It struck me then, and still strikes me now, as being the ideal book to introduce students to a study of the language of the texts. There are a number of reasons for this. The first is that the Udāna is made up of related prose and verse sections…
]]>The obsession with seeing portions of the Suttanipāta as early is a holdover of the mid-20th century enthusiasm for discovering a “Buddha before Buddhism”, seeking a “truly authentic” teaching before it was institutionalized as rigid doctrine. Somehow, this search always ends up conflated with the racially-charged effort to divest Buddhism of its “cultural” (read “Asian”) elements.
A new translation of the Sutta Nipāta which doesn’t shy away from its cultural context.
]]>Considered overall, what the verses of Thig record in different ways is just one central thing: the success of committed Buddhist soteriological endeavours.
]]>If you notice anything erroneous or missing, your feedback is welcome here.
]]>But the single mass of water at that time was utterly dark. The moon and sun were not found, nor were stars and constellations, day and night, months and fortnights, years and seasons, or male and female. Beings were simply known as ‘beings’. After a very long period had passed, the earth’s substance curdled in the water. It appeared just like the curd on top of hot milk-rice as it cools. It was beautiful …
In contrast with the brahmin’s self-serving mythologies of the past, the Buddha presents an account of evolution that shows how our choices are an integral part of the world.
]]>Contemporary Buddhist studies has been strongly affected by its origins in the Victorian era, when Western religious scholars sought to rationalize and historicize the study of religion. Modern Asian scholars, trained within the Western scholarly paradigm, share this prejudice. The result is a skewed understanding of Buddhism, emphasizing its philosophical and theoretical aspects at the expense of seemingly ‘irrational’ religious elements based on the direct experience of meditation practice.
]]>Let them enjoy the filthy, lazy pleasure of possessions, honor, and popularity.
The Buddha declares the antidote to greed.
]]>Note the PDF linked above is half-page sized to support printing as a booklet.
]]>I do not cry over my dead son. He went to another life according to his karma.
A family explains their lack of tears.
]]>To my amazement, I was reborn in the heavenly Nandana Park as a goddess!
A deva explains how offering a honey covered cake led her to rebirth in a heavenly park.
]]>Kālāmas, do not go by oral tradition, by lineage of teaching, by hearsay, by a collection of scriptures, by logic…
In this famous sutta, the Buddha outlines a practical epistemology.
]]>… an overview of the main stylistic features of early Buddhist sutras and the organizational principles employed in the formation of textual collections of sutras that support the idea of these texts and collections being transmitted as fixed entities and the ways in which such texts changed and were changed over time
]]>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.
]]>Mendicants, there are these five opportunities for freedom.
]]>The collection is especially noteworthy for expanding the Pali ellipses where other editions simply have “pi”
]]>Bits and scraps, crumbs, fine
Particles that drift down to
Walkers of The Walk.
For one reducing suffering like this nibbāna is said to be near.
Venerable Māluṅkyaputta asks for a teaching to take on retreat. The Buddha wonders how to teach an old monk like him, then questions him on his desire for sense experiences that have been or might be, and encourages him to simply let sense experiences be. Māluṅkyaputta says he understands, and expands on the Buddha’s teaching in a series of verses.
]]>Useful for quickly navigating to a sutta given an academic reference.
]]>What’s going on here? What’s wrong with cows?
Bhante Sujato explains how this pair of verses relates the concerns of Axial Age India.
]]>… the eightfold path is but one of several differently worded statements of Gotama’s course of practice
An astute comparison of five alternative formulations of the path and an excellent example of how to study the Pāli Canon.
]]>… in neither case do the terms function as indicators that the address or the detail of the teaching is solely for monks
A note on the apparent lack of Bhikkhunis in the audience of many suttas.
]]>… the criteria for the categorisation of three types of sutta: Sermons, Debates, and Consultations.
]]>Many of the individual translations from this book were released for free distribution and have been collected into this open source ebook for your convenience. The entire book can be read on the publisher’s website with a free account.
]]>Adapted from the index of the same name in Bhikkhu Bodhi’s AN translation.
]]>More than 800 of the individual translations from the collection are available for free distribution and have been collected into this open source ebook for your convenience. The rest of the book can be read on the publisher’s website for free (by signing up for an account).
]]>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.
]]>A good place to start, is their How To Guide but I also love the posts on keeping a personal “medicine cabinet” and on using sutta checklists.
]]>In the Nettipakarana there is a three-fold definition of a sutta which may be useful to consider and may help one think more deeply about these sayings.
]]>Who, concentrated, leaves conceits behind,
His heart and mind set fair, and wholly freed,
Heedful dwelling in the woods alone,
Shall indeed escape the realm of death.
The world is led by craving,
By craving it is defiled,
And craving is that one thing
Controlled by which all follow.
You can also access the PDFs on Google Drive at the links below:
]]>A good sutta is one that inspires you to stop reading it.
A few words of advice on how to read the Suttas.
]]>One to whom it might occur,
‘I’m a woman’ or ‘I’m a man’
Or ‘I’m anything at all’–
Is fit for Māra to address.
Insofar as it disintegrates, it is called the ‘world.’
]]>It is this potential of the Chinese Āgamas as a supplement to the Pali discourses to which I would like to draw attention with the present article, taking up a few examples from the first group of fifty discourses in the Majjhima Nikāya.
An excellent introduction to the power, purpose, and method of comparative textual study. Find part two here.
]]>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.
]]>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.
]]>For a more thorough index, see The Comprehensive Index of Pali Suttas.
]]>An open-source version can be read online for free at Reading Faithfully or via the links compiled online, but the real book is still recommended for its helpful redactions and notes.
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