Monks, there are these three effluents. Which three?

A short poem on the ending of the out-flows.

One who betters their birth, one who equals their birth, and one who fails their birth.

Whatever the history of the text, though, it has long been one of the favorite collections in the Pali canon, for it covers a wide range of the Buddha’s teachings — from the simplest to the most profound — in a form that is accessible, appealing, and to the point.

Thānissaro’s translation is crisp and concise and offers useful footnotes in many places, elucidating many sticking points for Buddhist practitioners.

A full meal is best enjoyed on an empty stomach. And the suttas will fill our minds and hearts, but only if we respect their empty spaces.

… if this person were to die at this time, as if carried there he would be placed in heaven.

Giving and moral conduct,
developing a mind of love…

The three grounds for meritorious activity.

Bhikkhus, those beings are thoroughly deprived who are deprived of noble wisdom.

Beings go to a bad bourn
Because of mind’s corruption.

When mindfulness of breathing is well-established internally in front of you, there will be no distressing external thoughts or wishes. When you meditate observing the impermanence of all conditions, ignorance is given up and knowledge arises.

A pithy summary of the path.

The fleshly eye, the divine eye, and the wisdom eye. These, bhikkhus, are the three eyes.

You are my children, my sons, born from my mouth, born of the Dhamma…

The Buddha compares himself and his disciples to the Brahmins, and encourages his community to be as open-handed with the Dhamma as he was.

Devadatta,
–regarded as wise, composed,
incandescent with honor–
in the thrall of heedlessness
assaulted the Tathāgata…

Conquered by three forms of false Dhamma, Devadatta was incurably doomed to hell.

Bhikkhus, the formless is more peaceful than the form realm, and cessation is more peaceful than the formless.

Mendicants, don’t fear good deeds. For ‘good deeds’ is a term for happiness…

The Buddha recalls the results he himself has experienced from doing meritorious deeds.

The Nibbāna element with residue remaining (Sōpādisesa Nibbāna) and the Nibbāna element with no residue remaining (Anupādisesa Nibbāna).

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

Sensual search, the search for being,
The search for a holy life …

searches
And the origin of searches,
Where they cease and the path…

… by not grasping anything he should remain undisturbed.

The Buddha’s pithy instructions to samma-samādhi.

But by fully understanding what is expressed
One does not misconceive the speaker.

Four translations of this sutta from John Ireland, Ajahn Geoff, SuttaFriends, and Bhante Sujato respectively showing how Pāḷi poetry can often be translated in various ways.

Greed is that one thing, bhikkhus. Abandon that and I guarantee you non-return.

Abandoning greed is most, though not all, of the path.

Bhikkhus, held by two kinds of views, some devas and human beings hold back and some overreach; only those with vision see.

How craving for being or annihilation blind us to dependent origination.

With craving his companion, a man
wanders on a long, long time.

What can cause a monk to be reborn?

But those who have abandoned craving…

The three cravings and what it’s like to be beyond their grasp.

Suppose, bhikkhus, a man was being borne along by the current of a river…

An extended metaphor for the dangers of “going with the flow.”

Tied by the yoke of sensuality & the yoke of becoming, monks, one is a returner, returning to this state…

Bhikkhus, two thoughts often occur to the Tathāgata…

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.

I do not perceive another single factor so helpful as good friendship…

Friendship with admirable people is the prime external factor to help those in training.

Aspiring to these three forms of bliss, a wise person should guard his virtue.

Blissful is concord in the Saṅgha.

Concord in the Sangha leads to the welfare and happiness of many beings, both human and divine.

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.

When a deva is due to pass away from a company of devas, five prognostic signs appear…

How does a god die?

Householders and homeless alike,
Each a support for the other

The reciprocal ways in which monks and lay supporters benefit each other.

… a bhikkhu who is without ardour and without fear of wrongdoing is incapable of attaining enlightenment

A bhikkhu who in such a manner is ardent and afraid of wrongdoing is called constantly energetic and resolute.

A short sutta stressing the foundation of ethics on which insight meditation must rest.

Bhikkhus, these three kinds of unwholesome thoughts produce blindness, lack of vision, and absence of knowledge; they obstruct wisdom, lead to vexation, and are not conducive to Nibbāna.

Along with three kinds of wholesome thoughts.

… by thoroughly understanding conceit, he has made an end of suffering.

How the three types of feeling should be viewed.

The fire of lust burns mortals; Infatuated by sensual pleasures

A short, poetic description of Nibbāna.