The Theragāthā of the Khuddakanikāya has only ten stanzas (vv. 527–536) uttered by the Elder Kāḷudāyī. However, the Madhuratthavilāsinī (Bv-a) preserves 64 stanzas ascribed to the Elder while the Visuddhajanavilāsinī (Ap-a) quotes a different series consisting of 48 stanzas ascribed to him.

At whatever time, monastics, there are dishonest kings, […] the gods become agitated.

When the rulers of society are dishonest, that is a time of climate change

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.

The monk Soreyya replies that his attachment is stronger for the sons of which he is the mother.

A (transgender?) parent and monk overcomes their attachments and gains enlightenment in a famous story that Dhammadinnā Bhikkhunī shows is not devaluing “motherly love” so much as “super-valuing” equanimity towards all.

If you have any questions or thoughts on the article, feel free to reply to its thread on SuttaCentral.

Despite the Buddha’s teachings on the arbitrary nature of language, the commentarial and grammatical traditions developed a sophisticated theoretical framework to analyse, explicate and reinforce some of the key Buddhist doctrinal terms. Also, an elaborate classification system of different types of names was developed to show that the language of the Buddha was firmly grounded in the highest truth and that some terms were spontaneously arisen, even though such a concept—that words by themselves could arise spontaneously and directly embody ultimate truth—was quite foreign to their Founder.

We will examine three types of reuse represented in Pāli legal literature: (1) unacknowledged borrowings of authoritative opinions and definitions adapted and rearranged; (2) unacknowledged borrowings of largely unchanged selected text portions being rearranged; and (3) unconnected extracts of unchanged text portions lined up in the sequence of the source text.

As far as the Pāli literature is concerned, the earliest extant lexicon we possess is the Abhidhānappadīpikā composed by Moggallāna Thera in the reign of King Parākramabāhu the Great in the twelfth century A.D. in Sri Lanka.

The origin story of the Licchavis, retold in two commentaries on Nikāya texts, has received some scant attention in the modern scholastic record, yet has usually been either cast aside as so much myth or has been recast in thematic or structural studies that align it with other tales of incest, foundling narratives, or origin stories of gaṇa-saṅghas. This article argues against those interpretations and offers a thorough rereading of the story as not only encoding a class hierarchy but also, in so doing, critiquing the Brahmanical class structure and the concept of svabhāva by birth.

[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.

Although the early dictionaries, like Pali Text Society’s Pali-English Dictionary and A Critical Pāli Dictionary, did utilize the Jātaka word definitions considerably, up and till now no one has translated the word commentaries into English in full. It is this gap that the present work seeks to fill with a new translation of the 500 verses of the first three books, together with their explanations, which takes us up to Jātaka 300.

… this self-effacing, almost anonymous commentator’s proneness to being loved or hated, exalted or reviled, is certainly one of the least expected outcomes of Buddhist history.

… one traditional account of Buddhaghosa’s own death has the moribund commentator mentally revising the three meanings of the word ‘death’ while expiring, and it seems clear that this, rather than a parody of pedantic intellectualism, was intended as praise

On modern Theravāda’s ongoing struggle to appraise the legacy of their tradition’s greatest scholar.

Theravada, like any religious tradition, has evolved and changed over the years.

… some major points of distinction between Early Buddhism and Theravada

Buddhaghosa is referring to the brahminical etymology

An obscure pun explained.

… whenever Buddhaghosa refers to grammar or grammarians in support of his analysis of a grammatical or semantical problem in the Pāli, he is referring to Pāṇinian grammar. This apparently is also the case in those instances where he deals with a number of syntactical problems, without mentioning the source upon which his analysis is based.

In recognition of its pre-eminence among the Master’s epithets, the early Buddhist teachers and their successors have applied their wisdom and erudition to fathoming the multiple implications of this suggestive word.

This translation by T. W. Rhys Davids also contains his own introduction to the Jātakas, which remains worth a read even a century later.

A period of disorientation or depression is a small price to pay for more accurate knowledge.

… whether or not a story could have been captured by a camcorder as an empirical fact does not really matter. Its truth lies in its symbolic meanings

An impassioned call for dogmatic Buddhists to take seriously both historical fact and religious myth.

You can find part two of the video here.

The present compilation brings together in English translation the most important Pali Vinaya texts dealing with the first rule in the Sanghādisesa section of the Bhikkhu Pātimokkha: the training rule on intentional emission of semen — one of the disciplinary rules most fundamental to [a bhikkhu’s] training.

Just as the sun is valued not only for its own intrinsic radiance but also for its ability to illuminate the world, so the brilliance of the Buddha is determined not only by the clarity of his Teaching but by his ability to illuminate those who came to him for refuge

The Buddha’s first generation of followers established the traditions and values of the early Sangha. Indeed, it is nearly impossible to understand Buddhism without understanding the lives of the early Buddhist saints. This rich and inspiring series of biographies edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi mainly draws from the traditional commentaries of the Theravāda tradition and so provides an excellent balance between readability and faithfulness to the source material. A must read for all students of Buddhism.

There’s a huge amount of it that’s positive! I’m not so surprised that there are negative attitudes towards women depicted in early Buddhist literature, because this is an ancient civilization with traditional values. So, the negativity doesn’t surprise me. But all the positivity does.

A fascinating conversation about the lives of a few of the earliest Bhikkhunis and what their biographies can tell us about life in ancient India.

I personally prefer the DPR.