Venerables, how does a noble disciple have right perspective?

Venerable Sāriputta gives a detailed explanation of Right View, the first factor of the noble eightfold path. At the prompting of the other mendicants, he approaches the topic from a wide range of perspectives.

They must have done a good deed to be experienced as pleasant either previously or later, or else at the time of death they undertook Right View. And that’s why, when their body broke up, after death, they were reborn in a good place, a heavenly realm.

When Samiddhi presented an poorly distilled summary of the Buddha’s teachings to an outsider (saying that all deeds ultimately result in suffering), the Buddha corrected him by emphasizing the nuances of how karma can play out over multiple lifetimes.

Being censured in this way by the Teacher, by wise companions in the holy life, by gods, and by himself, he realises no superhuman state, no distinction in knowledge and vision worthy of the noble ones. Why is that? That is how it is with one who does not fulfil the training in the Teacher’s Dispensation.

Venerable Bhaddāli refuses to follow the rule forbidding eating after noon, but is eventually filled with remorse and confesses to the Buddha who stresses the importance of following the monastic rules before forgiving him.

Rāhula, what do you think? Is the eye permanent or impermanent?

The Buddha takes Rāhula with him to a secluded spot in order to lead him on to liberation.

Remote jungle-thicket resting places in the forest are hard to endure, seclusion is hard to practise, and it is hard to enjoy solitude.

The Buddha explains the difficulties of living in the wilderness, and how they are overcome by purity of conduct and meditation. He recounts some of the fears and obstacles he faced during his own practice and how he overcame them all.

Why am I afraid of that pleasure that has nothing to do with sensual pleasures and unwholesome states?

The Buddha responds to a follower of another religion with a long account of the various austerities he practiced before awakening, detailing the astonishing lengths he took to learn the truth of the body and feelings.

Is this venerable one restrained without fear, not restrained by fear, and does he avoid indulging in sensual pleasures because he is without lust through the destruction of lust?

The Buddha gives a thorough and exacting method for those who wish to investigate his qualifications as a spiritual teacher.

The wardens of hell punish them with the five-fold crucifixion. They drive red-hot stakes through the hands and feet, and another in the middle of the chest. And there they feel painful, sharp, severe, acute feelings—but they don’t die until that bad deed is eliminated.

A fool suffers both in this life and the next, while the astute benefits in both respects.

A ‘position,’ Vaccha, is something that a Tathāgata has done away with.

Refusing to take a stance regarding useless metaphysical speculations, the Buddha illustrates the spiritual goal with the simile of a flame going out.

But because it is known by me, seen, found, realised, contacted by wisdom thus: ‘Here, when someone feels a certain kind of pleasant feeling, unwholesome states increase in him and wholesome states diminish,’ that I therefore say: ‘Abandon such a kind of pleasant feeling.’

The Buddha admonishes a group of monks who refused to give up eating in the afternoon with a unique teaching on the stages of the path.

… for a long time you have learned the teachings, remembering them, reciting them, mentally scrutinizing them, and comprehending them theoretically. But a disciple should value following the Teacher, even if asked to go away …

A group of mendicants have taken to socializing too much, so the Buddha teaches on the importance of seclusion in order to enter into emptiness.

Surely, venerable sir, we are living in concord, with mutual appreciation, without disputing, blending like milk and water, viewing each other with kindly eyes.

The Buddha comes across three mendicants practicing diligently and harmoniously, and asks them how they do it. They explain how they skillfully deal with the practical affairs of living together. Only when pressed by the Buddha do they reveal their attainments.

King Pasenadi entered the dwelling. He prostrated himself at the Blessed One’s feet, and then he covered the Blessed One’s feet with kisses, caressing them with his hands and pronouncing his name…

King Pasenadi, near the end of his life, visits the Buddha, and pronounces the reasons for his devotion.

What kind of person does not torment himself, not being interested in self-torture, and does not torment others, not being interested in torturing others?

Contrasting the openness of animals with the duplicity of humans, The Buddha explains how to lead the religious life in a way that is truly admirable.

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.

… he cuts its inner bark and takes it away, thinking it is heartwood; and so whatever it was he had to make with heartwood, his purpose will not be served.

After the incident with Devadatta, the Buddha cautions the mendicants against becoming complacent and points to liberation as the true heart of the teachings.

Take a mendicant who declares enlightenment: ‘I understand: “Rebirth is ended, the spiritual journey has been completed, what had to be done has been done, there is no return to any state of existence.”’ You should neither approve nor dismiss that mendicant’s statement. Rather, you should question them…

How to reply to someone claiming to be an arahant.

But what is that ultimate splendor compared to which no other splendor is finer?

A wanderer teaches his doctrine of the “highest splendor” but is unable to give a satisfactory account of what that means. The Buddha memorably compares him to someone who is in love with a women he has never met.

Monks, after consideration, that monk is to leave that wilderness grove; he is not to live there.

The factors a Buddhist should consider when deciding where to stay.

Learn the recitation passage and analysis of One Fine Night, mendicant, memorize it, and remember it. It is beneficial and relates to the fundamentals of the spiritual life.

The verses from MN 131 are explained in a different way by Venerable Mahakaccāna.

what leads to imperturbability are the insights that:

1. sensual pleasures are defiling and obstructing,
2. material forms are made up of the four elements,
3. the above two and perceptions of them are impermanent.

[an analysis of] the meditative approaches to imperturbability depicted in MN 106 and its Chinese and Tibetan parallels.

… there is no true wandering: that is how it appears to me

Venerable Udena explains to a polite but sceptical Brahmin what makes someone a true recluse.

Then it occurred to me, ‘I can’t achieve that pleasure with a body so excessively emaciated. Why don’t I eat some solid food, some rice and porridge?’

The Buddha tells the story of his striving to a faithful Brahmin.

… if the people of Sunāparanta abuse and threaten me, then I shall think: These people of Sunāparanta are admirable, truly admirable, in that they did not give me a blow with the fist.

An astute monk shows how to practice patience as an immigrant.

But because, Master Gotama, monks, nuns, celibate laymen, laymen enjoying sensual pleasures, celibate laywomen, and laywomen enjoying sensual pleasures have all succeeded in this teaching, this spiritual path is complete in that respect.

Vacchagotta finally lets go of his obsession with meaningless speculation and asks directly about spiritual practice.

What did you expect, Aggivessana? For Prince Jayasena—living in the midst of sensuality, consuming sensuality, chewed on by thoughts of sensuality, burning with the fever of sensuality, intent on the search for sensuality—to know or see or realize that which is to be known through renunciation, seen through renunciation, attained through renunciation, realized through renunciation: That’s impossible.

The Buddha gives an outline of the ideal monastic life: from the level of the untamed to the level of the tamed.

… 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.

… why did you get up from your seat and leave while there was still more left to do?

A corrupt tax-collector is (partially) redeemed by an encounter with Venerable Sāriputta.

[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.

The Buddha calls right view the forerunner of the path (pubbaṅgama), which gives direction and efficacy to the other seven path factors.

Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli’s translation of MN 9 and its commentary by Buddhaghosa. This sutta, expounded not by the Buddha but Sāriputta, is an expansive study into the different facets of Right View.

… ascetics and brahmins who are not free of greed, hate, and delusion for sights known by the eye, who are not peaceful inside, and who conduct themselves badly among the good by way of body, speech, and mind. They don’t deserve honor, respect, reverence, and veneration.

In discussion with a group of householders, the Buddha helps them to distinguish those spiritual practitioners who are worthy of respect from those who aren’t.

There is no single bhikkhu, brahmin, who possesses in each and every way all those qualities that were possessed by the Blessed One, accomplished and fully enlightened. For the Blessed One was the arouser of the unarisen path

Some time after the Buddha’s Parinibbāna, Ven. Ānanda and some brahmins discuss how the Saṅgha will carry on without him.

… how is a mendicant qualified to be called ‘astute, an inquirer’?

Beginning by praising a wise person, the Buddha goes on to explain that one becomes wise by inquiring into the elements, sense fields, dependent origination, and karma.

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.

The Buddha sets up a framework on things to be cultivated or avoided and Venerable Sāriputta elaborates.

… when people put clean things, unclean things, excrement, urine, saliva, pus, or blood on the earth, the earth is not bothered, humiliated, or disgusted, in the same way, Rāhula, practice ‘peacefulness of earth’ meditation.

Then Venerable Rāhula, thinking “How could one who has been personally advised by the Blessed One enter a village for alms?” turned back, sat at the base of a tree, crossed his legs, set his body upright, and established mindfulness.

The Buddha tells Rāhula to meditate on not-self, which he immediately puts into practice. Seeing him, Venerable Sāriputta advises him to develop breath meditation, but the Buddha suggests a wide range of different practices first.

This article surveys references to mindfulness-related meditations found in Pāli discourses in the first five chapters of the Majjhima-nikāya and their parallels, showing the ubiquity of a concern with contemplative practices in early Buddhist thought.

One should know what it is to extol and what it is to disparage, and knowing both, one should neither extol nor disparage but should teach only the Dhamma. One should know how to define pleasure, and knowing that; one should pursue pleasure within oneself.

Achieving peace is no simple matter. The Buddha explains how to avoid conflict through contentment, right speech, understanding pleasure, and not insisting on provincial conventions.

I’d hold his head with my left hand, and take [the stone] out using a hooked finger of my right hand, even if it drew blood.

The leader of the Jains, Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta, gives his disciple Prince Abhaya a dilemma to pose to the Buddha.

… there is no way a personal offering can be more fruitful than one bestowed on a Saṅgha

When his step-mother Mahāpajāpatī wishes to offer him a robe for his personal use, the Buddha encourages her to offer it to the entire Saṅgha instead. He goes on to explain that the best kind of offering to the Saṅgha is one given to the dual community of monks and nuns.

… while I was seeking one door to the Deathless, I have come—all at once—to hear of eleven!

Venerable Ānanda teaches a wealthy merchant how to use eleven different meditative states as gateways to enlightenment.

Then Māra came up out of Moggallāna’s mouth and stood against the door

Venerable Mahāmoggallāna confronts the evil one with a surprising tale.

The lay life is like farming in that it’s work with many requirements and when it fails it’s not very fruitful; but when it succeeds it is very fruitful.

Working hard is not valuable in and of itself; what matters is the outcome. And just as in lay life, spiritual practice may or may not lead to fruitful results.

… if someone were to say: ‘[Sensual pleasure] is the highest pleasure and joy that can be experienced,’ I would not concede that. And why not? Because there is another kind of pleasure which surpasses that

The Buddha resolves a disagreement on the number of kinds of feelings that he taught, pointing out that different ways of teaching are appropriate in different contexts, and should not be a cause for arguments. He goes on to explain the importance of pleasure in developing meditation.

I cannot make that person emerge from the unwholesome and establish him in the wholesome.’ one should not underrate equanimity towards such a person.

The Buddha outlines when and how monks should reprove one another.

… even this view of yours, Aggivessana—‘All is not pleasing to me’—is even that not pleasing to you?

Deftly outmaneuvering an extreme skeptic, the Buddha discusses the outcomes of belief and disbelief. Rather than getting stuck in abstractions, he encourages staying close to one’s experiences.

Recorded from 2009 to 2015, this series of over two hundred videos is nearly as long as the rest of the series combined.

For a translation of this sutta’s semicanonical commentaries, see Bhikkhu Bodhi’s The Root of Existence.

is one a brahmin due to birth,
or else because of actions?

Two brahmin students ask the Buddha about what makes a brahmin. The Buddha points out that, while the species of animals are determined by birth, for humans what matters is not your race or caste but how you chose to live.

Brahmin, I don’t say that coming from an eminent family makes you a better or worse person. I don’t say that being very beautiful makes you a better or worse person. I don’t say that being very wealthy makes you a better or worse person.

The Buddha strongly rejects the caste system and the “prosperity gospel” interpretation of Karma.

It’s incredible, sir, it’s amazing! How the Buddha tames those who are wild

One of the most beloved stories in the Pāli Canon.

‘I don’t say it’s like this. I don’t say it’s like that. I don’t say it’s otherwise. I don’t say it’s not so. And I don’t deny it’s not so.’
A sensible person reflects on this matter in this way: ‘This teacher is dull and stupid.’

Venerable Ānanda lists eight warning signs to avoid when choosing a spiritual teaching: starting with materialism and ending with a few answers to common questions about the Arahants.

The Buddha has rid us of so many things that bring suffering and gifted us so many things that bring happiness!

… take a person practicing to give up and let go of attachments. As they do so, every so often they lose mindfulness, and memories and thoughts connected with attachments beset them. Their mindfulness is slow to come up, but they quickly give them up, get rid of, eliminate, and obliterate those thoughts. I also call this person ‘fettered’, not ‘detached’. Why is that?

Udāyī, I even recommend giving up the dimension of neither perception nor non-perception. Do you see any fetter, large or small, that I don’t recommend giving up?

Again raising the rule regarding eating, but this time as a reflection of gratitude for the Buddha in eliminating things that cause complexity and stress. The Buddha emphasizes how attachment even to little things is dangerous and a burden.

“unintentional acts are not very blameworthy.”
“But if they are intentional?”
“Then they are very blameworthy.”
“But where does Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta say that intention is classified?”
“In the mental rod, sir.”

The Buddha debates karma with a rich supporter of the Jains, winning him over.

Master Gotama, are there any laypeople who, without giving up the fetter of lay life, make an end of suffering when the body breaks up?

On the limits of the lay life… and the Buddha’s omniscience.

… 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.

It’s incredible, reverends, it’s amazing, the power and might of a Realized One!

Venerable Ānanda is invited by the Buddha to speak on the Buddha’s amazing qualities, and proceeds to list the miraculous events accompanying his birth. The Buddha ends the list with what he thinks is amazing.

If a person has faith, they preserve truth by saying, ‘Such is my faith.’ But they don’t yet come to the definite conclusion: ‘This is the only truth, other ideas are silly.’

The Buddha instructs a Brahmin on the right way to talk about religion and how to make our way through the thicket of views to arrive at the truth.

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.

Wisdom and consciousness–these things are mixed, not separate. And you can never completely dissect them

Venerable Sāriputta deftly defines a bewildering array of terms.

I have taught the Dhamma compared to a raft, for the purpose of crossing over, not for the purpose of holding onto. Understanding the Dhamma as taught compared to a raft, you should let go even of Dhammas, to say nothing of non-Dhammas.

In this famous and much-celebrated sutta, the Buddha teaches how to properly grasp Buddhist philosophy so as not to lead to more suffering.

One should not neglect wisdom, should preserve truth, should cultivate relinquishment, and should train for peace.

A monk spends the evening in a barn with the Buddha, who rewards the well-mannered disciple with an elaborate and profound discourse on the path and its fruit.

… by depending and relying on the six kinds of joy based on renunciation, abandon and surmount the six kinds of joy based on the household life

The Buddha gives a discourse on the six sense bases, culminating in a unique statement of the Buddha’s own basis of equanimity while teaching.

He doesn’t assume consciousness to be the self, or the self as possessing consciousness, or consciousness as in the self, or the self as in consciousness.

The Buddha gives a long discourse on the five aggregates ending in his own repudiation of the idea that not-self contradicts the law of karma.

When a space is enclosed by sticks, creepers, grass, and mud it becomes known as a ‘building’. In the same way, when a space is enclosed by bones, sinews, flesh, and skin it becomes known as a ‘form’.

The Venerable Sāriputta shows how all of the teachings fit inside the Four Noble Truths.

Sāriputta is able to teach, assert, establish, clarify, analyze, and reveal the four noble truths.

Bhikkhus, before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened Bodhisatta, I too, being myself subject to birth, sought what was also subject to birth

The Buddha’s own spiritual autobiography, from searching to finding true deliverance.

For an index of Pāli names across the entire Sutta Piṭaka, see the sutta name index.

It’s still highly recommended that you get the monograph though, as many important suttas are missing from this anthology and the endnotes and introductions in the original are quite helpful.

About a third of the suttas have been made available for free by the publisher under a Creative Commons License and have been collected into this open source booklet for your consideration. Furthermore, the rest of the book can be read on their website for free if you sign up for a (free) account.

The original draft of the book by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli can be found online as either his handwritten notes or as an incomplete, typed manuscript.

In this thousand-page tome, Bhikkhu Analayo goes systematically through the MN, one sutta at a time, and explains how the Pāli text differs (or not) from its parallels preserved in Sanskrit, Chinese and Tibetan. Perhaps surprisingly, they don’t differ all that much, though in some places the differences do shed light on the original teaching and shows what kinds of changes occurred to the texts during the process of transmission.

The book begins and ends with Bhikkhu Analayo’s reflections on the EBTs and the process of oral transmission, and while the book could certainly be read cover-to-cover, the primary way to use this book is as a reference work alongside the Majjhima Nikāya.

You can also download the book for free at the University of Hamburg website:

• Volume 1 and Volume 2

… although I have long waited upon the Teacher and bhikkhus worthy of esteem, never before have I heard such a talk on the Dhamma

A beautiful reading of this wonderful and profound sutta.

Sensual pleasures give little gratification and much suffering and distress, and they are all the more full of drawbacks. Even though a noble disciple has clearly seen this with right wisdom, so long as they don’t achieve the rapture and bliss that are apart from sensual pleasures and unskillful qualities, or something even more peaceful than that, they might still return to sensual pleasures.

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 for letting go. But he also criticizes self-mortification, and recounts a previous dialog with some Jain ascetics.

You can find part two here.

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

For Bhikkhu Analayo’s comments on this sutta, see Upakkilesa Sutta, 2008.

Bhante Sujato pointed out that this sutta is likely a response to the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 4.3 which claims that “man’s inner light” is his infinite, eternal “self.” The traditional Hindu commentary on this Upaniṣad (inline above) takes pains to respond to the Buddhist critique.

[A meditator’s] physical discomfort is not completely settled, their dullness and drowsiness is not completely eradicated, and their restlessness and remorse is not completely eliminated. Because of this they practice absorption dimly, as it were. When their body breaks up, after death, they’re reborn in the company of the gods of corrupted radiance.

A lay person becomes confused when encouraged to develop the “limitless” and “expansive” liberations, and asks Venerable Anuruddha to explain whether they are the same or different.

For a more detailed, comparative analysis including a practice guide, see Bhikkhu Analayo’sarticle: “Gradual Entry into Emptiness”.

For the more straightforward analysis of the Path, see SN 45.8.

Mendicants, sensual pleasures are impermanent, hollow, false, and deceptive, made by illusion, cooed over by fools.

The Buddha outlines a number of reflections conducive to attaining imperturbable states, and ends by warning Ānanda to not become attached to even that equanimity.

And even those disciples of his who fall out with their companions in the holy life and abandon the training to return to the low life—even they praise the Master and the Dhamma and the Sangha; they blame themselves instead of others, saying: “We were unlucky, we have little merit”

The ascetic Sakuludāyin is amazed at how revered the Buddha is by his disciples, and the Buddha explains why his disciples love and respect him so dearly:

Udāyin, when my disciples have met with suffering and become victims of suffering, prey to suffering, they come to me and ask me about the noble truth of suffering. Being asked, I explain to them the noble truth of suffering, and I satisfy their minds

The Buddha then goes on to enumerate in detail the path of tranquility meditation and its fruits, including several uncommon lists, such as the eight liberations and the ten kasiṇas, the perfection of which is the ultimate reason the Sangha honors and respects their teacher.

Note that the “uncommon lists” here aren’t found in this sutta’s Chinese parallel and are somewhat out of proportion to the rest of the sutta, suggesting that they are late additions.

Recollecting that nun’s faith, ethics, learning, generosity, and wisdom, [one] applies her mind to that end. This is how a nun lives at ease.

The Buddha interrogates a group of shy monks, and explains why he reveals the attainments of his disciples.

For it is death in the training of the noble one to reject the training and return to a lesser life.

The Buddha explains why some people progress on the path of meditation and why others fall short of the ultimate goal.

What are the qualities that make one a contemplative?

The Buddha gives an overview of the path from the perspective of ethics, from the establishment of shame all the way to the realization of the highest good: Nibbāna.

I did not delight in the contemplative Gotama’s speech; I condemned it, rose from my seat, and left!

A grieving father is having none of the Buddha’s nonsense, and King Pasenadi gets a damma talk from his wife, Queen Mallikā, on the dangers of affection in this entertaining sutta.

Then, not receiving his parents’ permission to go forth, the clansman Raṭṭhapāla lay down there on the bare floor, saying: “Right here I shall either die or receive the going forth.”

This long sutta tells the story of Raṭṭhapāla’s going forth: a model of monastic behavior for Theravādins even today.

An alternate translation can be found here.

‘Others will be cruel; we shall not be cruel here’

The Buddha gives a comprehensive moral rubric we can use to assess and guide our development of self-effacement.

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.

… let them fulfill their precepts, be committed to inner serenity of the heart, not neglect absorption, be endowed with discernment, and frequent empty huts.

Careful observance of ethical precepts is the foundation of all higher achievements in the spiritual life.

What is the cause, what is the reason why, of the two persons without a blemish, one is said to be worse and one better?

On the importance of mindfulness in our cultivation of virtue.

… this is the nature of a person accomplished in view. Though they might manage a diverse spectrum of duties for their spiritual companions, they still feel a keen regard for the training in higher ethics, higher mind, and higher wisdom.

The Buddha taught the reluctant, quarrelling monks of Kosambi to develop themselves in love and harmony, reminding them of the higher aspirations for which they ordained.

What kind of bhikkhu, friend Ānanda, could illuminate the Gosinga Sāla-tree Wood?

A number of the Buddha’s greatest disciples gather together and discuss the qualities they admire.

“Be my heirs in the teaching, not in material things.”

Venerable Sāriputta explains how by following the Buddha’s example we can experience the spiritual fruits of his path.

… a monk who is endowed with these fifteen factors including exertion, it is possible for [him to attain] breakthrough, it is possible for [him to attain] awakening, it is possible for [him to attain] arrival at unsurpassable security from bondage.

The Buddha explains various ways one can become cut off.

Furthermore, a mendicant is attached to their own views, holding them tight, and refusing to let go. This too is a quality that makes them difficult to admonish.

Venerable Mahā Moggallāna lists 16 qualities that make someone difficult or easy to admonish.

… for a long time I have paid homage to the Buddha and the esteemed mendicants. Yet I have never before heard such a Dhamma talk

As the great lay disciple Anāthapiṇḍika lies dying, Venerable Sāriputta visits him and gives a powerful teaching on non-attachment.

Master Gotama, what is the cause and condition why human beings are seen to be inferior and superior?

The Buddha explains to a brahmin how your deeds in past lives affect you in this life.

A dispute about livelihood or about the Pātimokkha would be trifling, Ānanda. But should a dispute arise in the Sangha about the path or the way, such a dispute would be for the harm and unhappiness of many

Hearing of the death of the Jain leader, Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta, and their subsequent disputes, the Buddha encourages the Saṅgha to swiftly resolve their own disputes. He lays down a series of seven methods for doing so, which form the foundation for the monastic code.

‘By this virtue or observance or asceticism or holy life I shall become a great god or some lesser god,’ that is wrong view in his case. Now there are two destinations for one with wrong view, I say: hell or the animal realm. So, Puṇṇa, if his dog-duty succeeds, it will lead him to the company of dogs; if it fails, it will lead him to hell.

It isn’t just breaking the precepts that can lead one to hell. Contrary to contemporary ecumenical sensibilities, the Buddha pulled no punches condemning wrong view. What do you think makes wrong view so “wrong” in this case?

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.

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

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

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.

Seeing this, a learned noble disciple grows disillusioned with the eye, sights, eye consciousness, eye contact, feeling, and craving. Being disillusioned, desire fades away. When desire fades away they’re freed.

And once we become familiar with the nature of objects, because of seeing that, one sees the implications — “this thing that I’m basing my happiness on is uncertain, is subject to change, is going to pass away”

Ayya Vayama Bhikkhuni explains how we progress on the path through renunciation and what progress means for our experience of painful feelings.

There is no single “swiss-army knife” technique that works equally well at all times; instead, we must carefully examine our present conditions and determine what practice is most relevant.

… a young tender infant lying prone does not even have the notion ‘identity,’ so how could identity view arise in him?

A little baby has no wrong views or intentions, but the underlying tendency for these things is still there. Without practicing, they will inevitably recur.

In this sutta, a bhikkhu named Sāti promulgates the pernicious view that consciousness transmigrates from life to life. The Buddha reprimands him with a lengthy discourse on dependent origination, explaining that all phenomena of existence arise and cease through conditions.

For a short series of lectures on this sutta by Bhikkhu Bodhi, see The Tathāgata in the MN.

… it is only here that there is the contemplative

The Buddha tells the difference between his religion and others’ and gives a clear discourse on the meaning of enlightenment.

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.