven. Ānanda recalls the Dhamma explanation, given by Ven. Puṇṇa Mantāṇiputta (see MN 24), that enabled him to break through to the Dhamma.

SN 22:84Tissa Sutta | Tissa

The Buddha comforts and encourages one of his cousins who has become dissatisfied with the holy life. He concludes with a simile, comparing the noble eightfold path to a path going through a dense forest (ignorance), a marshy swamp (sensual desires), past a steep drop-off (anger & despair), and finally arriving at a patch of level ground: unbinding.

SN 22:85Yamaka Sutta | To Yamaka

Ven. Sāriputta teaches the Dhamma to a monk who has given rise to an evil view: that an arahant, after death, does not exist.

SN 22:86Anurādha Sutta | To Anurādha

The Buddha teaches the Dhamma to a monk who thinks that, after death, a Tathāgata can be described as something other than existing, not existing, both, or neither.

SN 22:88Assaji Sutta | To Assaji

The Buddha teaches a sick monk who is concerned that he cannot attain the level of concentration he had before falling ill.

SN 22:89Khemaka Sutta | About Khemaka

How a non-returner views the issue of self.

SN 22:90Channa Sutta | To Channa

Ven. Channa, after having been punished by the Buddha for his stubbornness, has a change of heart and seeks out Ven. Ānanda to hear the Dhamma.

SN 22:93Nadī Sutta | The River

Trying to hold onto the aggregates is like trying to hold onto grasses on the bank of a river as the current is sweeping you away.

SN 22:94Puppha Sutta | Flowers

What the Buddha describes as existing and not-existing.

SN 22:95Pheṇa Sutta | Foam

Five vivid similes for the insubstantial nature of the aggregates.

SN 22:96Gomaya Sutta | Cow Dung

The Buddha reflects on the transiency of past glory.

SN 22:97Nakhasikhā Sutta | The Tip of the Fingernail

There isn’t even a smidgen of any of the aggregates that lasts for eternity.

SN 22:99Gaddūla Sutta | The Leash (1)

As long as you cling to the aggregates, you keep running around them, like a dog on a leash, even after the Earth is consumed by flames.

SN 22:100Gaddūla Sutta | The Leash (2)

As long as you cling to the aggregates, you keep running around them, like a dog on a leash, creating from them many variegated forms of delusion and suffering.

SN 22:101Nava Sutta | The Ship

Two vivid similes for the practice, one illustrating the principle that results depend, not on wishing, but on actually doing the practice; the other illustrating the gradual nature of progress along the path.

SN 22:120Saññojana Sutta | Fetters

The fetter defined.

SN 22:121Upādāna Sutta | Clinging

Clinging defined.

SN 22:122Sīlavant Sutta | Virtuous

How and why to attend appropriately to the aggregates at various stages of the path, even after full awakening.

SN 22:126Samudaya-dhamma Sutta | Subject to Origination (1)

Ignorance defined.

SN 22:127Samudaya-dhamma Sutta | Subject to Origination (2)

Clear knowing (vijjā) defined.

SN 22:131Samudaya Sutta | Origination (1)

Another definition of ignorance.

SN 22:132Samudaya Sutta | Origination (2)

Another definition of clear knowing (vijjā).

SN 22:139Anicca Sutta | Inconstant

What to abandon with regard to what’s inconstant.

SN 22:142Dukkha Sutta | Stressful

What to abandon with regard to what’s stressful.

SN 22:145Anattā Sutta | Not-self

What to abandon with regard to what’s not-self.

SN 23:1Māra Sutta | Mortality

How to see the aggregates rightly, and the purpose of seeing rightly.

SN 23:2Satta Sutta | A Being

How we define ourselves as “beings,” and how to go beyond that self-definition.

SN 25:1Cakkhu Sutta | The Eye

The ten suttas in this saṁyutta discuss the different ways that a faith-follower, a Dhamma-follower, and a stream-enterer (see MN 70) understand the inconstancy of different aspects of experience: (1) the six sense bases; (2) their objects; (3) consciousness; (4) contact; (5) feeling; (6) perception; (7) intentions; (8) craving; (9) the six properties (earth, liquid, fire, wind, space, and consciousness); and (10) the five aggregates.

SN 25:2Rūpa Sutta | Forms

See description of SN 25:1, above.

SN 25:3Viññāṇa Sutta | Consciousness

See description of SN 25:1, above.

SN 25:4Phassa Sutta | Contact

See description of SN 25:1, above.

SN 25:5Vedanā Sutta | Feeling

See description of SN 25:1, above.

SN 25:6Saññā Sutta | Perception

See description of SN 25:1, above.

SN 25:7Cetanā Sutta | Intention

See description of SN 25:1, above.

SN 25:8Taṇhā Sutta | Craving

See description of SN 25:1, above.

SN 25:9Dhātu Sutta | Properties

See description of SN 25:1, above.

SN 25:10Khandha Sutta | Aggregates

See description of SN 25:1, above.

SN 27:1Cakkhu Sutta | The Eye

The ten suttas in this saṁyutta discuss the benefits of overcoming passion-delight (another term for clinging—see SN 22:121) for different aspects of experience: (1) the six sense bases; (2) their objects; (3) consciousness; (4) contact; (5) feeling; (6) perception; (7) intentions; (8) craving; (9) the six properties (earth, liquid, fire, wind, space, and consciousness); and (10) the five aggregates.