Pali audio

The Buddha is invited by his family, the Sakyans of Kapilavatthu, to inaugurate a new community hall. He invites Venerable Ānanda to explain in detail the stages of spiritual practice for a lay trainee.

Asked by a householder to teach a path to freedom, Venerable Ānanda explains no less than eleven meditative states that may serve as doors to the deathless.

The Buddha discusses mindfulness meditation with lay practitioners. Contrasting the openness of animals with the duplicity of humans, he explains how to practice in a way that causes no harm to oneself or others.

Māra, the trickster and god of death, tried to annoy Moggallāna. He not only failed but was subject to a stern sermon warning of the dangers of attacking the Buddha’s disciples.

The Buddha ascends to a high heavenly realm where he engages in a cosmic contest with a powerful divinity, who had fallen into the delusion that he was eternal and all-powerful.

Despite the Buddha’s presence, the monks of Kosambi fell into a deep and bitter dispute. The Buddha taught the reluctant monks to develop love and harmony, reminding them of the state of peace that they sought.

While some spiritual teachers prefer to remain in obscurity, the Buddha not only encouraged his followers to closely investigate him, but gave them a detailed and demanding method to do so.

While we all want to be happy, we often find the opposite happens. The Buddha explains why.

The Buddha explains how taking up different practices may have harmful or beneficial results. The memorable simile of the creeper shows how insidious temptations can be.

The layman Visākha asks the nun Dhammadinnā about various difficult matters, including some of the highest meditation attainments. The Buddha fully endorses her answers.

A series of questions and answers between Sāriputta and Mahākoṭṭhita, examining various subtle and abstruse aspects of the teachings.

This sutta is identical to the previous sutta MN 41 Sāleyyaka Sutta apart from the first two paragraphs.

The Buddha explains to a group of brahmins the conduct leading to rebirth in higher or lower states, including detailed explanations of the ten core practices which lay people should undertake, and which also form the basis for liberation.

The labels of being a spiritual practitioner don’t just come from external trappings, but from sincere inner change.

The Buddha encourages the mendicants to live up to their name, by actually practicing in a way that meets or exceeds the expectations people have for renunciants.

To counter the wrong view that a self-identical consciousness transmigrates from one life to the next, the Buddha teaches dependent origination, showing that consciousness invariably arises dependent on conditions.

Moggallāna visits the heaven of Sakka, the lord of gods, to see whether he really understands what the Buddha is teaching.

In a less confrontational meeting, the Buddha and Saccaka discuss the difference between physical and mental development. The Buddha gives a long account of the various practices he did before awakening, detailing the astonishing lengths he took to mortify the body.

Saccaka was a debater, who challenged the Buddha to a contest. Despite his bragging, the Buddha is not at all perturbed at his attacks.

Drawing parallels with a cowherd guiding his herd across a dangerous river, the Buddha presents the various kinds of enlightened disciples who cross the stream of transmigration.

For eleven reasons a cowherd is not able to properly look after a herd. The Buddha compares this to the spiritual growth of a mendicant.

Several senior mendicants, reveling in the beauty of the night, discuss what kind of practitioner would adorn the park. They take their answers to the Buddha, who praises their answers, but gives his own twist.

A Sutta which shows the good practice of Vinya and Dhamma by the bhikkhus of those days. Many of the practices here can be compared with present-day bhikkhu life in the forest Wats (monastries) of N.E. Thailand. The same spirit prevails both in this ancient document and in the modern forest wat: “you all live in concord and agreement, as undisputing as milk with water, viewing each other with kindly eyes.” And when people anywhere at any time want to live peacefully together they should take note of the factors here which give rise to concord. First, those three bhikkhus (who are in this Sutta, Arahants, but whose practices obviously preceded their attainment), are not selfishly bent on the attainment of their own desires. They give up their own goals and become one in mind with the others. This can be done only if one does as the venerable Anuruddha: “I maintain bodily, verbal and mental acts of loving-kindness (mettā) towards these venerable ones both in public and in private.” Second, they do whatever has to be done without any of the hassles of “He should have done it. It’s not my turn today.” They work harmoniously not because of orders but because of loving-kindness and diligent practice of Dhamma. And they are not noisy, speaking just for the sake of breaking the silence. They speak when necessary and about Dhamma. Venerable Anuruddha relates that their practice has bought them to Arahantship. And to Digha, at the Sutta’s end, the Buddha praising them says: “See Digha, how far those three clansmen are practicing the way of welfare and happiness of the many out of pity for the world, for the benefit , welfare and happiness of gods and men !” No greater benefit can be found than that example and those teachings given by those who are Arahants, who are Enlightened.

Notice the treatment of the brahmin Pingalakoccha’s question by the Buddha. When this question of “Are there other teachers also enlightened?” was put to him on other occasions, he has answered it in the same way: “Let that be, I shall teach you the Dhamma.” This question often comes up today with the multitude of teachings and teachers but an affirmative answer (if given on the basis of ratiocination) is not reliable, while an enlightened Teacher is simply not interested in such abstract questions. The only Dhamma which is really valuable is that which changes one’s life for the better, making for fewer defilements, more happiness, and better relations with other people. So the Buddha told the brahmin to listen to the Dhamma that he would speak. And he spoke about those who go forth from home to homelessness and then become pleased about: great gain, honour and renown, perfect virtue, perfect concentration, knowledge and vision; thus giving that brahmin a standard whereby he could judge whether all those other (non-Buddhist) teachers were enlightened or not, for pride in these things cannot be hidden. The Sutta ends with the dramas which are superior to knowledge and vision - and the reasons why the four jhānas and the five kinds of mundane direct knowledge are superior.

Following the incident with Devadatta, the Buddha cautions the mendicants against becoming complacent with superficial benefits of spiritual life and points to liberation as the true heart of the teaching.

Sāriputta gives an elaborate demonstration of how, just as any footprint can fit inside an elephant’s, all the Buddha’s teaching can fit inside the four noble truths. This offers an overall template for organizing the Buddha’s teachings.

The Buddha cautions against swift conclusions about a teacher’s spiritual accomplishments, comparing it to the care a tracker would use when tracking elephants. He presents the full training of a monastic.

This is one of the most important biographical discourses, telling the Buddha’s experiences from leaving home to realizing awakening. Throughout, he was driven by the imperative to fully escape from rebirth and suffering.

The Buddha compares getting trapped by Māra with a deer getting caught in a snare, illustrating the ever more complex strategies employed by hunter and hunted.

Venerable Sāriputta seeks a dialog with an esteemed monk, Venerable Puṇṇa Mantāniputta, and they discuss the stages of purification.

In a curious discourse laden with evocative imagery, a deity presents a riddle to a mendicant, who seeks an answer from the Buddha.

The sutta falls into two parts. The first part concerns the monk Arittha who has wrong views concerning the teaching. The Buddha reprimands Arittha and gives two similes (of the snake and raft) which illustrate different ways in which someone might miss the point of his teachings. The second part of the sutta details issues connected with views of the self.

A discourse full of vibrant and memorable similes, on the importance of patience and love even when faced with abuse and criticism. The Buddha finishes with the simile of the saw, one of the most memorable similes found in the discourses.

This short sutta is one of relatively few that give specific advice on the techniques of meditation practice. The sutta offers five approaches to overcoming distracting thoughts.

The Buddha describes two kinds of thoughts. Firstly thoughts of sensual desire, ill will and cruelty and secondly thoughts of renunciation, thoughts of non ill will and non cruelty.

The Buddha praises an explanation elucidated by the venerable Mahā Kaccāna on the causal process that gives rise to papanca (mental proliferation) which can easily lead on to conflicts

Why does a bhikkhu who is developing his mind stay in one place but not in another? In this Sutta the answer is given: he stays where he progresses in Dhamma but does not stay where he makes no progress. And he takes no account of whether material support is good or not, for he did not go forth to homelessness just to get material support. The first four paragraphs speak of bhikkhus living in the forest, no doubt the most suitable place for developing the mind, but not all find the life there possible so villages, towns and cities are mentioned too. Finally, there are four paragraphs on living with a companion bhikkhu. In the first case, he may not be conducting himself well, so that the other bhikkhu finds it difficult to stay, more so since requisites are hard to come by. Though in the second case he can obtain them , still there is the disadvantage of living with that companion, so that no progress is made with Dhamma. In the third and fourth cases though, progress is apparent and even though material support is difficult, the bhikkhu should not leave, while where it is good and where there is a Noble Friend - a meditation Master - “He should continue following that person as long as life lasts; he should not depart from him even if tod to go

The Buddha explains various ways one can become emotionally cut off from one’s spiritual community.

Venerable Moggallāna raises the topic of admonishment, without which healthy community is not possible. He lists a number of qualities that will encourage others to think it worthwhile to admonish you in a constructive way.

A lay person is puzzled at how, despite their long practice, they still have greedy or hateful thoughts. The Buddha explains the importance of absorption meditation for letting go such attachments. But he also criticizes self-mortification, and recounts a previous dialog with Jain ascetics.

A disrobed monk, Sunakkhata, attacks the Buddha’s teaching because it merely leads to the end of suffering. The Buddha counters that this is, in fact, praise, and goes on to enumerate his many profound and powerful achievements.

The Buddha declares that only those following his path can genuinely experience the four stages of awakening. This is because, while much is shared with other systems, none of them go so far as to fully reject all attachment to the idea of a self.

The Satipaṭṭhāna sutta is a most highly revered sutta setting out mindfulness as the one way to overcome suffering.The Buddha sets out in clear terms the four contemplations that constitute “establishing mindfulness” watching the body, feeling, mind and qualities. The sutta closes with an extended statement on the result of establishing mindfulness – enlightenment or something very close to enlightenment.

In this sutta the Venerable Sāriputta explains how right view can be understood in a number of different ways.

The Buddha differentiates between peaceful meditation and spiritual practices that encompass the whole of life. He lists forty-four aspects, which he explains as “effacement”, the wearing away of conceit.

"Dirty stained cloth takes dye badly, like a dirty stained mind takes one to low states of birth full of suffering. New cloth well washed, on the other hand takes dye well, likewise when a pure mind when good rebirth can be expected. What are the dirt and stains of the mind? Things we know well like covetousness and unrighteous greed, ill will, anger, revenge and so on – these are our stained and dirty states on mind. Getting to know them is good for then they are seen as a source of trouble (dukkha) and so more easily abandoned. As one practises Dhamma and sees for oneself that the defilements are becoming steadily less powerful so one gains strong faith in the Buddha, Dhamma and Sangha. One’s insight eventually reaches to the Noble Paths and Fruits when that faith becomes unshakeable. The Discourse goes on to show how after practising the Divine Abidings (in which one lives like Brahma or God), one then should aspire to Arahantship and attain Nībbāna. No doubt the Buddha was aware that a divine (brahmin) sitting nearby was interested in his discourse as well as being a spiritually capable person, hence his mention of the Divine (Brahma) Abidings. The brahmin’s interest was indeed aroused and he asked whether the Buddha went to bathe his sins away in the supposedly holy river Bahukā. This question has caused the splendid flow of the Buddha’s reply in verse. This ability to speak impromptu verse was much esteemed by the brahmins and it seems as though this and the straightforward content of their teaching reached to that Brahmin’s heart so that he said. “Magnificant, Master Gotama … And the venerable Bhāradvāja became one of the Arahants”. © Nyanamoli Bhikkhu , A Treasury of the Buddha's Discourses

In this discourse the Buddha teaches how, by keeping the precepts, devotion to internal serenity of mind, meditation, insight and seclusion various wishes can be obtained.

The Buddha’s chief disciples, Sāriputta and Moggallāna, use a simile of a tarnished bowl to illustrate the blemishes of the mind and conduct. They emphasize how the crucial thing is not so much whether there are blemishes, but whether we are aware of them.

The Buddha describes what it would be like to live in solitude in a remote jungle resting place free from fear and dread.