Fed and fuelled by that, the great tree would stand for a long time.

When Ānanda suggests that dependent origination is simple, the Buddha rebukes him and explains how stable and hard to eradicate it is with the simile of a great tree.

Just as a fine thoroughbred steed…

if occasionally, due to a lapse of mindfulness, evil unwholesome memories and intentions connected with the fetters arise in him, slow might be the arising of his mindfulness, but then he quickly abandons them, dispels them, puts an end to them

The Buddha urges mendicants to be free of desire for the six senses, giving a series of vivid similes.

Bhikkhus, when the mind becomes excited, it is timely to develop the enlightenment factor of tranquillity…

… that wise, competent, skilful bhikkhu picks up the sign of his own mind.

Like a cook, a meditator must attend to the signs of their success.

Having flown across the sky,
the birds resort to this delightful base

… as a fragile bridge of reeds…

‘Fisherman’ is a term for Māra the Wicked. ‘Hook’ is a term for possessions, honor, and popularity.

Crested peacocks…

Your passion has been appeased
like a dry vegetable in a pot.

The rain falls and the wind blows…

He thinks and he feels, but—as far as I can tell—he does not speak, nor is he simply the previous animal rebirth of an eventual human being. There is something powerful, I contend, about the mute presence of such an animal—its noble silence, its freedom from the glibness of human language

On how Pali and other Indian literature used animals as both stand-ins for and foils of its human characters.

One who gets drowsy from overeating

In the past my mind wandered how it wished…

It smashes the mechanism of deeds,
And drops the thunderbolt of knowledge
On the taking up of consciousnesses.

A poem extolling the virtues of the Noble Eightfold Path.

Someone who had not established mindfulness of the body might well attack one of their spiritual companions and leave without saying sorry.

When another monk falsely accuses Sāriputta of hitting him, the Buddha calls Sāriputta to respond to the allegation.

Mendicants, there are three failures.

One is unripe but seems ripe,
One is ripe but seems unripe…

Four people similar to mangoes.

Judging by this fish’s approach, by the ripples it makes, and by its force, it’s a big fish, not a little one.

How to assess a person’s ethics, purity, resilience, and wisdom.

When we confront our rebellious minds as we try to follow [the Buddha’s] path, we can take heart from the tales of nuns who had to put forth years and years of intense, persistent effort before they eliminated all their defilements.

You can also listen to this book on Pariyatti’s YouTube Channel.

Among these five trainee’s powers, the power of wisdom is foremost, the one that holds all the others in place…

Good man, didn’t you see the third divine messenger that appeared among human beings?

The Buddhist “judgment day.”

The notion of poetry I have in mind relates not so much to its formal properties, but to the realms of experience or types of consciousness it involves.

When we look at the texts assembled in the KN, we find that the concern with the character of the Buddha, and in a broader sense with Buddhist holy men and women, is a central, constitutive interest of the collection.

The employment of metaphor points us in aesthetic directions, suggesting meanings that emphasize experience, rather than theory.

This article discusses the antiquity of the Aṭṭhakavagga of the Suttanipāta seeing it not as an attempt to lay out the earliest Buddhist teachings, but instead as an example of early Buddhist poetry meant mainly to inspire our faith in the goal.

The Tathagata’s lion’s roar has content, and its content varies in the different suttas that contain the simile.

Comparing the Buddha to a lion is common in the Sutta Piṭaka, though it carries different meanings. This article is a study of the simile of the Buddha as a lion and, in particular, his lion’s roar. The author goes through the various uages, providing useful explanations and cross-references.

If a senior mendicant is unethical, of bad character, this is how they’re ugly, I say. … If you associate with, accompany, and attend to that person, following their example, it’ll be for your lasting harm and suffering. …

A bad mendicant is like hemp: uncomfortable to be in close contact with.

The accumulation
of a single person’s
bones for an eon
would be a heap
on a par with a mountain

Then at that time many moths rushing and falling down into those oil lamps, were coming to grief, were coming to ruin.

Like moths to the flame, living beings are draw to appearances at their own peril.

…a mendicant arousing knowledge
of the outcome of greed, hate, and delusion,
would cast off all bad destinies.

Greed, hatred, and delusion as planting karmic “seeds.”

He walked back & forth on top of a giant mountain of excrement …

Before his awakening, the bodhisatta had five great dreams that foretold profound aspects of his dispensation.

An “Udāna” from the AN.

What do you think, mendicants? Which is more: the little bit of dirt under my fingernail, or this great earth?

The Buddha explains the fruit of Stream Entry.

Once upon a time, I was a seer called Rohitassa of the Bhoja people. I was a sky-walker with psychic powers. I was as fast as a light arrow easily shot across the shadow of a palm tree…

… there’s no making an end of suffering without reaching the end of the world. For it is in this fathom-long carcass with its perception and mind that I describe the world, its origin, its cessation, and the practice that leads to its cessation.

For Venerable Ānanda’s exegesis of this sutta, see SN 35.116.

There is a way of undertaking dhammas that is pleasant now and ripens in the future as pain. There is a way of undertaking dhammas that is painful now and ripens in the future as pain. There is a way of undertaking dhammas that is painful now and ripens in the future as pleasure. There is a way of undertaking dhammas that is pleasant now and ripens in the future as pleasure.

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

For Māra’s stream is breasted now
And nullified, its reeds removed;
Rejoice then, bhikkhus, mightily
And set your hearts where safety lies.

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.

… most of the people in Sāvatthī were excessively attached to sensual pleasures…

Abstaining from perceptions of sensuality,
overcoming all fetters,
having totally ended delight in becoming,
one doesn’t sink
into the deep.

The Buddha explains to a yakkha how one crosses over the flood.

Like they’re struck by a sword…

… as a reed is destroyed by its own fruit.

Pasenadi asks of the things that cause suffering when they arise from within.

When your harp’s strings were tuned too tight, was it resonant and playable?

When Venerable Soṇa thinks of disrobing, the Buddha comes and encourages him with the famous simile of the lute that is tuned neither too loose nor too tight.

Few are those among humans who cross to the far shore.

The wrong path is the near shore where most people dwell; the right path is the far shore, where few have crossed over.

Whether or not other bhikkhus train, I will train.

With eight qualities a royal thoroughbred is worthy of a king.

What is the mind’s stand?

Someone without the eightfold path is easily knocked over, like a pot without a stand.

… heaping sand in a bucket, sprinkling it thoroughly with water, and pressing it out. But by doing this, they couldn’t extract any oil, regardless of whether they made a wish

It’s not wishing for nibbāna that leads there, but rather putting in the intelligent effort required to walk the path.

That bhikkhu sees the Dhamma. Seeing the Dhamma, he sees [the Tathāgata].

To see the Dhamma is to see the Buddha and to be close to him, even when physically far away.

[The] discourse appears indeed as a rather formidable assemblage of stern messages. Yet, for one who is familiar with the Buddha Word, this will be softened by the fact that in numerous discourses the Buddha spoke of his Teaching as one that offers “gradual training, gradual progress.” It is here that the Buddha’s gentleness and compassion appears, his forbearance with human frailties, and his wise and patient guidance of men.

Nyanaponika Thera’s translation of MN 22 including notes mostly from the commentarial tradition. Contains well-known Buddhist similies such as the famous one on getting hold of a snake and the parabale of the raft illustrating the right way to hold views.

If he strikes an elephant, he does it carefully…

When the Buddha teaches, he respects his audience.

… these four people similar to vipers are found in the world

It seems that we are actually impermanent, though we thought ourselves permanent; it seems that we are actually transient, though we thought ourselves everlasting

A lion’s roar terrifies beasts. The Buddha’s teaching terrifies the gods.

You, a person:
subdue your desire for people.

A monk in the forest lets his mind drift to thoughts of the lay life, and is exhorted by a local deity.

… a gentleman who goes forth from the lay life to homelessness in this teaching and training should anticipate four dangers

The risks of (metaphorical) waves, crocodiles, whirlpools, and sharks.

such a monk gives up the here and the beyond,
just as a serpent sheds its worn-out skin

As we advance along the path, we shed our old attachments.

What kind of person, bhikkhus, is like a rainless cloud?

Three types of people: one like a cloud without rain, one who rains locally, and one who rains everywhere.

Even in a confining place they find it,
the Dhamma for the attainment of unbinding.

Pañcālacaṇḍa praises the Buddha for finding the opening amid the confinement of the world. But the Buddha affirms that anyone with mindfulness and stillness may find such an escape.

By not halting, friend, and by not straining I crossed the flood.

How the Buddha crossed the flood of suffering.

… 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.

Araka was a famous teacher long ago, when the life span was much greater than today. Nevertheless, he still taught impermanence; how much more is it relevant to us today.

When one’s house is ablaze
The vessel taken out
Is the one that is useful,
Not the one left burnt inside.

A deity recites some verses to the Buddha.

Should any non-human think to overthrow their mind, they’ll eventually get weary and frustrated.

As it is not possible to bend back a spear, it is not possible to overthrow a mendicant who has developed love.

It’s like a bungalow with a bad roof. The roof peak, rafters, and walls are unprotected. They get soaked, and become rotten.

Protecting your mind is like protecting a house.

See this fancy puppet,
a body built of sores…

Some of the most clever turns of image in Pāli poetry.

… of all the grounds for making worldly merit, none are worth a sixteenth part of the heart’s release by love.

Goodwill far outshines all other ways of making merit.

No life is eternal, not even that of the gods;
what then of sensual pleasures so hollow…

The Princess Sumedhā pulls out all the stops to convince her family to let her ordain, showing off her impressive knowledge of the Buddha’s teachings.

When a person lives heedlessly,
craving grows in them…

… the jackal is used to suggest that heretics, heterodox teachers, and other negatively perceived figures should be condemned not merely because of the actions they engage in or the teachings they propagate, but also because they are constitutionally inferior

Wherever he goes, stands, sits, or lies down he meets with tragedy

Obsession with wealth, fame, and honor is like being a jackal with mange.

… 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.

… that is how the discourses spoken by the Realized One—deep, profound, transcendent, dealing with emptiness—will disappear.

As an ancient drum has disintegrated, so too will the true teachings eventually be forgotten.

It is interesting to compare this sutta to AN 5.71 which seems to compare Enlightenment with tearing down a city.

This article proposes to “decode” the twin miracle and the miracle to convert Aṅgulimāla as coded repudiations of rival karma theories, and to examine their relevance to the modern world.

Buddhist literature offers us the only narratives from this period that feature to any great extent the nautical or maritime traveller as hero.

… a consideration of metaphor in the uraga verses refrain, and how the refrain may be an example of early Buddhist non-dualism

… you should ignore that person’s impure behavior

A series of remarkable similes illustrate the lengths we should go to to remove resent.

… the tradition is utterly confused and at a loss what to read. The commentarial tradition of interpretation, however, is unequivocal: the word ve(X)a- means ‘strap, thong’ […] and most modern scholars have joined them.

A compelling, new reading of the famous simile in the Mahāparinabbāna Sutta of the Buddha’s body being held together “by straps.”

… it is impossible that they should teach the path to that which they neither know nor see

The simile of the blind leading the blind followed by lovely similes for the chords of sensual pleasure and the hindrances, as well as for their overcoming via the limitless, divine abidings.

… a trapper doesn’t cast bait for deer thinking, ‘May the deer, enjoying this bait, be healthy and in good condition. May they live long and prosper!’ 🖖

A lovely illustration of the importance of samatha jhana for living the holy life sustainably, and a memorable simile on the ways that Mara can trap a mendicant.

I will not perish

… who can untangle this tangle?

A brahmin with matted hair asks the Buddha how we can become disentangled. This short set of verses became one of the most important in all of Theravāda Buddhism when it was used as the cornerstone of Buddhaghosa’s Visuddhimagga.

… what is the reason why these various misconceptions arise in the world?

The wanderer Vacchagotta asks the Buddha why the various speculative views come to be. The Buddha replies that it is because of not knowing activity.

How is a sentient being defined?

Rādha asks the Buddha, who compares craving and rebirth to a child playing with sandcastles.

Is it only now that that fire is painful to touch, hot, and scorching, or previously too was that fire painful to touch, hot, and scorching?

… suppose an oil-lamp is burning: its oil is impermanent and subject to change

Well, Reverend Anuruddha, when you say: ‘With clairvoyance that is purified and surpasses the human, I survey the entire galaxy,’ that’s your conceit.

Anuruddha receives a sharp teaching.

Bhikkhus, there are these ten fetters.

Five lower and five higher.

Indeed, I have long been tricked, cheated, and defrauded by this mind.

A fun and surprising sutta in which a bumbling but faithful Brahmin is set straight.

So, Ānanda, deeds are the field, consciousness is the seed, and craving is the moisture.

How consciousness, karma, and craving create and sustain future lives.

Insofar as it disintegrates, it is called the ‘world.’

nibbāna is not a destination after death.

A transcribed sermon arguing against this common misconception of nibbāna.

a perilous flood has arisen,
for those oppressed by old age and death,
let me declare an island to you.
Owning nothing, taking nothing:
this is the island with nothing further.
I call this [island] ‘nibbāna,’
the extinction of old age and death.

How to recognize an emancipated person.

Interesting to note: one of the methods mentioned was tried recently, with results exactly as reported.

… five people similar to warriors are found among the monks

Some warriors, like some monks, falter before the threat of battle, while others emerge victorious.

Move in your own resort, bhikkhus, in your own ancestral domain. Mara will not gain access to those who move in their own resort.

The parable of the quail and the hawk.

“Possessions, honor, and popularity are brutal, bitter, and harsh. They’re an obstacle to reaching the supreme sanctuary.
So you should train like this: ‘We will give up arisen possessions, honor, and popularity, and we won’t let them occupy our minds.’

In which the Buddha compares attachment to wealth to a dung beetle proud of her dung.

Find another translation by Bhante Sujato on SuttaCentral.

What do you think, chief? Could a broad rock rise up or float because of prayers?

The Buddha excoriates a chief for believing that prayers can send someone to heaven.

A monkey went up to the little hut

A canonical basis for the ubiquitous “monkey mind” metaphor.

Whoso has boys, has sorrow of his boys,
Whoso has kine, by kine come his annoys.
Man’s assets, these of all his woes are chief.
Who has no more, no more has grief.

In this dramatic poem, the Buddha and a cowherd debate who is more prepared for a coming storm.

Suppose a man were struck by an arrow thickly smeared with poison.

[There is] a time for listening to the teaching, a time for discussing the teaching, a time for serenity, and a time for discernment.

The Buddha said to them: “Mendicants, what’s with that dreadful racket? You’d think it was fishermen hauling in a catch!”

The Buddha describes the four dangers one can expect after going forth.

Thus, Rahula, you should train yourself, ‘I will not tell a deliberate lie even in jest.’

Using the “object lesson” of a cup of water, the Buddha explains to his son, Rāhula, the importance of telling the truth and reflecting on one’s motives.

Here, bhikkhus, someone in pain and grief abstains from killing living beings, and he experiences pain and grief that have abstention from killing living beings as condition.

In this sutta, the Buddha admits that following the ethical path isn’t always pleasant. Still, he assures us it’s worthwhile in the end. But the best path of practice is that which is pleasant now and in the future.

‘What the hell, Kāḷī!’

Mendicants, there are these five ways in which others might criticize you. Their speech may be timely or untimely, true or false, gentle or harsh, beneficial or harmful, from a heart of love or from secret hate. When others criticize you, they may do so in any of these ways. If that happens, you should train like this: ‘Our minds will remain unaffected.’

Even if low-down bandits were to sever you limb from limb, anyone who had a malevolent thought on that account would not be following my instructions.

If you frequently reflect on this advice–the simile of the saw–do you see any criticism, large or small, that you could not endure?”

A discourse full of vibrant and memorable images on the importance of patience and love even when faced with abuse and criticism.

So this holy life, bhikkhus, does not have gain, honour, and renown for its benefit, or the attainment of virtue for its benefit, or the attainment of concentration for its benefit, or knowledge and vision for its benefit. But it is this unshakeable deliverance of mind that is the goal of this holy life, its heartwood, and its end.

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.

To approach what, for the want of a better term, we call the mythic portions of the Nikāyas with the attitude that such categories as “mythic symbol” and “literally true” are absolutely opposed is to adopt an attitude that is out of time and place. It seems to me that in some measure we must allow both a literal and a psychological interpretation. Both are there in the texts.

Note that I (~KhBh) have removed pages 206–210 from the linked PDF as they contain a lengthy and irrelevant digression into Mahāyāna doctrine. If you’re interested, you can find the full article here.

Suppose a person was to catch six animals, with diverse territories and feeding grounds, and tie them up with a strong rope.

A mendicant goes to a series of teachers and asks how vision is purified. Dissatisfied with all their answers, he complains to the Buddha, who illustrates his quandary with the famous simile of the Kiṁsuka tree.

Now suppose that in the autumn—when it’s raining in fat, heavy drops—a water bubble were to appear & disappear on the water, and a man with sight were to see it. To him it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance could there be in a bubble? In the same way, a man with wisdom sees a feeling. To him it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance could there be in a feeling?

The Buddha gives a series of similes for the aggregates: physical form is like foam, feeling is like a bubble, perception is like a mirage, choices are like a coreless tree, and consciousness is like an illusion.

Reverend Sāriputta, what things should an ethical mendicant properly attend to?

Mahākoṭṭhita asks and Sāriputta replies that if they focus on the aggregates as impermanent, etc. they may become a stream-enterer.

… what is confinement, and what is the opening amid confinement that the Buddha spoke of?

At Udāyī’s request, Ānanda explains an obscure verse spoken (in SN 2.7) by a deity. The nine progressive meditations are the gradual escape from confinement.

Upāli, it’s not easy to endure isolated wilderness & forest lodgings. It’s not easy to maintain seclusion, not easy to enjoy being alone. The forests, as it were, plunder the mind of a monk who has not gained concentration.

When Upāli asks to go into retreat, the Buddha warns him that secluded wilderness dwellings are hard to endure unless one is accomplished in meditation. He gives a long account of the training required before going into solitude, and ends by encouraging Upāli to stay in the Saṅgha.

Just as two sheaves of reeds might stand leaning against each other, so too, with name-and-form as condition, consciousness comes to be; with consciousness as condition, name-and-form comes to be.

Venerables Mahākoṭṭhita and Sāriputta discuss whether the factors of dependent origination are created by oneself, another, both, or by chance.

Have you seen the variegated and different colours of a caraṇa bird?

The Buddha encourages the monks to investigate the five aggregates, giving a few colorful similes to illustrate their nature.

For those who have one love, they have one suffering.
For those who love nothing, they have no sorrow.

Lady Visākhā wished for many grandchildren.

The person who’s to their body-cave
Clouded by many moods…

Those who remain attached to the body, to sensuality, and to their sense of “mine” will have a hard time freeing themselves from fear of death and from further rebirths.

Whatever doubts there are…
The meditators give up all these

The Buddha rejoices in Ven. Revata’s diligent meditation.

doing his manly duties,
[he] won’t fall away
from ease.

A short poem on arousing energy in the practice.

let a mindful one avoid at every turn
these sense-desires,
with them abandoned,
cross the flood

“What meditation does Venerable Anuruddha practice so that physical pain doesn’t occupy his mind?”

There is carnal happiness, there is spiritual happiness, and there is happiness more spiritual than the spiritual.

Monks! All is aflame!

The “all” consisting of the six interior and exterior sense fields, that is. This is the famous “third sermon” taught at Gayā’s Head to the followers of the three Kassapa brothers.

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.’

Old age and death roll in upon all like mountains approaching from the four directions, crushing all in their path.

What is the one thing, O Gotama, Whose killing you approve?

Monk, monk! This ant-hill fumes by night and flames by day. The brahmin said, ‘Take up the sword and dig, O sage!’

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

An instructed noble disciple also meets gain and loss, disrepute and fame, blame and praise, and pleasure and pain.

The eight worldly conditions in detail.

… use these five methods to completely get rid of resentment when it has arisen towards anyone

Five reflections to eliminate enmity in brief.

Though it sprouted and grew in the water, it would rise up above the water and stand with no water clinging to it. In the same way, the Realized One has escaped

Giving up ten things, the Buddha lives free of limits.

The dhamma-cakka, the ever moving Wheel of Law, is the most prominent symbol of the Buddhists.

… numerological observations were made in the number entries in the Rhys Davidsʼ and Stedeʼs Pāli-English Dictionary, but I am aware of little since then. However, we can make a few general observations.

The lotus is rooted and grows in the slimy mud at the bottom of a pond. As it moves upward and blossoms forth, the white lotus is untainted by the mud of the Earth. Likewise, the successful monk emerges clean and purified of the world

… of all the attempts to describe the etymology of the word nibbāna, the closest is the one Buddhaghosa proposed in The Path of Purification: Un- (nir) + binding (vāna): Unbinding

Ajahn Geoff explores the symbolism of extinguishment from the context of ancient Indian physics in order to give us a new (old) take on this central image of Buddhist soteriology.

For a more thorough index, see The Comprehensive Index of Pali Suttas.

… literalism, if not originating from artistic representations, would certainly have been encouraged by them.

Venerable Anālayo makes a compelling argument that fire miracles in the Canon came from symbolism and early Buddhist artistic motifs that came to be taken too literally, showing one example of how early Buddhist art influenced the texts.

… this similarity is neither accidental, nor caused by the Buddha’s inability to free himself from the mental paradigms of his culture. I would rather argue that he formulated Pratityasamutpada as a polemic against Vedic thought.

For the Ven. Sunyo and Bh. Sujato’s somewhat sceptical reaction to this article, see “Is Dependent Origination a Parody?” on SuttaCentral.

Consistent precedence given to the development of contentment during all activities as well as when settling down for formal meditation goes a long way in preparing the ground for what is, in a way, the direct result of contentment: a mind that is happily settled within and therefore able to gain deep concentration.

Part two of Anālayo’s “excursions,” he continues to explore key Pāli terms, this time exploring Upādāna, Sakkāyadiṭṭhi, Sammādiṭṭhi, Saṅkhārā, Vitakka, Yoniso Manasikāra, Vipassanā, Samatha & Vipassanā, Samādhi, Viveka, Vossagga, and Suññatā.

These two complementary perspectives on happiness — distinguishing between unwholesome and wholesome types and treating the stages of development of its wholesome manifestations — run like a red thread through the entire compass of the teachings in the Pāli discourses, from instructions on basic morality through the path of mental purification all the way up to full awakening.

Bhikkhu Anālayo analyzes a dozen key doctrinal terms in depth: exploring their meaning, nature, imagery and importance.

The narrative of MSud also tells the story of Mahāsudassana’s withdrawal from his city into its inner sanctum, the Palace of Dhamma — a journey from the outer world of the city to the inner world of the Palace of Dhamma

Rupert Gethin puts our attention on a myth in the DN we’d normally skip over and wonders how ancient Buddhists would have understood this tale.

A very famous example of poetic analysis and hermeneutics in action at the time of the Buddha, this sutta gives several subtle cues on how to read obscure passages.

Just as the beautiful lotus blossom grows up from the mud and water, so one with an enlightened mind develops out of the ranks of ordinary beings

The early Buddhists of ancient India did not represent the Buddha with anthropomorphic statues as is ubiquitous now. This essay explores the symbols and objects that were venerated in the early period after the Buddha’s death.

The fire of lust burns mortals; Infatuated by sensual pleasures

A short, poetic description of Nibbāna.