The Suttas
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The Sutta Piṭaka is the second part of the Pāli Canon, containing the core dhamma teachings. It is the Theravada School’s parallel to the Āgama collection preserved in China, and contains the most accurate and complete record of the historical Buddha’s teachings extant today.
It is divided into four main Nikāyas — the Dīgha (long), Majjhima (middle-length), Saṁyutta (connected), and Aṅguttara (numbered) — along with a fifth nikāya (the Khuddaka) which contains miscellaneous poems and rebirth stories.
The first lines of the Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (the Buddha's first discourse) drawn in the European "Illuminated Manuscript" style by Ajahn Sucitto.
Table of Contents
- Articles (7)
- Audio/Video (3)
- Booklets (10)
- Canonical Works (16)
- Essays (7)
- Excerpts (1)
- Monographs (7)
- Reference Shelf (14)
- Subtopics (4)
Articles (7)
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the criteria for the categorisation of three types of sutta: Sermons, Debates, and Consultations.
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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.
Audio/Video (3)
Booklets (10)
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🥇 Featured
A Creative Commons licensed selection of suttas from Wisdom’s celebrated translation, representing about a third of the full book.
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⭐ Recommended
The world is led by craving,
By craving it is defiled,
And craving is that one thing
Controlled by which all follow. -
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.
Canonical Works (16)
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⭐ Recommended
Mendicants, there are these five opportunities for freedom.
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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. -
To my amazement, I was reborn in the heavenly Nandana Park as a goddess!
Essays (7)
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⭐ Recommended
A good sutta is one that inspires you to stop reading it.
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Bhikkhu Sujato’s general introduction to the Saṁyutta Nikāya.
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Bhikkhu Sujato’s general introduction to the Dīgha Nikāya.
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Bhikkhu Sujato’s general introduction to the Majjhima Nikāya.
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Bhikkhu Sujato’s general introduction to the Aṅguttara Nikāya.
Excerpts (1)
Monographs (7)
Reference Shelf (14)
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A listing of the primary themes of the Aṅguttara Nikāya arranged according to the gradual training with references to the suttas on those themes.
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Simply type in a Pāḷi sutta reference (e.g. “MN 8”) and get back links to free, English translations.
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🥇 Featured
A short sutta from the Pāli Canon delivered to your inbox daily.
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Four handouts giving an overview of the four primary nikayas (books) of the Sutta Pitaka, including calling out a smattering of individual suttas you may want to read to get a general idea of their contents.
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A large but still highly incomplete index of the suttas, this list is still helpful as a starting point for researching what the suttas have to say about a given topic.
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Sometimes people will reference suttas by their Pāli name. This handy index helps you to map that Pāli name (e.g. “Madhurā Sutta”) to its Nikaya and number (e.g. “MN 84”).
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⭐ Recommended
If you are looking to dive into the suttas, there are many good pointers and valuable resources to be found on this blog.
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🥇 Featured
SuttaCentral hosts sources and free translations of Early Buddhist Texts, meticulously organized by parallels, books, languages and searchable with several large indexes and built-in dictionary tools.
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A beautiful tree graphing out the full organizational structure of the Sutta Piṭaka.