Bhante Sujato
A former musician, Bhante Sujato became a monk in 1994 in Thailand and lived there for several years before returning to his native Australia. He spent several years at Bodhinyana Monastery in Western Australia before going on to found Santi Forest Monastery in 2003.
Sujato co-founded the website SuttaCentral along with Rod Bucknell and John Kelly for which he created public domain translations of the four primary Nikāyas of the Pali Canon. Sujato, along with his teacher Ajahn Brahm, were involved with the re-establishment of Bhikkhuni Ordination in the Theravada Tradition.
~ Adapted from the Wikipedia article
Selected Works (in chronological order)
SuttaCentral hosts sources and free translations of Early Buddhist Texts, meticulously organized by parallels, books, languages and searchable with several large indexes and built-in dictionary tools.
When examined closely, the doctrines of the schools cannot be explained away as simplistic errors or alien infiltrations or deliberate corruptions. It would then follow that more sympathetic and gentle perspectives on the schools are likely to be more objective
while the Theravādins have preserved the clearest and best-understood early texts referring to the in-between state, their philosophical posture prevented them from investigating and describing this in any detail. For that we shall have to listen to the other schools, starting with the Puggalavādins and Sarvāstivādins, as passed down through the Chinese and Tibetan traditions.
Featured in the course, " An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy"
Featured in the course, " Buddhism as a Religion"
Featured in the course, " The Buddha's Words"
Featured in the course, " An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy"
Featured in the course, " Buddhist Ethics"
Featured in the course, " Nibbāna: The Goal of Buddhist Practice"
We wouldn’t say “this is proof of reincarnation,” but I would say it’s strong evidence of something like it.
A concise and readable survey of early Buddhist studies, showing the wide evidence we have in support of the authenticity of the EBTs and how we can know about ancient India at all.
Are there such things as “evil beings” in Buddhism?
It is inescapable that, whatever the reading, according to the early texts the Buddha did not have “normal” genitals. And the only reading actually supported by a canonical text is that the Buddha was intersex, and his genitals looked like a woman’s.
To defend the innocent is a bright deed. To kill is a dark deed. To kill in defense of the innocent is a deed both bright and dark
Featured in the course, " The Buddha"
Translations by Bhante Sujato:
It would be good, lord, if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma in brief
A group of monks tries to figure out the meaning of a difficult poem uttered by the Buddha. After offering several interpretations, the Buddha gives his answer.
A magisterial compendium of good advice for lay people.
Featured in the course, " Imagery in the Early Buddhist Texts"
‘I’ve developed the heart’s release by love… Yet somehow ill will still occupies my mind.’
Suppose a trustworthy and reliable man were to come from the east. He’d approach you and say: ‘Please sir, you should know this. I come from the east. There I saw a huge mountain that reached the clouds. And it was coming this way, crushing all creatures.’
Suppose a person was to catch six animals, with diverse territories and feeding grounds, and tie them up with a strong rope.
There is a way of developing immersion further
Let them enjoy the filthy, lazy pleasure of possessions, honor, and popularity.
Featured in the course, " Imagery in the Early Buddhist Texts"
Suppose a person was to catch six animals, with diverse territories and feeding grounds, and tie them up with a strong rope.
One should rein in the mind thus
Featured in the course, " An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy"
Featured in the course, " An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy"
A deep discussion between the Bhikkhuni Dhammadinnā and her student, the layman Visākha, on many profound topics, including the very highest meditative attainments.
Featured in the course, " An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy"
And how is a mendicant not skilled in characteristics? It’s when a mendicant doesn’t understand that a fool is characterized by their deeds
‘What the hell, Kāḷī!’
Here the Buddha details the seventh factor of the noble eightfold path—right mindfulness. This collects many of the meditation teachings found throughout the canon, especially the practices focusing on the body, and is regarded as one of the most important discourses in the contemporary Theravada tradition.
Featured in the course, " The Practice of Buddhism"
Mendicants, these seven perceptions, when developed and cultivated, are very fruitful and beneficial. They culminate in the deathless and end with the deathless. What seven? The perceptions of ugliness, death, repulsiveness of food, dissatisfaction with the whole world, impermanence, suffering in impermanence, and not-self in suffering.
Featured in the course, " Imagery in the Early Buddhist Texts"
The Buddha describes his own meditation on emptiness and tells Ānanda how a meditator can descend into emptiness herself through seclusion and wise attention.
In this controversial sutta, the Buddha declares that everything an individual experiences is not necessarily the result of past karma.
I say it’s not possible to know, see or reach the end of the world by traveling. But I also say there’s no making an end of suffering without reaching the end of the world.
Featured in the course, " Imagery in the Early Buddhist Texts"
Featured in the course, " Imagery in the Early Buddhist Texts"
The Buddha is confronted by an angry and rude Brahmin.
In this famous simile, the Buddha explains how rare it is to receive a human rebirth in the time of a Buddha and encourages us to use the opportunity well.
A long and entertaining debate with a skeptic who went to extravagant lengths to prove that there is no such thing as an afterlife.
Featured in the course, " An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy"
Featured in the course, " An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy"
Wisdom and consciousness–these things are mixed, not separate. And you can never completely dissect them
Featured in the course, " An Introduction to Buddhist Philosophy"
How is a sentient being defined?
Featured in the course, " Nibbāna: The Goal of Buddhist Practice"
you should ignore that person’s impure behavior
is one a brahmin due to birth,
or else because of actions?
A fascinating description of the four jhānas and nirodha as the cessation of pain, sadness, pleasure, happiness, and equanimity respectively.
these four things are unthinkable. They should not be thought about
in a future time there will be mendicants who won’t want to listen when discourses spoken by the Realized One—deep, profound, transcendent, dealing with emptiness—are being recited.
Mendicants, there are these five opportunities for freedom.
Once upon a time, householder, there was a brahmin named Velāma…
I’d hold his head with my left hand, and take it out using a hooked finger of my right hand, even if it drew blood.
Don’t fear good deeds. For ‘good deeds’ is a term for happiness.
life as a human is short, brief, and fleeting, full of suffering and distress. Be thoughtful and wake up! Do what’s good and lead the spiritual life, for no-one born can escape death.
mendicants, live as your own island, your own refuge, with no other refuge. Let the teaching be your island and your refuge
I recollect ninety eons back but I’m not aware of any family that’s been ruined merely by offering some cooked almsfood.
Featured in the course, " The Buddha"
Mendicants, don’t engage in all kinds of low talk, such as…
he sank and melted down and wasn’t able to stay still. It’s like when ghee or oil is poured onto sand: it sinks and melts down, and can’t remain
Once upon a time, mendicants, a battle was fought between the gods and the demons…
a mendicant who wants to accuse another should first check five things in themselves and establish five things in themselves
mendicants, gaining these four continents is not worth a sixteenth part of gaining these four things.
Let the king provide funding for those who work in trade. Let the king guarantee food and wages for those in government service. Then the people, occupied with their own work, will not harass the realm. The king’s revenues will be great.
There are six proper occasions for going to see an esteemed mendicant…
You should not cultivate the kind of person who causes unskillful qualities to grow while skillful qualities decline. And you should cultivate the kind of person who causes unskillful qualities to decline while skillful qualities grow.
What is the one thing whose killing you approve?
It’s inappropriate to talk to an unfaithful person about faith…
near Kallavāḷamutta Village, Venerable Mahāmoggallāna was nodding off while meditating…
if sentient beings only knew, as I do, the fruit of giving and sharing, they would not eat without first giving
Featured in the course, " Nibbāna: The Goal of Buddhist Practice"
I shall keep reciting the Way to the Beyond
But Mahākasspa refused those deities…