Sutta Piṭaka | Introduction & Other Notes – Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

Introduction

“When you know for yourselves…”

The Authenticity of the Pāli Suttas

This volume is the first in a four-volume anthology of suttas (discourses) drawn from the Sutta Piṭaka (Discourse Basket or Repository) of the Pali Canon. This volume contains suttas drawn from the first of the five collections comprising the Sutta Piṭaka: the Dīgha Nikāya, or Long Collection. Suttas from the next three collections—the Majjhima Nikāya (Middle Collection), Saṁyutta Nikāya (Connected Collection), and Aṅguttara Nikāya (Numerical Collection)—constitute the remaining three volumes of the anthology. As for the fifth collection, the Khuddaka Nikāya (Short Collection), complete translations of the first five books—the Khuddakapāṭha, Dhammapada, Udāna, Itivuttaka, and Sutta Nipāta—have been published separately, as has an anthology drawn from the Theragāthā and Therīgāthā.

The suttas I have selected and translated for these volumes were chosen for the interest they might hold for a person intent on understanding and practicing the Buddhist teachings, or Dhamma. Some have been chosen for their detailed discussions of basic doctrines; others, for the vivid stories or similes they use to illustrate those doctrines. Although they constitute only a small portion of the Sutta Piṭaka, taken together they present a fairly comprehensive picture of the Piṭaka’s essential teachings.

And it’s a remarkable picture. The Buddha as portrayed in the suttas is one of the most inspiring human beings imaginable: noble, brave, and compassionate in his character; precise, helpful, and profound in his teachings. The teachings, too, are remarkable. In addition to asserting the ability of human beings to bring about their own happiness, they also offer a program of training to direct that ability to the Deathless: the total transcendence of all suffering and stress.

The Theravāda tradition, dominant in Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand, regards these suttas as the authentic and authoritative record of the Buddha’s own words. When Western scholars—piqued by issues of authority and authenticity—first learned of these claims in the 19th century, they began employing the historical method to test them. And although every conceivable scrap of literary or archaeological evidence seems to have been examined, no air-tight historical proof or disproof of these claims has surfaced. What has surfaced is a mass of minor facts and probabilities—showing that the Pali Canon is probably the closest detailed record we have of the Buddha’s teachings—but nothing more certain than that.

Archaeological evidence shows that Pali was probably not the Buddha’s native language, but is this proof that he did not use Pali when talking to native speakers of that language?

The Canon contains grammatical irregularities, but are these signs of an early stage in the language, before it was standardized, or a later stage of degeneration? And in which stage of the language’s development did the Buddha’s life fall?

Fragments of other early Buddhist canons have been found, with slight deviations from the Pali Canon in their wording, but not in their basic doctrines. Is their unanimity in doctrine a sign that they all come from the Buddha himself, or was it the product of a later conspiracy to remake and standardize the doctrine in line with changed beliefs and tastes?

Brick and stone remains from the types of monasteries described in the early canons date back only to the beginning of the Common Era. Does this mean that the canons were not composed earlier, or do these remains simply indicate when brick and stone monasteries became popular?

Scholars have been eager to take sides on these issues, but the inevitable use of inference, conjecture, and probabilities in their arguments lends an air of uncertainty to the whole process.

Many have seen this uncertainty as sign of the inadequacy of the Theravadin claims to authenticity, but simply to dismiss the teachings of the suttas for this reason would be to deprive ourselves of the opportunity to test their practical worth. Perhaps we should instead question the methods of the historians, and view the uncertainty of their conclusions as a sign of the inadequacy of the historical method as a tool for ascertaining the true Dhamma. The suttas themselves make this point in their own recommendations for how the authenticity and authority of the Dhamma is best ascertained. In a famous passage, they quote the Buddha as saying:

“Kālāmas, don’t go by reports, by legends, by traditions, by scripture, by logical conjecture, by inference, by analogies, by agreement through pondering views, by probability, or by the thought, ‘This contemplative is our teacher.’ When you know for yourselves that, ‘These dhammas are unskillful; these dhammas are blameworthy; these dhammas are criticized by the wise; these dhammas, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering’—then you should abandon them.… When you know for yourselves that, ‘These dhammas are skillful; these dhammas are blameless; these dhammas are praised by the wise; these dhammas, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’—then you should enter & remain in them.” – AN 3:65

Because this passage is contained in a religious scripture, the statements attracting the most attention have been those rejecting the authority of religious teachers, legends, traditions, and scripture; along with those insisting on the importance of knowing for oneself. These remarkably anti-dogmatic statements—sometimes termed the Buddha’s Charter of Free Inquiry—have tended to divert attention from the severe strictures that the passage places on what “knowing for oneself” entails. In questioning the authority of reports, it dismisses the basic material on which the historical method is based. In questioning the authority of inference and probability, it dismisses some of the method’s basic techniques. In questioning the authority of logical conjecture, analogies, and agreement through pondering views, it dismisses the methods of free-thinking rationalism in general.

This leaves only two methods for ascertaining the Dhamma, both of them related to the question raised in this passage and central to other teachings in the Canon: What is skillful, what is unskillful? In developing any skill, you must (1) pay attention to the results of your own actions; and (2) listen to those who have already mastered the skill. Similarly, in ascertaining the Dhamma, you must (1) examine the results that come from putting a particular teaching into practice; and (2) check those results against the opinions of the wise.

Two aspects of the Dhamma, however, make it a skill apart. The first is reflected in the fact that the word Dhamma means not only teaching, but also quality of the mind. Thus the above passage could also be translated:

“When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are unskillful; these qualities are blameworthy; these qualities are criticized by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to harm & to suffering’—then you should abandon them.… When you know for yourselves that, ‘These qualities are skillful; these qualities are blameless; these qualities are praised by the wise; these qualities, when adopted & carried out, lead to welfare & to happiness’—then you should enter & remain in them.”

In fact, this would appear to be a more accurate translation, as the discussion following this passage focuses on the results of acting on qualities of the mind: greed, aversion, and delusion in the unskillful set; and lack of greed, lack of aversion, and lack of delusion in the skillful one. This points to the fact that Dhamma practice is primarily a skill of the mind.

The second aspect that sets the Dhamma apart as a skill is its goal: nothing less than the total ending of suffering.

While this second aspect of the Dhamma makes it an attractive skill to master, the first aspect presents difficulties in determining who has mastered the skill and is thus qualified to speak about it with authority. After all, we can’t look into the minds of others to see what qualities are there and what the internal results of the practice are. At best, we can detect hints of these things in their actions, but nothing more. Thus, if we look to others for the last word on the Dhamma, we will always be in a position of uncertainty. The only way to overcome uncertainty is to practice the Dhamma to see if it brings about an end to suffering within our own minds.

Traditionally, the texts state that uncertainty about the Dhamma ends only with the attainment of stream-entry, the first of the four levels of awakening. Even though a person who has reached this level of awakening is not totally free from suffering, he/she has seen enough of the end of suffering to know without a doubt that that is where the practice of the Dhamma leads. So it is not surprising that the four factors the suttas identify as bringing about stream-entry are also the four methods they recommend for ascertaining whether they themselves are a truly authoritative and authentic guide to the end of suffering.

Those factors, listed in SN 55:5, are:

association with people of integrity,

listening to the true Dhamma,

appropriate attention, and

practice in accordance with the Dhamma.

Passages from the suttas dealing with each of these factors help show how the two sources of skill—the counsel of the wise and the lessons learned by observing the results of your own actions—can be properly balanced and integrated so as to ascertain what the true Dhamma is. And because listening to the true Dhamma now includes reading the true Dhamma, a knowledge of these factors and their interrelationships gives guidance in how to read the suttas collected in these volumes. In particular, these factors show how the suttas themselves say they should be read, and what other actions provide the skillful context for getting the most benefit from reading them.

As you explore the explanations of these factors, you find that their presentation as a short list is deceptively simple, inasmuch as each factor contains elements of the other factors as well. For instance, associating with people of integrity is of great help in practicing the Dhamma, but for a person to recognize people of genuine integrity requires that he or she have some experience in practicing the Dhamma. Thus, although the form of the list suggests a simple linear progression, the individual factors of the list are inter-related in complex ways. What this means in practice is that the process of ascertaining the Dhamma is a complex one, requiring sensitivity and discernment in balancing and integrating the factors in an appropriate way.

Association with people of integrity

Because the Dhamma consists primarily of qualities of the mind, any written account of the Dhamma is only a pale shadow of the real thing. Thus, to gain a sense of the Dhamma’s full dimensions, you need to find people who embody the Dhamma in their thoughts, words, and deeds, and associate with them in a way that enables you to absorb as much of that embodied Dhamma as possible. The passages explaining this factor thus offer advice in two areas: how to recognize people of integrity and how best to associate with them once you have found them.

The immediate sign of integrity is gratitude.

“A person of integrity is grateful & acknowledges the help given to him. This gratitude, this acknowledgment is second nature among admirable people. It is entirely on the level of people of integrity.” – AN 2:31

Gratitude is a necessary sign of integrity in that people who don’t recognize and value the goodness and integrity in others are unlikely to make the effort to develop integrity within themselves. On its own, though, gratitude does not constitute integrity. The essence of integrity lies in three qualities: truth, harmlessness, and discernment.

“There is the case where a monk lives in dependence on a certain village or town. Then a householder or householder’s son goes to him and observes him with regard to three qualities—qualities based on greed, qualities based on aversion, qualities based on delusion: ‘Are there in this venerable one any such qualities based on greed… aversion… delusion that, with his mind overcome by these qualities, he might say, “I know,” while not knowing, or say, “I see,” while not seeing; or that he might urge another to act in a way that was for his/her long-term harm & pain?’ As he observes him, he comes to know, ‘There are in this venerable one no such qualities based on greed… aversion… delusion.… His bodily behavior & verbal behavior are those of one not greedy… not aversive… not deluded. And the Dhamma he teaches is deep, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise.” – MN 95

As this passage shows, knowledge of a person’s truthfulness requires that you be so observant of his/her behavior that you can confidently infer the quality of his/her mind. This level of confidence, in turn, requires that you not only be observant, but also discerning and willing to take time, for as another passage points out, the appearance of spiritual integrity is easy to fake.

Then King Pasenadi Kosala went to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. Then seven coiled-hair ascetics, seven Jain ascetics, seven naked ascetics, seven one-cloth ascetics, & seven wanderers—their nails grown long, their body-hair grown long—walked past not far from the Blessed One.… On seeing them, King Pasenadi arranged his upper robe over one shoulder, knelt down with his right knee on the ground, saluted the ascetics with his hands before his heart, and announced his name to them three times: “I am the king, venerable sirs, Pasenadi Kosala. I am the king, venerable sirs, Pasenadi Kosala. I am the king, venerable sirs, Pasenadi Kosala.” Then not long after the ascetics had passed, he returned to the Blessed One and, on arrival, having bowed down to him, sat to one side. As he was sitting there he said to the Blessed One, “Of those in the world who are arahants or on the path to arahantship, are these among them?”

“Your majesty, as a layman enjoying sensual pleasures; living crowded with wives & children; using Kāsi fabrics and sandalwood; wearing garlands, scents, & creams; handling gold & silver, it is hard for you to know whether these are arahants or on the path to arahantship.

[1] “It’s through living together that a person’s virtue may be known, and then only after a long period, not a short period; by one who is attentive, not by one who is inattentive; by one who is discerning, not by one who is not discerning.

[2] “It’s through trading with a person that his purity may be known, and then only after a long period, not a short period; by one who is attentive, not by one who is inattentive; by one who is discerning, not by one who is not discerning.

[3] “It’s through adversity that a person’s endurance may be known, and then only after a long period, not a short period; by one who is attentive, not by one who is inattentive; by one who is discerning, not by one who is not discerning.

[4] “It’s through discussion that a person’s discernment may be known, and then only after a long period, not a short period; by one who is attentive, not by one who is inattentive; by one who is discerning, not by one who is not discerning.”

“How amazing, lord! How astounding! How well that was put by the Blessed One! … These men, lord, are my spies, my scouts, returning after going out through the countryside. They go out first, and then I go. Now, when they have scrubbed off the dirt & mud, are well-bathed & well-perfumed, have trimmed their hair & beards, and have put on white clothes, they will go about endowed and provided with the five strings of sensuality.” – Ud 6:2

AN 4:192 expands on these points and indicates that the ability to recognize a person of integrity requires you to have a strong sense of integrity yourself. In fact, MN 110 insists that you must be a person of integrity in your actions, views, and friendships if you are to recognize integrity in another.

Listening to the True Dhamma

Once you have determined to the best of your ability that certain people embody integrity, the suttas advise listening to their Dhamma, both to learn about them—to further test their integrity—and to learn from them, to gain a sense of what the Dhamma might be. And again, the suttas recommend both how to listen to the Dhamma and how to recognize true Dhamma when you hear it.

MN 95 recommends that you spend time near people of integrity, develop a sense of respect for them, and pay close attention to their Dhamma.

SN 6:2 and AN 8:2 explain the purpose for respect here: it’s a prerequisite for learning. Neither passage elaborates on this point, but its truth is fairly obvious. You find it easier to learn from someone you respect than from someone you don’t. Respect is what opens your mind and loosens your preconceived opinions to make room for new knowledge and skills. This is especially important in mastering the skills of the Dhamma, for they involve overcoming your attachment to views and conceit. At the same time, a person with a valuable teaching to offer will feel more inclined to teach it to someone who shows respect than to someone who doesn’t.

However, respect does not necessarily mean giving your full approval to the teaching. After all, part of the purpose in listening to the Dhamma is to test whether the person teaching the Dhamma has integrity in his/her views. Full approval can come only when you have put the teaching in practice and tasted its results. This is why the Vinaya, the monastic discipline, never requires that a student take vows of obedience to a teacher. Here respect means, in the words of Sn 2:9, a lack of stubbornness. Or, in the words of AN 6:88, “the patience to comply with the teaching”: the willingness to listen with an open mind and to take the time and effort needed to give any teachings that seem reasonable a serious try.

The reasonability of the teaching can be gauged by the central principle in views of integrity as explained above in MN 110. That principle is conviction in kamma, the efficacy of human action: that people are responsible for their actions, that their intentions determine the quality—the skillfulness or unskillfulness—of their actions, that actions give results, and that the quality of the action determines the quality of the result. A person who does not believe in these principles cannot be trusted.

Because the distinction between skillfulness and unskillfulness is central to the principle of kamma—and also to the project of putting an end to suffering and stress—MN 135 recommends approaching potential teachers and asking them:

“What is skillful? What is unskillful? What is blameworthy? What is blameless? What should be cultivated? What should not be cultivated? What, having been done by me, will be for my long-term harm & suffering? Or what, having been done by me, will be for my long-term welfare & happiness?”

The texts give a few examples of what might be called the lowest common denominator for judging whether answers to this question embody integrity. In essence, these teachings constitute “what works” in eliminating blatant levels of suffering and stress in one’s life.

“Now what is unskillful? Taking life is unskillful, taking what is not given… sexual misconduct… lying… abusive speech… divisive tale-bearing… idle chatter is unskillful. Covetousness… ill will… wrong views are unskillful. These things are termed unskillful.

“And what are the roots of unskillful things? Greed is a root of unskillful things, aversion is a root of unskillful things, delusion is a root of unskillful things. These are termed the roots of unskillful things.

“And what is skillful? Abstaining from taking life is skillful, abstaining from taking what is not given… from sexual misconduct… from lying… from abusive speech… from divisive tale-bearing… abstaining from idle chatter is skillful. Lack of covetousness… lack of ill will… right views are skillful. These things are termed skillful.

“And what are the roots of skillful things? Lack of greed is a root of skillful things, lack of aversion is a root of skillful things, lack of delusion is a root of skillful things. These are termed the roots of skillful things.” – MN 9

“These three things have been promulgated by wise people, by people who are truly good. Which three? Generosity… going-forth [from the home life]… & service to one’s mother & father. These three things have been promulgated by wise people, by people who are truly good.” – AN 3:45

However, the true Dhamma has a dimension going far beyond the lowest common denominator. To repeat the words of MN 95, it is “deep, hard to see, hard to realize, tranquil, refined, beyond the scope of conjecture, subtle, to-be-experienced by the wise.” The principle of skillfulness—of cause and effect that can be tested in your own actions—still applies in this dimension, but the standards for “what works” on this level are correspondingly subtler and more refined. Two famous passages indicate what these standards are.

“Gotamī, the dhammas of which you may know, ‘These dhammas lead—

to passion, not to dispassion;

to being fettered, not to being unfettered;

to accumulating, not to shedding;

to self-aggrandizement, not to modesty;

to discontent, not to contentment;

to entanglement, not to seclusion;

to laziness, not to aroused persistence;

to being burdensome, not to being unburdensome’:

You may categorically hold, ‘This is not the Dhamma, this is not the Vinaya, this is not the Teacher’s instruction.’

“As for the dhammas of which you may know, ‘These dhammas lead—

to dispassion, not to passion;

to being unfettered, not to being fettered;

to shedding, not to accumulating;

to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement;

to contentment, not to discontent;

to seclusion, not to entanglement;

to aroused persistence, not to laziness;

to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome’:

You may categorically hold, ‘This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher’s instruction.’” – AN 8:53

“Upāli, the dhammas of which you may know, ‘These dhammas do not lead to utter disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, nor to unbinding’: You may categorically hold, ‘This is not the Dhamma, this is not the Vinaya, this is not the Teacher’s instruction.’

“As for the dhammas of which you may know, ‘These dhammas lead to utter disenchantment, to dispassion, to cessation, to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to unbinding’: You may categorically hold, ‘This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher’s instruction.’” – AN 7:80

AN 8:30 expands on some of the principles in the first of these two passages. But here we will focus on the points where these two passages intersect—in the requirement that the Dhamma lead to dispassion and to being unfettered—for the standard test for a genuine experience of awakening is that it arises from dispassion and cuts the fetters of the mind.

“There are these ten fetters. Which ten? Five lower fetters & five higher fetters. And which are the five lower fetters? Self-identification views, uncertainty, grasping at habits & practices, sensual desire, and ill will. These are the five lower fetters. And which are the five higher fetters? Passion for form, passion for what is formless, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance. These are the five higher fetters.” – AN 10:13

As MN 118 explains, stream-entry cuts the first three fetters; once-returning, the second level of awakening, weakens passion, aversion, and delusion; non-returning, the third level, cuts the fetters of sensual desire and ill will; and arahantship, the final level of awakening, cuts the remaining five.

Ultimately, of course, the only proof for whether a teaching leads in this direction comes when, having put the teaching into practice, you actually begin to cut these fetters from the mind. But as a preliminary exercise, you can contemplate a teaching to make sense of it and to see if there are good reasons for believing that it will lead in the right direction.

“Hearing the Dhamma, one remembers it. Remembering it, one penetrates the meaning of those dhammas. Penetrating the meaning, one comes to an agreement through pondering those dhammas. There being an agreement through pondering those dhammas, desire arises. With the arising of desire, one becomes willing. Willing, he contemplates [lit: ‘weighs,’ ‘compares’].” – MN 95

The process of pondering, weighing, and comparing the teachings is based on adopting the right attitude and asking the right questions about them. As AN 2:25 points out, some of the teachings are meant to have their meaning inferred, whereas others are not, and to misapprehend which of these two classes a particular teaching belongs to is a serious mistake. This is where the next factor for stream-entry plays a role.

Appropriate attention

MN 2 draws the line between appropriate and inappropriate attention on the basis of the questions you choose to pursue in contemplating the Dhamma.

“There is the case where an uninstructed, run-of-the-mill person… doesn’t discern what ideas are fit for attention, or what ideas are unfit for attention.… This is how he attends inappropriately: ‘Was I in the past? Was I not in the past? What was I in the past? How was I in the past? Having been what, what was I in the past? Shall I be in the future? Shall I not be in the future? What shall I be in the future? How shall I be in the future? Having been what, what shall I be in the future?’ Or else he is inwardly perplexed about the immediate present: ‘Am I? Am I not? What am I? How am I? Where has this being come from? Where is it bound?’

“As he attends inappropriately in this way, one of six kinds of view arises in him: The view I have a self arises in him as true & established, or the view I have no self… or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive self… or the view It is precisely by means of self that I perceive not-self… or the view It is precisely by means of not-self that I perceive self arises in him as true & established, or else he has a view like this: This very self of mine—the knower that is sensitive here & there to the ripening of good & bad actions—is the self of mine that is constant, everlasting, eternal, not subject to change, and will endure as long as eternity. This is called a thicket of views, a wilderness of views, a contortion of views, a writhing of views, a fetter of views. Bound by a fetter of views, the uninstructed run-of-the-mill person is not freed from birth, aging, & death, from sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, & despair. He is not freed, I tell you, from stress.

“The well-instructed disciple of the noble ones… discerns what ideas are fit for attention, and what ideas are unfit for attention.… He attends appropriately, This is stress … This is the origination of stress … This is the cessation of stress … This is the way leading to the cessation of stress. As he attends appropriately in this way, three fetters are abandoned in him: self-identification views, uncertainty, and grasping at habits & practices.” – MN 2

Some of the most useless controversies in the history of Buddhist thought have come from ignoring this teaching on what is and is not an appropriate object for attention. Buddhists have debated fruitlessly for centuries, and continue to debate today, on how to define a person’s identity—the answer to the question, “What am I?”—or whether a person does or does not have a self—the answer to the questions, “Am I? Am I not?” The fruitlessness of these arguments has proven repeatedly the point made by this passage: that any answer to these questions leads to entanglement in the fetters that the Dhamma is meant to cut away.

To avoid these controversies, the passage recommends focusing on four truths that constitute the appropriate object for attention—stress, its origination, its cessation, and the way leading to its cessation. These truths are directly related to the question of skillfulness, which divides reality into two sets of variables: cause and effect, skillful and unskillful. The origination of stress is an unskillful cause, and stress its result. The way leading to the cessation of stress is a skillful cause, and the cessation of stress its result. To look at experience in terms of these four truths is to attend appropriately in a way that can help cut the fetters underlying unskillfulness in the mind.

Appropriate attention, however, doesn’t stop with just looking. It also carries an imperative of looking in a way that falls in line with the duties appropriate for each of the truths, as stated in SN 56:11: Stress is to be comprehended, its origination abandoned, its cessation realized, and the path to its cessation developed.

For instance, SN 56:11 defines the truth of stress as the five clinging-aggregates. SN 22:23defines comprehension as knowledge that ends passion, aversion, and delusion with regard to the clinging. As SN 22:112 shows, this, too, is a function of appropriate attention.

“A virtuous monk should attend in an appropriate way to the five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. Which five? The form clinging-aggregate, the feeling clinging-aggregate, the perception clinging-aggregate, the fabrications clinging-aggregate, the consciousness clinging-aggregate. A virtuous monk should attend in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a dissolution, an emptiness, not-self. For it is possible that a virtuous monk, attending in an appropriate way to these five clinging-aggregates as inconstant… not-self, would realize the fruit of stream-entry.”

Similarly, SN 46:51 notes that appropriate attention involves looking at qualities that foster the factors for awakening in a way that helps to develop them, and looking at the qualities that counteract the hindrances in a way that helps to starve the hindrances. In this way, appropriate attention is a tool in developing the path and abandoning the origination of stress.

The factors for awakening. “Now, what is the food for the arising of unarisen mindfulness as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of mindfulness as a factor for awakening once it has arisen? There are qualities that act as a foothold for mindfulness as a factor for awakening [well-purified virtue & views made straight]. To foster appropriate attention to them: This is the food for the arising of unarisen mindfulness as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of mindfulness as a factor for awakening once it has arisen.

“And what is the food for the arising of unarisen analysis of qualities as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of analysis of qualities… once it has arisen? There are qualities that are skillful & unskillful, blameworthy & blameless, gross & refined, siding with darkness & with light. To foster appropriate attention to them: This is the food for the arising of unarisen analysis of qualities as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of analysis of qualities… once it has arisen.

“And what is the food for the arising of unarisen persistence as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of persistence… once it has arisen? There is the potential for effort, the potential for exertion, the potential for striving. To foster appropriate attention to them: This is the food for the arising of unarisen persistence as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of persistence… once it has arisen.

“And what is the food for the arising of unarisen rapture as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of rapture… once it has arisen? There are qualities that act as a foothold for rapture as a factor for awakening. To foster appropriate attention to them: This is the food for the arising of unarisen rapture as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of rapture… once it has arisen.

“And what is the food for the arising of unarisen calm as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of calm… once it has arisen? There is physical calm & there is mental calm. To foster appropriate attention to them: This is the food for the arising of unarisen calm as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of calm… once it has arisen.

“And what is the food for the arising of unarisen concentration as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of concentration… once it has arisen? There are themes for calm, themes for non-distraction [these are the four establishings of mindfulness—see MN 44]. To foster appropriate attention to them: This is the food for the arising of unarisen concentration as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of concentration… once it has arisen.

“And what is the food for the arising of unarisen equanimity as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of equanimity… once it has arisen? There are qualities that act as a foothold for equanimity as a factor for awakening. To foster appropriate attention to them: This is the food for the arising of unarisen equanimity as a factor for awakening, or for the growth & increase of equanimity as a factor for awakening once it has arisen.

The hindrances. “Now, what is lack of food for the arising of unarisen sensual desire, or for the growth & increase of sensual desire once it has arisen? There is the theme of unattractiveness. To foster appropriate attention to it: This is lack of food for the arising of unarisen sensual desire, or for the growth & increase of sensual desire once it has arisen.

“And what is lack of food for the arising of unarisen ill will, or for the growth & increase of ill will once it has arisen? There is awareness-release [through good will, compassion, empathetic joy, or equanimity]. To foster appropriate attention to that: This is lack of food for the arising of unarisen ill will, or for the growth & increase of ill will once it has arisen.

“And what is lack of food for the arising of unarisen sloth & drowsiness, or for the growth & increase of sloth & drowsiness once it has arisen? There is the potential for effort, the potential for exertion, the potential for striving. To foster appropriate attention to them: This is lack of food for the arising of unarisen sloth & drowsiness, or for the growth & increase of sloth & drowsiness once it has arisen.

“And what is lack of food for the arising of unarisen restlessness & anxiety, or for the growth & increase of restlessness & anxiety once it has arisen? There is stillness of awareness. To foster appropriate attention to that: This is lack of food for the arising of unarisen restlessness & anxiety, or for the growth & increase of restlessness & anxiety once it has arisen.

“And what is lack of food for the arising of unarisen uncertainty, or for the growth & increase of uncertainty once it has arisen? There are qualities that are skillful & unskillful, blameworthy & blameless, gross & refined, siding with darkness & with light. To foster appropriate attention to them: This is lack of food for the arising of unarisen uncertainty, or for the growth & increase of uncertainty once it has arisen.”

Thus appropriate attention provides a framework for looking at the Dhamma not only as it is presented in a teaching, but also as it presents itself directly—as dhammas—as experiences encountered by the mind. And the framework doesn’t stop with the act of looking: The way you look is actually a type of kamma that, when done appropriately, shapes those experiences in a way that promotes the goal of the practice. In this way appropriate attention shades into the fourth factor for stream-entry.

Practice in accordance with the Dhamma

Once you have gained a sense of the Dhamma and the duties it entails through appropriate attention, the remaining step is to practice in accordance with the Dhamma so as to bring those duties to completion. The suttas define this step as follows:

“If a monk practices for the sake of disenchantment, dispassion, & cessation with regard to aging-&-death… birth… becoming… clinging/sustenance… craving… feeling… contact… the six sense media… name-&-form… consciousness… fabrications… ignorance, he deserves to be called a monk who practices the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” – SN 12:67

“For a monk practicing the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma, what accords with the Dhamma is this: that he keep cultivating disenchantment with regard to form, that he keep cultivating disenchantment with regard to feeling, that he keep cultivating disenchantment with regard to perception, that he keep cultivating disenchantment with regard to fabrications, that he keep cultivating disenchantment with regard to consciousness.” – SN 22:39

SN 22:40–41 add that this is to be done by remaining focused on stress, inconstancy, and not-self with regard to the five aggregates.

As with the first two factors for stream-entry, the ability to develop dispassion for things that ordinarily incite passion requires a twofold practice: adapting your actions to follow in line with the Dhamma (rather than trying to adapt the Dhamma to follow your own preferences), and refining your understanding of the Dhamma as it is tested in experience.

MN 61 offers explicit instructions on how this is to be done.

“What do you think, Rāhula: What is a mirror for?”

“For reflection, sir.”

“In the same way, Rāhula, bodily actions, verbal actions, & mental actions are to be done with repeated reflection.

“Whenever you want to perform a bodily action, you should reflect on it: ‘This bodily action I want to perform—would it lead to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both? Is it an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?’ If, on reflection, you know that it would lead to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both; it would be an unskillful bodily action with painful consequences, painful results, then any bodily action of that sort is absolutely unfit for you to do. But if on reflection you know that it would not cause affliction… it would be a skillful bodily action with happy consequences, happy results, then any bodily act of that sort is fit for you to do.

“While you are performing a bodily action, you should reflect on it: ‘This bodily action I am doing—is it leading to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both? Is it an unskillful bodily action, with painful consequences, painful results?’ If, on reflection, you know that it is leading to self-affliction, to affliction of others, or both… you should give it up. But if on reflection you know that it is not… you may continue with it.

“Having performed a bodily action, you should reflect on it… If, on reflection, you know that it led to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both; it was an unskillful bodily action with painful consequences, painful results, then you should confess it, reveal it, lay it open to the Teacher or to a knowledgeable companion in the holy life. Having confessed it… you should exercise restraint in the future. But if on reflection you know that it did not lead to affliction… it was a skillful bodily action with happy consequences, happy results, then you should stay mentally refreshed & joyful, training day & night in skillful qualities.

[Similarly for verbal actions and mental actions, although the final paragraph concerning mental actions says:]

“Having performed a mental action, you should reflect on it.… If, on reflection, you know that it led to self-affliction, to the affliction of others, or to both; it was an unskillful mental action with painful consequences, painful results, then you should feel distressed, ashamed, & disgusted with it. Feeling distressed… you should exercise restraint in the future. But if on reflection you know that it did not lead to affliction… it was a skillful mental action with happy consequences, happy results, then you should stay mentally refreshed & joyful, training day & night in skillful qualities.” – MN 61

The process of self-examination recommended in this passage includes the principles discussed under the first three factors for stream-entry. You pay appropriate attention to your own intentions and actions, and to their results, to see whether they qualify as skillful or unskillful. If you notice that any of your bodily or verbal actions have led to harmful results, you approach a person of integrity and listen to his/her advice. In this way you combine the two principles that Iti 16–17 recommend as the most helpful internal and external principles for awakening: appropriate attention and friendship with admirable people. It’s no coincidence that these are precisely the two principles recommended in the discourse to the Kālāmas.

Self-examination of this sort, however, shares yet another feature with the first factor for stream-entry: the need for integrity. Just as your integrity is a prerequisite for your ability to detect integrity in others, so too it is a prerequisite for your ability to gauge the true nature of your intentions and the results of your actions. These are commonly the two areas of experience where people are least honest with themselves. Yet, for your practice to accord with the Dhamma, you must resist any habitual tendency to be less than totally scrupulous about them. This is why, as a preface to the above advice, the sutta shows the Buddha lecturing on the importance of truthfulness as the most essential quality for a person on the path.

Although Rāhula reportedly received the above advice when he was a child, MN 19maintains that the principles it contains can lead all the way to full awakening. This means, of course, that they can lead to the first level of awakening, which is stream-entry.

Stream-entry is often called the arising of the Dhamma eye. What stream-enterers see with this Dhamma eye is always expressed in the same terms:

Then Ven. Assaji gave this exposition of Dhamma to Sāriputta the wanderer:

“Whatever phenomena arise from a cause:

their cause

& their cessation.

Such is the teaching of the Tathāgata,

the Great Contemplative.”

Then to Sāriputta the wanderer, as he heard this exposition of Dhamma, there arose the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye: “Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.” – Mv I.23.5

A subsequent passage shows that the concept “all that is subject to origination” occurs in conjunction with a glimpse of what stands in opposition to “all that is subject to origination”—in other words, the unfabricated: deathlessness.

[Immediately after attaining the stream] Sāriputta the wanderer went to Moggallāna the wanderer. Moggallāna the wanderer saw him coming from afar and, on seeing him, said, “Bright are your faculties, my friend; pure & clear your complexion. Could it be that you have attained the Deathless?”

“Yes, my friend, I have.” – Mv I.23.5

The suttas describe the experience of the Deathless in only the sketchiest terms. What little description there is, is intended to show that the Deathless lies beyond most linguistic categories. However, there are a few indicators to show what the Deathless is not.

To begin with, it cannot be described as a state of either existence nor non-existence.

Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita: “With the remainderless fading & cessation of the six spheres of contact [vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, & intellection] is it the case that there is anything else?”

Ven. Sāriputta: “Don’t say that, my friend.”

Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita: “With the remainderless fading & cessation of the six spheres of contact, is it the case that there is not anything else?”

Ven. Sāriputta: “Don’t say that, my friend.”

Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita: “… is it the case that there both is & is not anything else?”

Ven. Sāriputta: “Don’t say that, my friend.”

Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita: “… is it the case that there neither is nor is not anything else?”

Ven. Sāriputta: “Don’t say that, my friend.”

Ven. Mahā Koṭṭhita: “Being asked… if there is anything else, you say, ‘Don’t say that, my friend.’ Being asked… if there is not anything else… if there both is & is not anything else… if there neither is nor is not anything else, you say, ‘Don’t say that, my friend.’ Now, how is the meaning of this statement to be understood?”

Ven. Sāriputta: “Saying ‘… is it the case that there is anything else… is it the case that there is not anything else… is it the case that there both is & is not anything else… is it the case that there neither is nor is not anything else,’ one is objectifying non-objectification. However far the six spheres of contact go, that is how far objectification goes. However far objectification goes, that is how far the six spheres of contact go. With the remainderless fading & cessation of the six spheres of contact, there comes to be the cessation, the allaying of objectification.” – AN 4:173

Second, the dimension of the Deathless is not devoid of awareness, although the awareness here—because it is unfabricated—lies apart from the consciousness included in the five aggregates of fabricated experience.

“Monks, that dimension should be experienced where the eye [vision] ceases and the perception [mental label] of form fades. That dimension should be experienced where the ear ceases and the perception of sound fades… where the nose ceases and the perception of aroma fades… where the tongue ceases and the perception of flavor fades… where the body ceases and the perception of tactile sensation fades… where the intellect ceases and the perception of idea fades: That dimension should be experienced.” – SN 35:114

“Having directly known the extent of designation and the extent of the objects of designation, the extent of expression and the extent of the objects of expression, the extent of description and the extent of the objects of description, the extent of discernment and the extent of the objects of discernment, the extent to which the cycle revolves: Having directly known that, the monk is released. [To say that,] ‘“The monk released, having directly known that, does not see, does not know” is his opinion,’ that would be mistaken.” – DN 15

Consciousness without surface, without end

luminous all around:

Here water, earth, fire, & wind have no footing.

Here long & short,

coarse & fine,

fair & foul,

name & form

are all brought to an end.

With the cessation

of [the aggregate of] consciousness,

each is here brought to an end. – DN 11

“Consciousness without surface, without end, luminous all around, is not experienced through the solidity of earth, the liquidity of water, the radiance of fire, the windiness of wind, the divinity of devas [and so on through a list of the various levels of godhood and then to] the allness of the All [i.e., the six sense spheres].” – MN 49

“Even so, Vaccha, any form… feeling… perception… fabrication… consciousness by which one describing the Tathāgata would describe him: That the Tathāgata has abandoned, its root destroyed, made like a palymra stump, deprived of the conditions of development, not destined for future arising. Freed from the classification of form… feeling… perception… fabrications… consciousness, Vaccha, the Tathāgata is deep, boundless, hard to fathom, like the sea. ‘Reappears’ doesn’t apply. ‘Does not reappear’ doesn’t apply. ‘Both does & does not reappear’ doesn’t apply. ‘Neither reappears nor does not reappear’ doesn’t apply.” – MN 72

“Freed, dissociated, & released from ten things, Bāhuna, the Tathāgata dwells with unrestricted awareness. Which ten? Freed, dissociated, & released from form, the Tathāgata dwells with unrestricted awareness. Freed, dissociated, & released from feeling… Freed, dissociated, & released from perception… Freed, dissociated, & released from fabrications… Freed, dissociated, & released from consciousness… Freed, dissociated, & released from birth… Freed, dissociated, & released from aging… Freed, dissociated, & released from death… Freed, dissociated, & released from stress… Freed, dissociated, & released from defilement, the Tathāgata dwells with unrestricted awareness.

“Just as a red, blue, or white lotus born in the water and growing in the water, rises up above the water and stands with no water adhering to it, in the same way the Tathāgata—freed, dissociated, & released from these ten things—dwells with unrestricted awareness.” – AN 10:81

These are not the words of a person who has found release in unconsciousness.

Finally, although the Deathless is sometimes called consciousness without surface, without end, it is not to be confused with the formless stage of concentration called the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness. One of the main differences between the two is that the dimension of the infinitude of consciousness is fabricated and willed (see MN 140). The element of will, though, can be very attenuated while one is in that dimension, and only the subtlest discernment can ferret it out. One way of testing for it is to see if there is any sense of identification with the knowing. If there is, then there is still the conceit of I-making and my-making applied to that state. Another test is to see if there is any sense that the knowing contains all things or is their source. If there is, then there is still fabrication in that state of mind, for when the Deathless is fully comprehended, the sense of unrestricted awareness as containing or acting as the source of other things is seen to be an ignorant conceit.

“There is the case, monks, where an uninstructed run-of-the-mill person… perceives unbinding as unbinding. Perceiving unbinding as unbinding, he supposes things about unbinding, he supposes things in unbinding, he supposes things coming out of unbinding, he supposes unbinding as ‘mine,’ he delights in unbinding. Why is that? Because he has not comprehended it, I tell you.…

“A monk who is a Worthy One, devoid of effluents—who has attained completion, finished the task, laid down the burden, attained the true goal, destroyed the fetters of becoming, and is released through right knowledge… directly knows unbinding as unbinding. Directly knowing unbinding as unbinding, he doesn’t suppose things about unbinding, doesn’t suppose things in unbinding, doesn’t suppose things coming out of unbinding, doesn’t suppose unbinding as ‘mine,’ doesn’t delight in unbinding. Why is that? Because he has comprehended it, I tell you.” – MN 1

However, in line with the instructions to Gotamī and Upāli, the true test of an experience of stream-entry is not in its description, but the results it produces. The texts describe these in two ways: four factors that characterize a person who has entered the stream, and three fetters that stream-entry automatically cuts.

The four factors, according to AN 10:92, are: verified conviction in the Buddha, verified conviction in the Dhamma, verified conviction in the Saṅgha, and “virtues that are appealing to the noble ones—untorn, unbroken, unspotted, unsplattered, liberating, praised by the wise, ungrapsed at, leading to concentration.” The three fetters are: self-identification views, uncertainty, and grasping at habits & practices.

The two lists find common ground in the experience of the path to stream-entry. As the path—the noble eightfold path—yields to the fruit of stream-entry, you see that although ordinary action can lead to pleasant, unpleasant, or mixed results on the level of fabricated experience, the noble eightfold path is a form of action that goes beyond, to the end of action (see AN 4:237). This experience cuts through any doubt or uncertainty about the truth of the Buddha’s awakening, thus verifying your conviction in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha. Having seen the results that ordinary actions do have on the fabricated level, however, you wouldn’t dare transgress the five precepts, the habits that embody the virtues appealing to the noble ones (see AN 8:39). Still, because the Deathless is the end of action, you don’t grasp at habits and practices as the goal in & of themselves. And because you have seen the aggregates of form, feeling, perception, fabrications, and consciousness fade away in the experience of the Deathless, you would never construct a view of self-identification around them.

The texts describe the results of stream-entry in some detail:

To Upāli the householder, as he was sitting right there, there arose the dustless, stainless Dhamma eye: “Whatever is subject to origination is all subject to cessation.” Then—having seen the Dhamma, having reached the Dhamma, known the Dhamma, plunged entirely into the Dhamma, having crossed over & beyond doubt, having had no more questioning—Upāli the householder gained fearlessness and became independent of others with regard to the Teacher’s message. – MN 56

“And how is one afflicted in body but unafflicted in mind? There is the case where a well-instructed disciple of the noble ones… doesn’t assume form to be the self, or the self as possessing form, or form as in the self, or the self as in form. He isn’t obsessed with the idea that ‘I am form’ or ‘Form is mine.’ As he isn’t obsessed with these ideas, his form changes & alters, but he doesn’t fall into sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, or despair over its change & alteration.

“He doesn’t assume feeling… perception… fabrications to be the self.…

“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. He isn’t obsessed with the idea that ‘I am consciousness’ or ‘Consciousness is mine.’ As he isn’t obsessed with these ideas, his consciousness changes & alters, but he doesn’t fall into sorrow, lamentation, pain, distress, or despair over its change & alteration.

“This, householder, is how one is afflicted in body but unafflicted in mind.” – SN 22:1

That, too, say the skilled,

is a binding knot: that

in dependence on which

you regard another

as inferior.

So a monk shouldn’t be dependent

on what’s seen, heard, or sensed,

or on habits & practices;

nor should he conjure a view in the world

in connection with knowledge

or habits & practices;

shouldn’t take himself

to be “equal”;

shouldn’t think himself

inferior or superlative.…

A brahman not led

by habits or practices,

gone to the beyond

—Such—

doesn’t fall back. – Sn 4:5

Although the traditional lists of the results of stream-entry provide stringent standards for judging one’s own attainment, the texts—and living Buddhist traditions today—record many instances of people who have over-estimated their attainment. Thus when you have what seems to be an attainment of this sort, you have to examine it carefully and test the mind to see if the three fetters are actually cut. And because the attainment itself is what proves or disproves the authority and authenticity of the texts, as well as the integrity of your teachers, you are ultimately left with only one guarantee of your attainment: your own integrity, which you hope has been adequately developed along the path. In keeping with the principle that the Dhamma is ultimately a quality of the mind as embodied in the entire person, the only way you can ultimately gauge the truth of the Dhamma is if you as a person are true.

Because the attainment of stream-entry can make such an enormous difference in your life, it is worth every ounce of integrity needed to attain it and to ascertain the attainment.

Then the Blessed One, picking up a little bit of dust with the tip of his fingernail, said to the monks, “What do you think, monks? Which is greater: the little bit of dust I have picked up with the tip of my fingernail, or the great earth?”

“The great earth is far greater, lord. The little bit of dust the Blessed One has picked up with the tip of his fingernail is next to nothing. It’s not a hundredth, a thousandth, a one hundred-thousandth… when compared with the great earth.”

“In the same way, monks, for a disciple of the noble ones who is consummate in view, an individual who has broken through [to stream-entry], the suffering & stress totally ended & extinguished is far greater. That which remains in the state of having at most seven remaining lifetimes is next to nothing. It’s not a hundredth, a thousandth, a one hundred-thousandth, when compared with the previous mass of suffering. That’s how great the benefit is of breaking through to the Dhamma, monks. That’s how great the benefit is of obtaining the Dhamma eye.” – SN 13:1

For a person who has been relieved of this much suffering, the question of the historical Buddha becomes irrelevant. If the genuine Deathless is not the historical Buddha’s attainment, it’s what a genuine Buddha would have attained. The Dhamma leading to this attainment could not have come from anyone else. As SN 22:87 quotes the Buddha as saying, “One who sees the Dhamma sees me,” i.e., the aspect of the Buddha that really matters, the aspect signaling that total freedom, the total end of suffering, is an attainable goal.

Sole dominion over the earth,

going to heaven,

lordship over all worlds:

the fruit of stream-entry

excels them. – Dhp 178

These are audacious claims, and they obviously require an approach more audacious than the historical method to test them. As the suttas indicate, nothing less than genuine integrity of character, developed through careful training and practice, will suffice. Given that “dhamma” means both teaching and quality of mind, it stands to reason that truth of character is needed to measure the truth of the teaching. Only true people can know the truth of the suttas’ claims. This may seem an exclusionary or elitist thing to say, but actually it’s not. The sort of education needed to master the historical method isn’t open to everyone, but integrity is—if you want to develop it. The suttas say that the best things in life are available to those who are true. The only question is whether you’re true enough to want to know if they’re right.

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

Offline edition …

The sutta translations can also be browsed and read offline by downloading an eBook version. The entire Sutta Piṭaka, with full hyperlinked cross-references provides a similar, if not superior experience, to online browsing (or even offline browsing with a mirrored website stored locally). Page loading and following cross-references are snappier without internet latency, and the eBooks have some additional features like nested tables of contents, bookmarking, note taking and highlighting. There’s also the ability to load them onto handheld devices and eReaders like the Kindle or Kobe, and eReaders are particularly good for taking into the wilderness because of their light weight and extremely long battery life.

Due to the internal structure of the eBooks (specifically the epub, azw3 and mobi formats), even very large ones like this hardly lag in navigation and page rendering, even on the oldest, smallest and most underpowered devices. On a computer, the responsiveness is immediate. Large pdfs, on the other hand, are basically unusable on small devices, and not recommended even for powerful computers.

All that is needed is an eReader. For Kindles, the azw3 format is better, but the mobi also works. For everything else, the epub format is the best. For a laptop or desktop computer, Calibre is free and excellent eReader software that works on Windows, OSX and Linux. For Android eBookDroid is free and popular, and the iPhone has iBooks installed by default.

A Note on the Translations

by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

The translations contained in these volumes are based on the Thai edition of the Pali Canon, although I occasionally made use of variant readings found in other editions.

People who are not familiar with the suttas may find their style difficult to relate to. The Pali Canon was, originally, an entirely oral tradition. As a result, it tends to be terse in some areas and repetitive in others. I’ve made an effort to cut as many of the repetitions as possible, but I’ll have to ask your patience for those that remain. Think of them as the refrains in a piece of music. Also, when the Buddha is referring to monks doing this and that, keep in mind that his audience was frequently composed entirely of monks. The commentaries state that the word “monk” includes anyone—male or female, lay or ordained—who is serious about the practice, and this meaning should always be kept in mind. I apologize for the gender bias in the translations. Although I have tried to figure out ways to minimize it, I find myself stymied because it is so thoroughly embedded in a literature originally addressed to male monastics.

Some of the suttas have their own introductions, and some have explanatory notes, which are placed in each case at the end of the sutta. These notes are based primarily on passages found in other suttas, and occasionally on passages from the extensive commentarial literature that has formed around the suttas over the centuries. Many, but not all, Theravadins regard the commentaries as authoritative, but the questions asked and answered by the commentators often fall into the list of questions that MN 2 classifies as inappropriate for attention. Two examples are the questions of whether or not there is a self; and, if there is no self, what constitutes a human being. To make the suttas answer these questions is like deforming a round peg to fit it into a square hole: You might get something to fill the square, but the whole point of designing the peg in the first place was to make it round. Thus a more reliable way at getting at the meaning of an individual passage in the suttas is first to see what light other passages in the same stratum of literature, addressing the same questions, may throw on it. The commentaries, in the areas where they seem to accord with the line of inquiry in the suttas, can then be consulted as secondary sources. Thus the approach taken here.

The format of the suttas—as dialogues and discourses given at specific times and places—helps to emphasize one of their analogies for the Buddha’s teachings: as medicine for specific illnesses of the mind. To see the teachings applied to specific situations helps give them context, providing a sense of which medicine is appropriate for which disease. However, the weakness of this approach is that overarching principles and interrelationships can sometimes get lost in the particulars. To overcome this shortcoming, many of the suttas here are cross-referenced to other suttas in the collection. I recommend that you follow these cross-references wherever you find them at the end of a sutta that holds special interest for you, to get a sense of the larger patterns among the teachings. This in turn will give you a better perspective on how to put the teachings of the suttas to best use, to see if they can help cure the suffering and stress afflicting your own mind.

From Access to Insight to Dhammatalks.org

History with accesstoinsight.org

In early 1996, John Bullitt asked me to provide a few translations from the Pāli Canon for his fledgling website, Access to Insight. What began as a casual project quickly grew to a major production in the years 1997–98, as the positive response to the initial translations showed a widespread desire for clear, reliable English translations of the Buddha’s teachings, available free of charge. Although I have pursued other projects in the years since, I have continued providing translations as time has allowed. Currently the sutta translations on Access to Insight number more than 1,000, most of them mine. The website as a whole—thanks to John’s scrupulous care and selfless gift of his time—has become a premier source for people all over the world who are interested in reliable reading materials on the Theravāda tradition.

Authoritative collection now on dhammatalks.org

Now that John’s interests have moved in another direction, Access to Insight is currently closed to new input. As a result, I have decided to gather my translations of suttas from the Dīgha, Majjhima, Saṁyutta, Aṅguttara, and Khuddaka Nikāyas on Access to Insight, plus new translations of suttas done since the website was frozen, and offer them on this website, dhammatalks.org. I expect that the collection will grow as I find time to translate even more suttas.

I have taken the opportunity to standardize the translations as much as possible, bringing my earlier translations into line with more recent ones and making them more accurate. Any mistakes that remain in these translations are entirely my own. If you notice any, please inform the site administrator at dhammatalks.feedback@gmail.com so that they can be corrected in the future.

So please note that the translations published here and in the Handful of Leaves anthologies supplant the versions available on Access to Insight for the purpose of study and reference by citation.

Peace.

Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

METTA FOREST MONASTERY VALLEY CENTER, CA  92082–1409 USA

APRIL, 2017

Glossary

Pali-English

Abhidhamma: (1) In the discourses of the Pali Canon, this term simply means “higher Dhamma,” and a systematic attempt to define the Buddha’s teachings and understand their interrelationships. (2) A later collection of treatises collating lists of categories drawn from the teachings in the discourses, added to the Canon several centuries after the Buddha’s life.

Ācariya: Teacher; mentor.

Ajaan (Thai): Teacher; mentor. Pāli form: Ācariya.

Ājīvaka: An ascetic belonging to any one of a group of schools that, for various reasons, taught that morality was nothing more than a social convention and that human action was either unreal, totally predetermined, or powerless to effect results. See DN 2.

Āmisa: Literally, “flesh”; “bait”; “lure.” Used to describe objects of sensual enjoyment and the feelings of pleasure, pain, and neither pleasure nor pain that arise in the quest for sensual enjoyment. Its opposite is nirāmisa—not of the flesh—which describes the feelings developed around jhāna and the pursuit of release from suffering and stress.

Añjali: A gesture of respect, in which the hands are placed palm-to-palm in front of the face or the heart.

Anusaya: Obsession, of which there are seven varieties: sensual passion, irritation, views, uncertainty, conceit, passion for becoming, ignorance.

Āpalokana-kamma: A procedure to use in conducting communal business of the Saṅgha, in which certain non-controversial issues are settled simply with an informal announcement. The following terms – ñatti-kamma, ñatti-dutiya-kamma, and ñatti-catuttha-kamma – refer to procedures where the issue must be settled by a formal motion stated once, twice, or four times, giving all the monks present the opportunity to object to the motion before it is carried.

Apāya: Realm of destitution. One of the four lower realms of existence, in which beings suffer because of their bad kamma: hell, the realm of hungry shades, the realm of angry demons, and level of common animals. In the Buddhist cosmology, a person reborn in any of these realms may stay there for long or short periods of time, but never for an eternity. After the bad kamma has worked out, the person will return to the higher realms.

Appanā samādhi: Fixed penetration, the strongest level of concentration.

Arahaṁ: Worthy; pure. An epithet for the Buddha.

Arahant: A “worthy one” or “pure one;” a person whose mind is free of defilement and thus is not destined for further rebirth. A title for the Buddha and the highest level of his noble disciples.

Ariyadhana: Noble Wealth, i.e., qualities that serve as capital in the quest for liberation: conviction, virtue, shame, compunction, erudition, generosity, and discernment.

Āsava: Effluent; fermentation. Four qualities—sensuality, views, becoming, and ignorance—that “flow out” of the mind and create the flood of the round of death and rebirth.

Asura: A member of a race of beings who, like the Titans in Greek mythology, battled the devas for sovereignty in heaven and lost.

Atammayatā: Non-fashioning, i.e., the non-fashioning of a sense of self around any experience or activity.

Attha: Meaning, sense, aim, result.

Avijjā: Ignorance; lack of skill.

Āyatana: Sense medium. The six inner sense media are the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and intellect. The six outer sense media are their respective objects.

Bhagavant: An epithet for the Buddha, commonly translated as ‘Blessed One’ or ‘Exalted One.’ Some commentators, though, have traced the word etymologically to the Pali root meaning ‘to divide’ and, by extension, ‘to analyze,’ and so translate it as ‘Analyst.’

Bodhi: Awakening.

Bodhisatta: “A being (striving) for awakening;” the term used to describe the Buddha before he actually became Buddha, from his first aspiration to Buddhahood until the time of his full awakening. Sanskrit form: Bodhisattva.

Brahman: In common usage, a brahman is a member of the priestly caste, which claimed to be the highest caste in India, based on birth. In a specifically Buddhist usage, “brahman” can also mean an arahant, conveying the point that excellence is based, not on birth or race, but on the qualities attained in the mind.

Brahmā: An inhabitant of the heavenly realms of form or formlessness, a position earned – but not forever – through the cultivation of virtue and meditative absorption, along with the attitudes of limitless goodwill, compassion, appreciation, and equanimity.

Brahmavihāra: A mental attitude that, when developed to a level where it can extend without limit to all beings, is conducive to rebirth in one of the Brahmā worlds. There are four altogether: unlimited goodwill (mettā), unlimited compassion (karuṇā), unlimited empathetic joy (muditā), and unlimited equanimity (upekkhā).

Bhava: Becoming. A sense of identity within a particular world of experience. The three levels of becoming are on the level of sensuality, form, and formlessness.

Bhikkhu: A Buddhist monk.

Chedi (Thai): A spired monument, usually containing relics of the Buddha or other arahants.

Deva (-tā): Literally, “shining one.” An inhabitant of the terrestrial or heavenly realms higher than the human.

Dhamma: (1) Event; action; (2) a phenomenon in & of itself; (3) mental quality; (4) doctrine, teaching; (5) nibbāna (although there are passages describing nibbāna as the abandoning of all dhammas). Sanskrit form: Dharma.

Dukkha: Stress; suffering.

Dhutaṅga: Ascetic practice. Optional observances that monks may undertake to cut away mental defilement and attachment to the requisites of life. There are thirteen altogether, and they include the practice of wearing robes made from thrown-away cloth, the practice of using only one set of three robes, the practice of going for alms, the practice of not by-passing any donors on one’s alms path, the practice of eating no more than one meal a day, the practice of eating from one’s alms bowl, the practice of not accepting food after one has eaten one’s fill, the practice of living in the wilderness, the practice of living at the foot of a tree, the practice of living under the open sky, the practice of living in a cemetery, the practice of living in whatever place is assigned to one, and the practice of not lying down.

Gandhabba: (1) A celestial musician, the lowest level of celestial deva. (2) A being about to take birth.

Gotama: The Buddha’s clan name.

Hīnayāna: “Inferior Vehicle,” a pejorative term, coined by a group who called themselves followers of the Mahāyāna, the “Great Vehicle,” to denote the path of practice of those who aimed at Arahantship, rather than full Buddhahood. Hīnayānists refused to recognize the later discourses, composed by the Mahāyānists, that claimed to contain teachings that the Buddha felt were too deep for his first generation of disciples, and which he thus secretly entrusted to underground serpents. The Theravāda school of today is a descendent of the Hīnayāna.

Idappaccayatā: This/that conditionality. This name for the causal principle the Buddha discovered on the night of his Awakening emphasizes the point that, for the purposes of ending suffering and stress, the processes of causality can be understood entirely in terms of conditions in the realm of direct experience, with no need to refer to forces operating outside of that realm.

Iddhipāda: Base of power. The Canon describes the four bases of power as qualities that can be dominant in the practice of concentration: desire, persistence, intent, and discrimination.

Indra (Inda): King of the devas of the Heaven of the Thirty-three. Another name for Sakka.

Jātaka: A story, often mythical, of one of the Buddha’s previous lives.

Jhāna: Mental absorption. A state of strong concentration focused on a single sensation or mental notion. This term is derived from the verb jhāyati, which means to burn with a steady, still flame.

Kamma: Intentional act. Sanskrit form: Karma.

Kilesa: Defilement. Mental qualities that obscure the clarity of the mind. There are three basic sorts—passion, aversion, and delusion—but these can combine into a variety of forms. One standard list gives sixteen in all: greed, malevolence, anger, rancor, hypocrisy, arrogance, envy, miserliness, dishonesty, boastfulness, obstinacy, violence, pride, conceit, intoxication, and complacency.

Khandha: Aggregate; physical and mental phenomena as they are directly experienced; the raw material for a sense of self: rūpa—physical form; vedanā—feeling-tones of pleasure, pain, or neither pleasure nor pain; saññā—perception, mental label; saṅkhāra—fabrication, thought construct; and viññāṇa—sensory consciousness, the act of taking note of sense data and ideas as they occur. Sanskrit form: Skandha.

Lokadhamma: Ways of the world—fortune, loss, status, loss of status, praise, criticism, pleasure, and pain.

Luang Phaw (Thai): Venerable father. A term of respect for an older monk.

Luang Pu (Thai): Venerable paternal grandfather. A term of great respect for an elder monk.

Luang Taa (Thai): Venerable maternal grandfather. A term connoting more affection than respected, usually—but not always—used for monks ordained late in life.

Magga: Path. Specifically, the path to the cessation of suffering and stress. The four transcendent paths—or rather, one path with four levels of refinement—are the path to stream entry (entering the stream to nibbāna, which ensures that one will be reborn at most only seven more times), the path to once-returning, the path to non-returning, and the path to arahantship.

Maṇḍala: Microcosmic diagram, used as a power circle and object of contemplation in the rituals of Tantric Buddhism.

Māra: The personification of temptation and all forces, within and without, that create obstacles to release from saṁsāra.

Meru: A mountain at the center of the universe where devas are said to dwell.

Mettā: Goodwill (see Brahmavihāra).

Nāga: A magical serpent, technically classed as a common animal, but possessing many of the powers of a deva, including the ability to take on human shape. Sometimes this term is used metaphorically, in the sense of “Great One,” to indicate an arahant.

Nibbāna: Literally, the “unbinding” of the mind from passion, aversion, and delusion, and from the entire round of death and rebirth. As this term also denotes the extinguishing of a fire, it carries connotations of stilling, cooling, and peace. “Total nibbāna” in some contexts denotes the experience of awakening; in others, the final passing away of an arahant. Sanskrit form: Nirvāṇa.

Nigaṇṭha: Literally, one without ties. An ascetic in the Jain religion.

Nīvaraṇa: Hindrances to concentration—sensual desire, ill will, torpor & lethargy, restlessness & anxiety, and uncertainty.

Ogha: Flood; factors that sweep the mind along the round of death and rebirth—sensual passion, becoming, and ignorance. Some lists add views as a fourth member of the list.

Pali: The oldest complete extant Canon of the Buddha’s teachings and—by extension—the language in which it was composed.

Papañca: Objectification—thinking that derives from the perception, “I am the thinker,” and lead to conflict.

Pāramī: Perfection; qualities that lead to awakening—generosity, virtue, renunciation, discernment, persistence, endurance, truthfulness, determination, goodwill, and equanimity.

Paṭicca-samuppāda: Dependent co-arising; dependent origination. A map showing the way ignorance and craving interact with the aggregates (khandha) and sense media (āyatana) to bring about stress and suffering. As the interactions are complex, there are several different versions of paṭicca samuppāda given in the suttas. In the most common one (given, for example, in SN 12:2), the map starts with ignorance. In another common one (given here in DN 15), the map starts with the interrelation between name (nāma) and form (rūpa) on the one hand, and sensory consciousness on the other.

Pāṭimokkha: Basic code of monastic discipline, composed of 227 rules for monks and 311 for nuns.

Pavāraṇā: Invitation; a monastic ceremony marking the end of the rains retreat on the full moon in October. During the ceremony, each monk invites his fellow monks to accuse him of any offenses they may have suspected him of having committed.

Peta: A hungry ghost.

Phala: Fruition. Specifically, the fruition of any of the four transcendent paths (see magga).

Phra (Thai): Venerable. The common title for a monk.

Rāhu: An asura who, according to legend, tried to swallow the sun. He is now a head with no body who still tries to swallow the sun and moon—thus causing solar and lunar eclipses—but his lack of a body means that such eclipses last only a short while.

Rakkhasa: A fierce spirit said to dwell in bodies of water.

Sakka: King of the devas of the Heaven of the Thirty-three. Another name for Indra.

Sakya: The Buddha’s family name.

Samaṇa: Contemplative. Literally, a person who abandons the conventional obligations of social life in order to find a way of life more “in tune” (sama) with the ways of nature.

Samatha: Tranquility, steadiness of mind.

Saṁsāra: Transmigration; the process of wandering through repeated states of becoming, with their attendant death and rebirth.

Saṁvega: A sense of chastened dismay over the meaninglessness and futility of life as it is ordinarily lived, combined with a strong sense of urgency in looking for a way out.

Saṁyojana: Fetter. The ten fetters binding the mind to repeated birth and death are self-identity views, uncertainty, grasping at precepts and practices, sensual passion, irritation, passion for form, passion for formlessness, conceit, restlessness, and ignorance. The first three fetters are abandoned at the first level of Awakening, called stream-entry; the next two are abandoned at the third level of Awakening, called non-returning; and remaining five are abandoned at the fourth and final level of Awakening, arahantship.

Saṅgha: On the conventional (sammati) level, this term denotes the communities of Buddhist monks and nuns. On the ideal (ariya) level, it denotes those followers of the Buddha, lay or ordained, who have attained at least stream-entry.

Saṅghadāna: A donation dedicated to the entire community of monks, rather than to a specific individual.

Saṅkhāra: Fabrication (see Khandha).

Sati: Mindfulness.

Satipaṭṭhāna: Establishing of mindfulness.

Soḷasa Pañhā: The Sixteen Questions, the final chapter in the Sutta Nipāta, in which sixteen young Brahmins question the Buddha on subtle points of the doctrine. Mogharāja’s Question is the last of the sixteen.

Stūpa: A memorial to a dead person, derived from the form of a burial mound (see Chedi).

Sukha: Ease; pleasure; happiness; bliss.

Sutta: Discourse. Sanskrit form: sūtra.

Tādin: “Such,” an adjective to describe one who has attained the goal. It indicates that the person’s state is indefinable but not subject to change or influences of any sort.

Tathāgata: Literally, “one who has become authentic (tatha-āgata) or is truly gone (tathā-gata)”: an epithet used in ancient India for a person who has attained the highest religious goal. In Buddhism, it usually denotes the Buddha, although occasionally it also denotes any of his arahant disciples.

Theravāda: The “Teachings of the Elders”—the only one of the early schools of Buddhism to have survived into the present; currently the dominant form of Buddhism in Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Burma.

Upādāna: The act of clinging to something to take sustenance from it. The activities that, when clung to, constitute suffering are the five khandhas. The clinging itself takes four forms: to sensuality, to habits & practices, to views, and to theories about the self.

Upāsikā: A female lay follower of the Buddha.

Upekkhā: Equanimity (see Brahmavihāra).

Uposatha: Observance day, coinciding with the full moon, new moon, and half moons. Lay Buddhists often observe the eight precepts on this day. Monks recite the Pāṭimokkha on the full moon and new moon uposathas.

Vinaya: The monastic discipline, whose rules and traditions comprise six volumes in printed text. The Buddha’s own term for the religion he taught was, “This Dhamma-Vinaya.”

Vipassanā: Clear-seeing insight into the processes of fabrication in the mind, with the purpose of developing dispassion for those processes.

Wat (Thai): Monastery.

Yakkha: Spirit; a lower level of deva—sometimes friendly to human beings, sometimes not—often dwelling in trees or other wild places.

English-Pali

Although I have tried to be as consistent as possible in rendering Pali terms into English, there are a few cases where a single English term will not do justice to all the meanings of a Pali term. Although the rule of one English equivalent per one Pali word makes for consistency, any truly bilingual person will know that such a rule can create ludicrous distortions in translation. Thus, while I have generally tried to avoid using one English term to translate two different Pali terms, there are cases where I have found it necessary to render single Pali terms with two or more English terms, depending on context. Citta in some cases is rendered as mind, in others as heart, and in still others as intent. Similarly, loka is rendered either as cosmos or world, manas as intellect or heart, āyatana as medium or dimension, upādāna as clinging or sustenance, and dhamma as phenomenon, quality, or principle. If you see the word heart in a prose passage, it is translating citta; if in a passage of poetry, it is translating manas.

Also, for some of the Pali terms playing a central role in the teaching, I have chosen equivalents that do not follow general usage. In the following list I have marked these equivalents with asterisks. Explanations for these choices are provided at the end of the list.

acceptance — upasampadā

acquisition — upadhi

aggregate — khandha

alertness — sampajañña

appropriate attention — yoniso manasikāra

ardency — ātappa

awakening — bodhi

awareness — cetas

awareness-release — cetovimutti

becoming — bhava

clear knowing — vijjā

clinging* — upādāna

compunction — ottappa

contemplative — samaṇa

conviction — saddhā

cosmos — loka

craving — taṇhā

dependent co-arising — paṭicca samuppāda

desire — chanda

dimension — āyatana

directed thought — vitakka

discern — pajānāti

discernment — paññā

discernment-release — paññāvimutti

discrimination — vimaṁsā

disenchantment — nibbidā

dispassion — virāga

dissonant — visama

effluent* — āsava

emptiness — suññatā

enlightened one* — dhīra

establishing of mindfulness — satipaṭṭhāna

evaluation — vicāra

fabricated — saṅkhata

fabrication — saṅkhāra

fetter — saṅyojana

gnosis — aññā

goodwill — mettā

habit — sīla

harmonious* — sama

heart — manas; citta

identity — sakkāya

inconstant* — anicca

insight — vipassanā

intellect — manas

intent — citta

intention — cetanā

medium — āyatana

mind — citta

non-fashioning — atammayatā

not-self — anattā

objectification* — papañca

obsession* — anusaya

origination — samudaya

perception — saññā

persistence — viriya

phenomenon — dhamma

precept — sīla

property — dhātu

quality — dhamma

release — vimutti

resolve — saṅkappa

self-awakening — sambodhi

self-identification — sakkāya

sensuality — kāma

shame — hiri

skillful — kusala

stream-entry — sotāpatti

stress* — dukkha

sustenance* — upādāna

theme — nimitta

tranquility — samatha

transcendent — lokuttara

unbinding* — nibbāna

unfabricated — asaṅkhata

virtue — sīla

world — loka

Acquisition:Upadhi literally means “belongings,” “baggage,” “paraphernalia.” In the suttas, it means the mental baggage that the mind carries around. The Cūḷaniddesa, a late canonical work, lists ten types of upadhi: craving, views, defilement, action, misconduct, nutriment (physical and mental), irritation, the four physical properties sustained in the body (earth, water, wind, and fire), the six external sense media, and the six forms of corresponding sensory consciousness. The state without upadhi or acquisitions is unbinding.

Aggregate: Any of the five types of phenomena that serve as objects of clinging and as bases for a sense of self: form, feeling, perception, mental fabrications, and consciousness.

Becoming: The processes of giving rise, within the mind, to states of being that allow for physical or mental birth on any of three levels: the level of sensuality, the level of form, and the level of formlessness.

Clinging/sustenance: The Pali term upādāna, which is used both on the physical and psychological levels, carries a double meaning on both levels. On the physical level, it denotes both the fuel of a fire and to the fire’s act of clinging to its fuel. On the psychological level, it denotes both the sustenance for becoming that the mind clings to, and to the act of clinging to its sustenance. To capture these double meanings, I have sometimes rendered upādāna as clinging, sometimes as sustenance, and sometimes as both.

Defilement (kilesa): Mental qualities that obscure the clarity of the mind. There are three basic sorts—passion, aversion, and delusion—but these can combine into a variety of forms. One standard list gives sixteen in all: greed, malevolence, anger, rancor, hypocrisy, arrogance, envy, miserliness, dishonesty, boastfulness, obstinacy, violence, pride, conceit, intoxication, and complacency.

Enlightened one: Throughout these suttas I have rendered buddha as “Awakened,” and dhīra as “enlightened.” As Jan Gonda points out in his book, The Vision of the Vedic Poets, the word dhīrawas used in Vedic and Buddhist poetry to mean a person who has the heightened powers of mental vision needed to perceive the “light” of the underlying principles of the cosmos, together with the expertise to implement those principles in the affairs of life and to reveal them to others. A person enlightened in this sense may also be awakened in the formal Buddhist sense, but is not necessarily so.

Fabrication: Saṅkhāra literally means “putting together,” and carries connotations of jerry-rigged artificiality. It is applied to physical and to mental processes, as well as to the products of those processes. Various English words have been suggested as renderings for saṅkhāra, such as “formation,” “determination,” “force,” and “constructive activity.” However, “fabrication,” in both of its senses, as the process of fabrication and the fabricated things that result, seems the best equivalent for capturing the connotations as well as the denotations of the term.

Harmonious and Dissonant: Throughout ancient cultures, the terminology of music was used to describe the moral quality of people and acts. Dissonant intervals or poorly-tuned musical instruments were metaphors for evil; harmonious intervals and well-tuned instruments were metaphors for good. In Pali, the term sama—“even”—describes an instrument tuned on-pitch; visama means off-pitch. AN 6:55 contains a famous passage where the Buddha reminds Soṇa Koḷivisa—who had been over-exerting himself in the practice—that a lute sounds appealing only if the strings are neither too taut nor too lax, but “evenly” tuned. This same terminology came to be applied to human actions, with the connotation that good actions were not only appealing, but also in tune with the true nature of the laws of action.

Inconstant: The usual rendering for anicca is “impermanent.” However, the antonym of the term, nicca, carries connotations of constancy and reliability; and as anicca is used to emphasize the point that conditioned phenomena are unreliable as a basis for true happiness, this seems a useful rendering for conveying this point.

Objectification: The term papañca has entered popular usage in Buddhist circles to indicate obsessive, runaway thoughts that harass the mind. But in the suttas, the term is used to indicate, not the amount of thinking that harasses the mind, but the categories used in a particular type of thinking that harasses the mind and extends outward to create conflict with others. Sn 4:14 states that the root of the categories of papañca is the perception, “I am the thinker.” From this self-objectifying thought, in which one takes on the identity of a being, a number of categories can be derived: being/not-being, me/not-me, mine/not-mine, doer/done-to, feeder/food. This last pair of categories comes from the fact that, as a being, one has to lay claim to food, both physical and mental, to maintain that being (Khp 4). Thinking in terms of these categories inevitably leads to conflict, as different beings fight over their food. Because this harassment and conflict come from a self-objectifying thought that leads to the objectification of others as well, objectification seems to be the best English equivalent for papañca.

Obsession: Anusaya is usually translated as “underlying tendency” or “latent tendency.” These translations are based on the etymology of the term, which literally means, “to lie down with.” However, in actual usage, the related verb (anuseti) means to be obsessed with something, for one’s thoughts to return and “lie down with it” (or, in our idiom, to “dwell on it”) over and over again.

Stress: The Pali term dukkha, which is traditionally translated in the commentaries as, “that which is hard to bear,” is notorious for having no truly adequate equivalent in English, but stress—in its basic sense as a strain on body or mind—seems as close as English can get. In the Canon, dukkha applies both to physical and to mental phenomena, ranging from the intense stress of acute anguish or pain to the innate burdensomeness of even the most subtle mental or physical fabrications.

Unbinding: Because nibbāna is used to denote not only the Buddhist goal, but also the extinguishing of a fire, it is usually rendered as “extinguishing” or, even worse, “extinction.” However, a close look at ancient Indian views of the workings of fire (see The Mind Like Fire Unbound) shows that people of the Buddha’s time felt that a fire, in going out, did not go out of existence but was simply freed from its agitation and attachment to its fuel. Thus, when applied to the Buddhist goal, the primary connotation of nibbāna is one of release and liberation. According to the commentaries, the literal meaning of the word nibbāna is “unbinding,” and as this is a rare case where the literal and contextual meanings of a term coincide, this seems to be the ideal English equivalent.

Abbreviations

AN Aṅguttara Nikāya
CDB The Connected Discourses of the Buddha
Cv Cullavagga
Dhp Dhammapada
DhpA Dhammapada Commentary
DN Dīgha Nikāya
GS The Book of Gradual Sayings
Iti Itivuttaka
Khp Khuddakapāṭha
KS The Book of Kindred Sayings
LDB The Long Discourses of the Buddha
MLDB The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha
MLS The Collection of the Middle Length Sayings
MN Majjhima Nikāya
Mv Mahāvagga
Nd I Mahāniddesa
Nd II Cullaniddesa
NDB The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha
PTS Pali Text Society
Pv Petavatthu
SN Saṁyutta Nikāya
Sn Sutta Nipāta
Thag Theragāthā
Thig Therīgāthā
Ud Udāna

References to DN, Iti, and MN are to discourse (sutta). Those to Dhp are to verse. Those to Cv and Mv are to chapter, section, and sub-section. References to other texts are to section (saṁyutta, nipāta, or vagga) and discourse.

An “A” after any of these abbreviations denotes the Commentary (Aṭṭhakathā) to that text.

All translations are based on the Royal Thai Edition of the Pali Canon (Bangkok: Mahāmakut Rājavidyālaya, 1982).

Other abbreviations:

ChU Chāndogya Upaniṣad
GD The Group of Discourses

 

Source : Dhammatalks.org

Dhamma Nanda

BQT trang Theravāda cố gắng sưu tầm thông tin tài liệu Dhamma trợ duyên quý độc giả tìm hiểu về Dhamma - Giáo Pháp Bậc Giác Ngộ thuyết giảng suốt 45 năm sau khi Ngài chứng đắc trở thành Đức Phật Chánh Đẳng Chánh Giác vào đêm Rằm tháng 4, tìm hiểu thêm phương pháp thực hành thiền Anapana, thiền Vipassana qua các tài liệu, bài giảng, pháp thoại từ các Thiền Sư, các Bậc Trưởng Lão, Bậc Thiện Trí.