There are these four floods, my friend: the flood of sensuality, the flood of becoming, the flood of views, & the flood of ignorance. These are the four floods.

Sāriputta answers the wanderer Jambukhādaka.

Reflection: in what way are these “floods?” And how does the Noble Eightfold Path overcome them?

‘I know I’m going to get it!’ When you think negatively like that you’re building up the emotions. The emotions you get are built up by many, many moments of unskillful attitudes and thoughts.

Bhikkhus, saying ‘a heap of the unwholesome,’ it is about the five hindrances that one could rightly say this.

Our novel findings provide preliminary evidence that self-compassionate people are less likely to engage in bedtime procrastination, due in part to their use of healthy emotion regulation strategies that downregulate negative mood.

Multiple mediation analysis in study 1 revealed the expected indirect effects of self-compassion on less bedtime procrastination through lower negative affect but not higher positive affect. Path analysis in study 2 replicated these findings and further demonstrated that cognitive reappraisal explained the lower negative affect linked to self-compassion. The direct effect of self-compassion on less bedtime procrastination remained significant.

When a mendicant has faith, approaches, pays homage, asks questions, actively listens to the teachings, remembers the teachings, reflects on the meaning, and practices accordingly, the Realized One feels inspired to teach [them].

How we should approach the Dhamma and Dhamma teachers.

Not grasping what’s impermanent, suffering, and perishable, would people think ‘I’m better’ or ‘I’m equal’ or ‘I’m worse’?

Conceit stems from clinging to the senses and their impressions.

Mendicants, the eye of the past and future is impermanent, let alone the present.

We want the clarification, we want the instruction, but we want it without the discomfort, but it doesn’t work that way. The discomfort is the source of the clarification and the instruction.

I am like a tree in a forest, full of leaves, blossoms and fruit. Birds come to eat and nest, and animals seek rest in its shade. Yet the tree does not know itself. It follows its own nature. It is as it is.

This enriching collection features Ajahn Chah’s most well-known similes, divided into two parts. Part I includes the 75 similes from the first volume of the bilingual edition of A Tree in a Forest, while Part II contains the 108 similes from the second volume.

For most of the women who became foremost leading disciples, or etadagga sāvikā, of the Buddha Gotama, it was not only their meeting with a past buddha, but also their seeing the Buddha together with an awakened woman, a leading bhikkhunī disciple of the Buddha, that truly stimulated their inspiration and galvanized their aspiration.

This article explores the mental and emotional states of awakened women disciples of the Buddha, as recorded in the Therī Apadāna. It examines words expressing their aspiration to awakening, the resolve supporting it, and the intention’s character, drawing parallels with the Pali Canon’s equivalent of bodhicitta development.

What is interesting about Ajātaśatru is that he is not only a committer of an ānantarya crime, but also an eminent lay disciple of the Buddha. […] Given his transformation, the salvation of Ajātaśatru provides a convenient platform for Buddhist authors to express their ideas on how to balance the workings of karma…

I wandered here and there,
jealous…

If evil unwholesome states that have arisen in me are not abandoned, this may lead to my harm.

Sāriputta approaches Kassapa and asks how it is that only someone who is keen and conscientious can realize freedom.

What is this hullabaloo to you?

A fun, simple poem to learn in the original Pāḷi.

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

They are a kind of spiritual materialism, but they are a good kind—the kind you work at developing, the kind you can amass. And there is no greed in amassing them. It’s a sign of initiative. A sign of the right effort.

Five spiritual treasures (conviction, virtue, shame, compunction, generosity, learning, and discernment) are worth hoarding, as they lead the practitioner toward nibbāna and also bring benefit to others around them.

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.

With the fading away of ignorance and the arising of true knowledge, ‘I am’ does not occur to him; ‘I am this’ does not occur to him; ‘I will be’ and ‘I will not be’…

When you identify anything as self, you always identify one or another of the five aggregates.

Take a golden mountain,
made entirely of gold, and double it—
it’s still not enough for one!

The Buddha wonders whether it is possible to rule justly, without violence. Māra appears and encourages the Buddha to try it.

For an alternate understanding of this sutta, Evans, 2007.

Where will stops, there is freedom.

Ajahn Brahm explains his belief in “Free Won’t.”

Those who fall back on God’s creative activity as the essential truth have no desire to do what should be done and to avoid doing what should not be done…

The beliefs that everything is caused by past karma, by a creator God, or by chance all lead to apathy. The Buddha teaches us to instead analyze things based on causes and effects.

Bhikkhus, it is good for a bhikkhu from time to time to review his own failings. It is good for him from time to time to review the failings of others. It is good for him from time to time to review his own achievements. It is good for him from time to time to review the achievements of others.

Devadatta’s downfall was from not overcoming the eight worldly winds.

dwell with a mind in which conceit has been struck down

The six senses are like a sheaf of barley struck with six flails; and the desire for rebirth is a seventh. The Buddha goes on to speak of a cunning trap set by the gods; but the trap of Māra is even more subtle still.

They formerly had the desire to attain perfection, but when they attained perfection the corresponding desire faded away.

The Venerable Ānanda explains to the Brahmin Uṇṇābha how the right kind of desire leads to the end of desire.

Just as I must eventually forsake this life,
So too must I take leave of relatives and friends.
When I must go alone on death’s uncertain journey,
What concern to me are all these enemies and allies?

A verse translation of chapter 2 from the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra on confessing to the wider universe of enlightened beings.

Pray to your master and to the Three Jewels,
and strive to be wholesome – physically, verbally and mentally.

In this brief poem, the great Tulku and Yogini, Sera Khandro, exhorts readers to wholeheartedly practice the Dharma. Khandro points out the importance of impermanence and karma to help practitioners overcome attachments and develop wholesome behavior. Other pieces of advice are to remain in solitude, establish mindfulness, and develop bodhicitta.

He himself abstains from lying but doesn’t encourage others in undertaking abstinence from lying.

How to practice selfishly—or not.

Exert yourself in the Dharma, therefore, Lodrö, Before you must bear the burden of your misdeeds. Don’t squander this freedom while you have the chance, O child, but apply your mind to the cultivation of virtue.

A short poem meant to remind the author of the importance of sustained practice and recognizing our shortcomings, especially in the face of impending death.

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.

So that also became its own self perpetuating narrative about me, because now I had to continue to fulfill it because everyone says I’m not scared and I’m down. And so I have to continue to prove that narrative right to everybody around me…

A personal monologue about the power of the stories we choose to tell ourselves.

The mind is the master of all behavior.

‘I must now behave in a different manner.’ This must be reflected upon again and again by one who has gone forth.

Bhikkhus, this spiritual life is not lived for the sake of deceiving people …

… rather, this spiritual life is lived for the sake of restraint …

A sutta on the proper motivation for “priests” in the Buddha’s religion… and for the rest of us too.

Take a case where a mendicant focuses on sensual pleasures, but their mind isn’t eager, confident, settled, and decided about them. But when they focus on renunciation, their mind is eager, confident, settled, and decided about it. Their mind is in a good state…

A practical method for escaping the five fetters.

I had an only son called Nanda who I loved dearly. The rulers forcibly abducted him on some pretext and had him executed. But I can’t recall getting upset …

Sāriputta and Moggallāna are on tour in the southern hills. A deity informs the laywoman Veḷukaṇṭakī that they are approaching. When Sāriputta expresses his amazement that she speaks with the gods, she goes on to list her other amazing qualities.

A faithful laywoman would rightly aspire: ‘May I be like the laywomen Khujjuttarā and Veḷukaṇṭakī, Nanda’s mother!’

Bhikkhus, suppose there is a guest house. People come from the east, west, north, and south and lodge there; khattiyas, brahmins, vessas…

Compare and contrast this sutta with the famous Rumi poem (translated by Coleman Barks) of the same title. Does the poem illuminate anything about the sutta? How does the sutta go beyond the poem?

When a bhikkhu develops and cultivates the Noble Eightfold Path, his fetters easily collapse and rot away.

Bhikkhus, just as a pot that has been turned upside down gives up its water and does not take it back…

From the inside out, I can know exactly where I am at any time and so, even when I’m falling short, I still have confidence because I know where I am. I’m not lost because the Dharma can find me.

How to learn the Dhamma.

Bhikkhus, if one’s clothes or head were ablaze, what should be done about it?

Even more than if your clothes are on fire, you should make an effort to understand the four noble truths.

Having made a basket of acacia leaves or of pine needles or of myrobalan leaves, I will bring water…

Monk, don’t be bitter. If you’re bitter, corrupted by putrefaction, flies will, without a doubt, plague and infest you.

The Buddha helps a monk in distress by teaching of “bitterness”, “rotting flesh”, and “insects”.

When a mendicant is committed to development, they might not wish: ‘If only my mind was freed from the defilements by not grasping!’ Even so, their mind is freed…

Liberation doesn’t happen because you wish for it, but because you develop the factors of the path.

It’s like the moon in the waxing fortnight. Whether by day or by night, its beauty, roundness, light, and diameter and circumference only grow. In the same way, whoever has faith, conscience, prudence, energy, and wisdom when it comes to skillful qualities can expect growth, not decline, in skillful qualities, whether by day or by night.

At Naḷakapāna the Buddha invites Sāriputta to teach. He speaks of ten qualities that lead to decline or non-decline.

Ah poetry,
god of molting turkeys, save
my brother from the truck

Tell me how you’re a farmer when asked:
how am I to recognize your farming?

A brahmin farmer criticizes the Buddha for failing to be productive, merely living off the work of others, so the Buddha explains his line of work.

Wisdom doesn’t get itself entangled, bogged down…

A small collection of three Dhamma talks on how to orient our thoughts and practice in the right direction.

Suppose, bhikkhus, there was a great tree. Then a man would come along bringing a shovel and a basket. He would cut down the tree at its foot, dig it up, and pull out the roots…

Craving increases when you linger on pleasing things that stimulate grasping.

Mendicants, sensual, malicious, and cruel thoughts arise for a reason…

Bhikkhus, when one dwells contemplating gratification in things that can be clung to, craving increases.

Illustrated with the simile of a bonfire.

… by eating their son’s flesh they would cross the rest of the desert.

It is in such a way, bhikkhus, that I say nutriment should be seen.

The Buddha defines the four kinds of “food” or “nutriment”, which include edible food, contact, intention, and consciousness. He illustrates them with a series of powerful and horrifying similes.

the Buddhist reformulation of the annihilationist tenet can indeed serve as an inspired utterance for those aspiring to become arahants by annihilating even the subtlest forms of clinging in the form of any traces of conceit.

A comparative study of how no-self combats ideas of annihilation

The Buddha spoke of two kinds of desire: desire that arises from ignorance and delusion which is called taṇhā—craving—and desire that arises from wisdom and intelligence, which is called kusala-chanda

Adapted from a Dhamma talk of Ajahn Jayasāro, this article explains the role that skilful desires (chanda) and the four right exertions (sammappadhāna) play in a practitioner’s development.

I was the angry one, and I was the sad one,
and I am the head shaking in wonder

How “Buddhist” do you think this poem is? Can it be interpreted in multiple ways? How does it make you feel about the world?

In response to a question from a Sakya geshé, asking what should be done in the event of sickness and the rest, I, the monk Tokmé, who discourses on the Dharma, set down these ways of bringing sickness and other circumstances onto the spiritual path.

… the Buddha emphatically advised his disciples to become wise ones and “investigators”

… there are these four right strivings. What four?

A definition of Right Effort.

… 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.

… 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.

A prince or princess in the royal family, a snake, a fire, and a monk. These four things should not be looked down on or belittled because they are young.

King Pasenadi meets the Buddha for the first time. He wonders how the Buddha can claim to be awakened when he is still so young. The Buddha teaches him four things that should not be looked down on for their youth.

Bhikkhus, two thoughts often occur to the Tathāgata…

… individuals with high self-esteem did not respond to mortality salience with increased worldview defense, whereas individuals with moderate self-esteem did.

One of the main paradoxes of Buddhism’s coming to the West is that the teaching on karma, which in Asia is probably the most basic Buddhist teaching, is the one most Westerns don’t like and is most often dropped from the teaching one way or another.

This lecture describes the various ways karma has been misunderstood in the West and how a close reading of the Buddha’s words correct such views.

… 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.

… don’t arouse faith in things that are dubious

On the importance (!) of judgement.

What should one who desires the good not give away?
What should a mortal not reject?

What is good all the way through old age?

Should one rein in the mind from everything…

Or only from what is unwholesome?

Here, monastics, for the donor there are three factors, and for the receivers there are three factors.

… together with its commentary interleaved, […] it should give the student an idea of how the word commentaries work

When I offered gifts to monks, she would insult me.

I recollect ninety eons back but I’m not aware of any family that’s been ruined merely by offering some cooked almsfood.

Mahāvīra asks Asibandhakaputta to refute the Buddha on behalf of the Jains. He suggests to try to trap the Buddha with a dilemma: he claims to have compassion for householders, yet visits them with a large Saṅgha in a time of scarcity. But the Buddha claims no family is harmed by this.

O, that I might live for the interval that it takes to swallow having chewed up one morsel of food!

Many of those who practice mindfulness of death don’t do so urgently enough.

Some excellent thoroughbred people are like this

A thoroughbred responds when it sees a goad.

Man is born
with an axe in his mouth.

Brahmā Tudu tries to persuade Kokālika to have faith in Sāriputta and Moggallāna.

Giving is always great.

A deva explains…

What six? Firstly, a noble disciple recollects…

A way to escape from greed.

Morning: walking my neighborhood, I come upon a colony
of ants busy at work…

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.

When a person lives heedlessly,
craving grows in them…

When you get angry at an angry person
you just make things worse for yourself.

Guttā, why did you go forth?

Hey, mind! Now I will stop you

I was just beginning
to wonder about my own life
and now I have to return to it…

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.

Allowing inner awareness to be unrestricted…

Three verses to inspire the development of undistracted awareness.

… these four things are unthinkable. They should not be thought about

If you try to think about these things you will go mad or get frustrated.

… arouse the thought of enlightenment…

The first five of Dogen’s ten points of advice on entering the path.

In accordance with the scriptures, I shall now in brief describe
The way to adopt the discipline of all the buddhas’ heirs.

A verse translation of chapter 1 from the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra on “bodhicitta.”

Overpowered by the three poisons, I have committed the five boundless crimes…

In the Three Jewels, I take refuge…

Armed with the attitude of loving-kindness and compassion, we naturally no longer have any external enemies.

A commentary on the classic, Tibetan summary of Bodhisattva practices explaining how they transform our mind and character.

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.

With your own mind under control, help others in any way you can,
And take whatever you experience onto the path to liberation.

Therefore, inspect your mind, make it ready now, And consider this: Were you to die now, what would become of you?

Longchen Rabjam emphasizes that a true meditation practitioner must renounce worldly distractions, diligently stabilize the mind, uphold ethical conduct and devote themselves day and night to the profound path of liberation.

The way that we express our feelings is probably the major work of translation that we all do in our life.

How to translate Buddhist ideas into practice.

Should you find a way to peace and happiness,
Strive constantly to put it into practice

Raise your spirits and encourage yourself.
And always meditate on emptiness.

should laziness or procrastination strike,
Immediately take note of your errors, one by one,
And remind yourself of the heart of your discipline.

Practising like this, you will complete Accumulations of both merit and wisdom,
And eliminate the two forms of obscuration.
You will make this human life meaningful,
And, in time, gain unsurpassable awakening.

… someone with this wholesome state of mind looks at unwholesome, unkind actions and speech in the same way as if he were invited to excrete in the middle of a marketplace

… it’s easy to get out of balance

By thinking of all sentient beings
As more precious than a wish-fulfilling jewel…

For a commentary on these verses, see Finding Genuine Practice.

Don’t try to be someone else

A monk endowed with six qualities is capable of realizing the unexcelled cooled state.

For a comparison of different translations, see this table.

Though some may say, ‘[Sensual pleasure] is the supreme pleasure and joy that beings experience,’ I would not concede this to them. Why is that? Because there is another kind of happiness more excellent and sublime than that

The carpenter Pañcakaṅga disagreed with Venerable Udāyī about how many kinds of feeling the Buddha taught. The Buddha affirms that each has a genuine teaching, valid in different contexts.

Bad things are easy to think about! It’s the good things that are difficult, because the kilesas don’t like them.

An afternoon chat about emptiness.

… here is a book to take up at quiet times

A haphazard collection of inspirational quotes on the Lord Buddha’s nine virtuous qualities taken mostly from the Pāli Canon.

The book doesn’t pretend to have a thesis or an agenda. It’s merely a ready companion for your devotional recollection.

We found that participants typically did not enjoy spending 6 to 15 minutes in a room by themselves with nothing to do […] and that many preferred to administer electric shocks to themselves instead of being left alone with their thoughts.

… the most truthful way of regarding illness — and the healthiest way of being ill — is one most purified of, most resistant to, metaphoric thinking

A classic and much-cited essay on the (mis)use of metaphors to describe disease.

Available online from the original publisher: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Years later, Sontag also wrote in the NYRB, this time on the metaphors of AIDS in a compelling post-script later published alongside the original essay.

After reading, consider these discussion questions about the essay.

… 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.

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.

All of us want some happiness and no one wants to suffer, so every action we take is motivated by the thought of how can I be happy, how can I avoid pain. In a world already divided in so many ways, we create a world of our own.

A short essay introducing the interplay between compassion and wisdom.

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.

Change how you feel

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.

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.

… hypnotic response and meditation involve opposite processes

Meditation plunges us into the depths of the (normally) subconscious processes of intentions forming and contending in the mind. As we become more familiar with these processes, we can more quickly and accurately identify when, how and why the mind moves: pushing back the curtain of ignorance on the workings of our subconscious mind and reducing our tendency to be hypnotized and controlled.

And for a more recent study confirming the result, see “The association between mindfulness and hypnotizability” American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. 2018 Jul; 61(1):4–17. doi: 10.1080/00029157.2017.1419458

While they won’t end racism, mindfulness and other contemplative practices do support ways of being in the world that reflect less of the biases that each of us holds

A brief introduction to using meditation to confront subconscious racial bias.

The key is to focus on two distinctions: systems as distinct from individuals, and having privilege as independent of choosing how to engage with it.

The gift of fearlessness, if extended beyond its classical scope to include the challenges of xenophobia and terrorism threats, is a capacious framework through which to probe the moral contours of contemporary refugee policy and the security concerns of states.

Protecting oneself, bhikkhus, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself.

A reading of SN 47.19.

There are a few English translations of this classic of world literature. Steven Bachelor has a free translation (linked above), but I strongly prefer the Padmakara translation published by Shambhala in 1999 for its unparalleled accuracy and force.

If you can intentionally kill out of compassion, then fine, go ahead. But are you sure? Are you sure that what you think are friendliness and compassion are really friendliness and compassion? Are you sure that some subtle aversion and delusion have not surfaced in the mind?

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.

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

Thought is the source of desire.

A fairy sings a love song for the Buddha, and Sakka asks a few deep questions.

The people of Sunāparanta are wild and rough, Puṇṇa. If they abuse and insult you, what will you think of them?

Venerable Puṇṇa goes to the Buddha and asks for a teaching before he immigrates to a foreign land. The Buddha warns him that folk there are fierce, and questions whether he is ready for such a difficult assignment.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

‘Iddhi’ means greatness and ‘pāda’ means path. Together they form the path to success. Whether it be in the Dhamma or the worldly sense, one simply needs the four bases of spiritual power in order to succeed.

A book of short, inspiring quotes organized around the oft-overlooked Iddhipadas.

It is wrong perception that leads to the concepts of being and nonbeing.

Zen practice is the direct expression of our true nature. Strictly speaking, for a human being, there is no other practice than this

This modern classic of Japanese Buddhism has introduced several generations of Westerners to the simple yet challenging beauty of Zen practice.

… beings are intoxicated with life and engage in misconduct by body, speech, and mind. But when one often reflects upon [death], the intoxication with life is diminished.

Topics that are worth regularly reflecting on, whether as a lay person or a renunciant.

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.

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.

Let them enjoy the filthy, lazy pleasure of possessions, honor, and popularity.

In this Sutta, The Buddha emphasizes the importance of wilderness and seclusion for a meditator.

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.

Their intentions, aims, wishes, and choices all lead to what is likable, desirable, agreeable, beneficial, and pleasant. Why is that? Because their view is good.

When a person has wrong view, all their path development is wrong. But when they have right view, everything good follows.

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.

Whatever doubts there are…
The meditators give up all these

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

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?

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.

‘I’ve developed the heart’s release by love… Yet somehow ill will still occupies my mind.’

The Buddha’s teachings are effective, so we can’t claim to have practiced them fully if we’re still afflicted by various forms of suffering.

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

Five reflections to eliminate enmity in brief.

The mind of equanimity, poised beyond the play of worldly opposites, is the highest safety and security, but to gain this equanimity we stand in need of guidance. The guidance available cannot protect us from objective adversity. It can only safeguard us from the dangers of a negative response—from anxiety, sorrow, frustration, and despair. This is the only protection possible, and because it grants us this essential protection such guidance can be considered a genuine refuge.

In this important treatise, Bhikkhu Bodhi gives context and rigorous definition to the refuges and precepts based on the traditional commentaries. If you want to know exactly what makes someone “a Buddhist,” this is the book for you.

As for the question of suffering in the future—in this life or the next—don’t overlook your heart that’s suffering right now.

A collection of Luangta’s talks delivered to lay people. A beautiful collection of sermons from one of the great modern masters.

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.

…when these people meditate they’re awfully grim.

Ajahn Geoff reminds Westerners to ground their meditation practice in generosity.

One should sustain this recollection

The Buddha describes, in this much beloved poem from the Sutta Nipata, how to cultivate loving-kindness.

See SN 45.49 for how to use a good friend to advance on the path.

It would be good, lord, if the Blessed One would teach me the Dhamma in brief

This discourse to Mahāpajāpati Gotamī is one of the few teachings in the canon (along with the teachings on mindfulness) which the Buddha declared as “categorical”: always applicable and useful in any situation. This sutta gives, better than any other, the overall direction of the teachings, and is a helpful compass pointing towards the true way.

What lies behind this insistence on love is a worry: without a deep-seated fear that one day love would no longer exist (or exist in the same way) why would anyone feel that they have to insist upon it so much?

Applying Buddhist wisdom to an area of our life we all care about deeply — our relationship with our loved ones — Ajahn Jayasaro makes the teachings relatable and applicable. An excellent sermon and well worth a read.

You will experience many sensual pleasures in your life: food, music, sex and zombie movies. You should become aware as well of the great joy, a pleasure beyond the sensual, that comes with generosity. Become aware that this joy is greatest when your intentions are purest, when the recipients of your generosity are worthy and when the manner of giving is proper. This joy is the direct experience of the merit you have earned.

This book gives a gentle and readable introduction to the Buddhist path of self-transformation and transcendence with a heavy emphasis on virtue.