Saṁyutta Nikāya | The Connected Collection – Translated By Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

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Saṁyutta Nikāya | The Connected Collection – Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

Saṁyutta Nikāya | The Connected Collection – Translated by Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu

The Saṁyutta Nikāya, a collection of short to medium-length discourses, takes its name from the way the discourses are organized into groups connected (saṁyutta) by a particular theme. In some cases, the theme is a topic. In others it may be the name of an interlocutor, a place, a group of people, or—as in the Simile-Connected discourses—a formal attribute of the discourses themselves. The complete collection, counting all its formulaic expansions, contains more than 2,900 discourses, of which 422 are translated here.

Sagatha-vagga | Verses

SN 1:1 Ogha-taraṇa Sutta | Crossing over the Flood — The Saṁyutta Nikāya opens with a paradox: The Buddha crossed over the flood without pushing forward, without staying in place.
SN 1:2 Nimokkha Sutta | Freedom — How the Buddha found the way to freedom for all beings.
SN 1:7 Appaṭividitā Sutta | Unpenetrated — Wake up by penetrating the nature of phenomena.
SN 1:9 Manakāma Sutta | Fond of Conceit — When living in the wilderness, be heedful.
SN 1:10 Arañña Sutta | The Wilderness — Why do monks living in the wilderness look so serene?
SN 1:18 Hiri Sutta | Shame — A healthy sense of shame is both rare and valuable.
SN 1:20 Samiddhi Sutta | About Samiddhi — A deva tries to seduce a young monk.
SN 1:25 Arahanta Sutta | An Arahant — Even though they have abandoned the conceit, “I am,” arahants still speak in line with the conventions of the world.
SN 1:38 Sakalika Sutta | The Stone Sliver — After the Buddha is wounded by Devadatta’s attempt on his life, devas congregate to praise the way he responds to the pain.
SN 1:41 Āditta Sutta | On Fire — When the world is on fire with aging and death, how do you salvage your possessions?
SN 1:42 Kindada Sutta | A Giver of What — The rewards of various kinds of giving.
SN 1:51 Jarā Sutta | Old Age — What are your lasting possessions?
SN 1:55 Jana Sutta | Engendered (1) — The Buddha answers questions on what’s involved in being a being.
SN 1:56 Jana Sutta | Engendered (2) — Answers to more questions on what’s involved in being a being.
SN 1:57 Jana Sutta | Engendered (3) — Answers to more questions on what’s involved in being a being.
SN 1:64 Saññojana Sutta | Fettered — Answers to more riddles.
SN 1:69 Icchā Sutta | Desire — The world is tied down with desire, and freed with its subduing.
SN 1:71 Chetvā Sutta | Having Killed — What is the one instance of killing of which the Buddha would approve?
SN 2:2 Kassapa Sutta | Kassapa the Deva’s Son — How to practice to reach the heart’s attainment.
SN 2:7 Pañcālacaṇḍa Sutta | Pañcālacaṇḍa the Deva’s Son — Jhāna as release from confinement.
SN 2:17 Subrahma Sutta | Subrahma the Deva’s Son — How to go beyond the trouble of having duties.
SN 2:19 Uttara Sutta | Uttara the Deva’s Son — How to respond to the impending danger of death.
SN 2:22 Khema Sutta | Khema the Deva’s Son — Don’t be like the cart driver who left the smooth highway to go up a rough side path.
SN 3:1 Dahara Sutta | Young — Four things that shouldn’t be despised for being young.
SN 3:4 Piya Sutta | Dear — People who engage in misconduct don’t really love themselves.
SN 3:5 Atta-rakkhita Sutta | Self-protected — The Buddha’s defense policy.
SN 3:6 Appaka Sutta | Few — It’s rare, when people become wealthy, for them not to become intoxicated with their wealth.
SN 3:7 Atthakaraṇa Sutta | In Judgment — Even people who are already wealthy will tell lies for the sake of greater wealth.
SN 3:8 Mallikā Sutta | Mallikā — King Pasenadi asks Queen Mallikā, “Is there anyone dearer to you than yourself?” Perhaps he’s hoping that she’ll say, “Yes, your majesty. You.” But he gets a much more truthful answer.
SN 3:9 Yañña Sutta | Sacrifice — What kind of sacrifice bears great fruit?
SN 3:10 Bandhana Sutta | Bonds — Internal bonds are stronger than external ones.
SN 3:11 Jaṭila Sutta | Coiled-hair Ascetics — How to know another person’s character.
SN 3:14 Saṅgāma Sutta | A Battle (1) — Both winning and losing lead to suffering.
SN 3:15 Saṅgāma Sutta | A Battle (2) — He who has plundered gets plundered in turn.
SN 3:17 Appamāda Sutta | Heedfulness — Heedfulness secures benefits in this life and in the next.
SN 3:19 Aputtaka Sutta | Heirless (1) — The proper use of wealth.
SN 3:20 Aputtaka Sutta | Heirless (2) — The long-term results of kamma.
SN 3:21 Puggala Sutta | Persons — Four types of individuals: born in darkness and headed for darkness, born in darkness and headed for light, born in light and headed for darkness, and born in light and headed for light.
SN 3:22 Ayyikā Sutta | Grandmother — How to respond to the thought that all life ends in death.
SN 3:23 Loka Sutta | (Qualities of) the World — Greed, aversion, and delusion bring harm, stress, and discomfort.
SN 3:24 Issattha Sutta | Archery Skills — Where should a gift be given? A gift given where bears great fruit?
SN 3:25 Pabbatopama Sutta | The Simile of the Mountains — Aging and death are rolling in, like mountains rolling in from all four directions.
SN 4:8 Nandana Sutta | Delight — Do acquisitions bring delight or grief?
SN 4:13 Sakalika Sutta | The Stone Sliver — Māra taunts the Buddha after the latter has been wounded.
SN 4:18 Piṇḍa Sutta | Alms — Māra arranges that the Buddha doesn’t get alms.
SN 4:19 Kassaka Sutta | The Farmer — Escape from Māra by abandoning your sense of “mine.”
SN 4:20 Rajja Sutta | Rulership — Māra invites the Buddha to exercise rulership.
SN 4:21 Sambahula Sutta | A Large Number — Disguised as a brahman, Māra tries to persuade young monks to return to lay life.
SN 5:1 Āḷavikā Sutta | Sister Āḷavikā — Māra tries to tempt a nun to enjoy sensuality.
SN 5:2 Somā Sutta | Sister Somā — Do women have the discernment needed for awakening?
SN 5:3 Gotamī Sutta | Sister Gotamī — Māra taunts a nun who has lost her sons.
SN 5:4 Vijayā Sutta | Sister Vijayā — Māra tries to tempt another nun to enjoy sensuality.
SN 5:5 Uppalavaṇṇā Sutta | Sister Uppalavaṇṇā — Māra tries to inspire fear in a nun alone in the forest.
SN 5:6 Cālā Sutta | Sister Cālā — The dangers of birth.
SN 5:7 Upacālā Sutta | Sister Upacālā — Māra tries to tempt a nun to enjoy the pleasures of heaven.
SN 5:8 Sīsupacālā Sutta | Sister Sīsupacālā — A nun who approves of the Dhamma approves of no one’s philosophy.
SN 5:9 Selā Sutta | Sister Selā — How the body is made.
SN 5:10 Vajirā Sutta | Sister Vajirā — Nothing but stress comes to be, nothing ceases but stress.
SN 6:1 Āyācana Sutta | The Request — A brahmā requests the Buddha to teach.
SN 6:2 Gārava Sutta | Reverence — The Buddha decides to honor and respect the Dhamma.
SN 6:15 Parinibbāna Sutta | Total Unbinding — Four responses to the Buddha’s final passing away.
SN 7:2 Akkosa Sutta | Insult — An insult that provokes no response returns to the person who hurls it.
SN 7:6 Jaṭā Sutta | The Tangle — How to untangle the tangle.
SN 7:12 Udaya Sutta | Udaya — Again and again you take birth and die.
SN 7:14 Mahāsāla Sutta | Very Rich — The Buddha helps an old brahman whose sons have thrown him out of the house.
SN 7:16 Paccanika Sutta | Contradiction — If you’re intent on arguing, it’s hard to understand the Dhamma.
SN 7:17 Navakammika Sutta | The Builder — A builder asks the Buddha what he delights in getting done.
SN 7:18 Kaṭṭhahāraka Sutta | Firewood-gathering — A brahman imagines that the Buddha has gone to the forest to attain union with Brahmā.
SN 8:4 Ānanda Sutta | Ānanda (Instructions to Vaṅgīsa) — How to put out the fire of lust.
SN 9:1 Viveka Sutta | Seclusion — A deva counsels a monk secluded in the forest: Don’t let the dust of the sensual pull you down.
SN 9:6 Anuruddha Sutta | Anuruddha — A deva tries to tempt a monk to return to heaven.
SN 9:9 Vajjīputta Sutta | The Vajjian Princeling — A deva helps a monk in the forest who, hearing the music of a festival, feels sorry for himself.
SN 9:11 Ayoniso-manasikāra Sutta | Inappropriate Attention — A deva counsels a monk who spends his meditation engaged in wrong resolves.
SN 9:14 Padumapuppha Sutta | The Thief of a Scent — A deva warns a monk who sniffs the scent of a lotus.
SN 10:4 Maṇibhadda Sutta | With Maṇibhadda — Mindfulness is not a cure-all.
SN 10:8 Sudatta Sutta | About Sudatta (Anāthapiṇḍika) — Anāthapiṇḍika’s first meeting with the Buddha.
SN 10:12 Āḷavaka Sutta | To the Āḷavaka Yakkha — A yakkha challenges the Buddha with riddles and threatens to “hurl out his mind, rip open his heart, or hurl him across the River Ganges” if he doesn’t solve the riddles to the yakkha’s satisfaction.
SN 11:3 Dhajagga Sutta | The Top of the Standard — How to ward off fear when practicing alone in the wilderness.
SN 11:5 Subhāsita-jaya Sutta | Victory Through What is Well Spoken — How to deal wisely with angry fools.
SN 11:14 Daḷidda Sutta | Poor — People are reborn, not in line with their past status, but in line with their actions.
SN 11:15 Rāmaṇeyyaka Sutta | A Delightful Place — Delightful human beings are more delightful than delightful places.
SN 11:22 Dubbaṇṇiya Sutta | Ugly — Sakka gets rid of an anger-eating yakkha.
SN 11:24 Accaya Sutta | A Transgression — Admit your transgressions, and pardon those who admit theirs.

Nidāna-vagga | on Causation

SN 12:2 Paṭiccasamuppāda Vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis of Dependent Co-arising — The factors of dependent co-arising defined.
SN 12:10 Gotama Sutta | About Gotama — The Buddha describes how he contemplated dependent co-arising prior to his awakening.
SN 12:11 Āhāra Sutta | Nutriment — This discourse incorporates the teaching on the four nutriments (see SN 12:63–64) into the pattern for dependent co-arising, placing them in the position usually occupied by clinging: after craving and before becoming.
SN 12:12 Phagguna Sutta | To Phagguna — A monk tries to understand the factors of dependent co-arising in terms of who does them. The Buddha shows why this is an invalid way of interpreting them.
SN 12:15 Kaccānagotta Sutta | To Kaccāna Gotta — The Buddha describes the highest level of right view, in which the mind abandons thoughts of existence and non-existence, and sees all arising and passing away as stress (dukkha).
SN 12:17 Acela Sutta | To the Clothless Ascetic — How dependent co-arising avoids answering questions as to whether pain is self-made, other-made, both self-made and other-made, or spontaneously arisen.
SN 12:18 Timbarukkha Sutta | To Timbarukkha — This sutta is similar to the preceding one, with the difference that the questions about pain in the preceding sutta are here expanded to include pleasure as well.
SN 12:19 Bāla-paṇḍita Sutta | The Fool & the Wise Person — What is the difference between a fool and a wise person when both are sensitive to pleasure and pain?
SN 12:20 Paccaya Sutta | Requisite Conditions — The Buddha lists the questions that hold no interest for a person who has seen dependent co-arising and dependently co-arisen phenomena as they have come to be.
SN 12:23 Upanisa Sutta | Prerequisites — How ignorance, in leading to suffering, can lead beyond suffering to conviction and, based on conviction, to release and to the knowledge of the ending of suffering.
SN 12:25 Bhūmija Sutta | To Bhūmija — Pleasure and pain are dependent on contact, as are doctrines that would hold that they are self-made, other-made, both self-made and other-made, or spontaneously arisen.
SN 12:31 Bhūtamidaṁ Sutta | This Has Come Into Being — At the Buddha’s request, Ven. Sāriputta explains a verse from the Sutta Nipāta (5:1) on what it means to have fathomed the Dhamma.
SN 12:35 Avijjāpaccaya Sutta | From Ignorance as a Requisite Condition — The Buddha refuses to answer the question of whether there is anyone or anything lying behind the processes described in dependent co-arising.
SN 12:38 Cetanā Sutta | Intention — This discourse describes the link between fabrications and consciousness in dependent co-arising, and shows how intention and underlying obsessions—with ignorance of the four noble truths being the basis for all obsessions—play a role in constructing awareness of the present moment.
SN 12:44 Loka Sutta | The World — The Buddha uses dependent co-arising to explain the origination and ending of the world of the six senses.
SN 12:46 Aññatara Sutta | A Certain Brahman — Is the one who acts the same one who experiences the results of the act?
SN 12:48 Lokāyatika Sutta | The Cosmologist — Dependent co-arising avoids answering questions that lie at the basis of cosmology: Does everything exist? Does everything not exist? Is everything a Oneness? Is everything a plurality?
SN 12:51 Parivīmaṁsa Sutta | Investigating — How to investigate dependent co-arising so as to lead to the ending of suffering and stress.
SN 12:52 Upādāna Sutta | Clinging — Focusing on the allure of the objects of clinging leads to stress. Focusing on their drawbacks leads to the ending of stress. This sutta illustrates this principle with the analogy of feeding and not feeding a large fire.
SN 12:55 Mahārukkha Sutta | The Great Tree — Uprooting clinging and craving is like uprooting a great tree.
SN 12:61 Assutavā Sutta | Uninstructed (1) — People cling more readily to the mind than to the body, even though the mind is much more changeable than the body.
SN 12:62 Assutavā Sutta | Uninstructed (2) — This sutta builds on the previous one, showing how to develop dispassion for the mind through a contemplation of feeling.
SN 12:63 Puttamaṁsa Sutta | A Son’s Flesh — A meditation on inter-relatedness, showing with four striking similes the suffering inherent in everything the body and mind depend upon for nourishment.
SN 12:64 Atthi Rāga Sutta | Where There is Passion — With two striking similes, this sutta describes what happens when consciousness, through passion, lands and grows on any of its four nutriments, and what happens when it abandons that passion.
SN 12:65 Nagara Sutta | The City — The Buddha describes his discovery of dependent co-arising with the simile of a man finding an ancient road to a long-abandoned city.
SN 12:66 Sammasa Sutta | Scrutiny — How to scrutinize the allures of the world so as not to suffer.
SN 12:67 Naḷakalāpiyo Sutta | Sheaves of Reeds — Ven. Sāriputta analyses the factors of dependent co-arising down to a mutual dependence between consciousness on the one hand, and name-&-form on the other.
SN 12:68 Kosambī Sutta | At Kosambī — Ven. Nārada uses the simile of the well to describe the difference between stream-entry and arahantship.
SN 12:69 Upayanti Sutta | Rises — The rising and ebbing of ignorance, and its effect on the other factors of dependent co-arising, is compared to the rising and ebbing of the ocean, and its effect on rivers and lakes.
SN 12:70 Susima Sutta | About Susima — A wanderer from another sect attempts to “steal” the Dhamma, but ends up actually awakening to it.
SN 13:1 Nakhasikhā Sutta | The Tip of the Fingernail — The Buddha uses a striking simile to make the point that the suffering remaining for a person who has reached stream-entry is much, much less than the suffering remaining for someone who hasn’t.
SN 13:2 Pokkharaṇī Sutta | The Pond — The Buddha uses another simile to make the same point as in the preceding sutta.
SN 13:8 Samudda Sutta | The Ocean — Yet another simile to make the same point.
SN 14:11 Sattadhātu Sutta | Seven Properties — An alternative to the standard list of the levels of concentration, in which concentration attainments are described in terms of seven properties.
SN 15:3 Assu Sutta | Tears — Which is greater: the water in all the oceans or the tears you have shed while wandering through transmigration?
SN 15:5 Pabbata Sutta | A Mountain — How long is an eon? The Buddha gives a simile.
SN 15:6 Sāsapa Sutta | Mustard Seed — How long is an eon? The Buddha gives another simile.
SN 15:8 Gangā Sutta | The Ganges — How many eons have gone by?
SN 15:9 Daṇḍa Sutta | The Stick — The randomness of transmigration.
SN 15:10 Puggala Sutta | Person — In this course of transmigrating, one person would leave behind a heap of bones as large as a mountain—if there were someone to collect the bones and the collection were not destroyed.
SN 15:11 Duggata Sutta | Fallen on Hard Times — A contemplation to keep your compassion from being condescending: When you see someone who has fallen on hard times, you should conclude that you have experienced just that sort of thing in the long course of transmigration.
SN 15:12 Sukhita Sutta | Happy — A contemplation to prevent envy and resentment of others’ good fortune:When you see someone who is well-provided in life, you should conclude that you have experienced just that sort of thing in the long course of transmigration.
SN 15:13 Tiṁsa Sutta | Thirty — The Buddha leads a group of monks to awakening by teaching that the blood they have shed in the course of transmigration—through being executed for crimes or through being slaughtered as animals—is greater than the water in all the oceans.
SN 15:14 Mātu Sutta (SN 15:14–19) | Mother — It would be hard to find someone who has not been a close relative in the long course of transmigration.
SN 16:2 Anottāpī Sutta | Without Compunction — What it means to be ardent and to have compunction.
SN 16:5 Jiṇṇa Sutta | Old — Why Ven. Mahā Kassapa continued to practice austerities even when he was old.
SN 16:11 Cīvara Sutta | The Robe — Ven. Mahā Kassapa tells of how he went forth and first met the Buddha.
SN 16:13 Saddhammapaṭirūpaka Sutta | A Counterfeit of the True Dhamma — What it means for the True Dhamma to disappear.
SN 17:3 Kumma Sutta | The Turtle — A simile for the dangers posed by gains, offerings, and fame.
SN 17:5 Kaṁsaḷakā Sutta | The Dung Beetle — Another simile for the dangers posed by gains, offerings, and fame.
SN 17:8 Sigala Sutta | The Jackal — Yet another simile for the same dangers.
SN 20:2 Nakhasikhā Sutta | The Tip of the Fingernail — Few are the beings reborn among human beings. Far more are those reborn elsewhere.
SN 20:4 Okkhā Sutta | Serving Dishes — The development of goodwill, even for a moment, is more fruitful than many lavish gifts of food.
SN 20:5 Satti Sutta | The Spear — Goodwill protects the mind from being deranged.
SN 20:6 Dhanuggaha Sutta | The Archer — Life rushes to its end faster than the speed of the sun and moon.
SN 20:7 Āṇi Sutta | The Peg — How “improvements” to the Dhamma make it disappear.
SN 21:1 Kolita Sutta | Kolita — The meaning of noble silence.
SN 21:2 Upatissa Sutta | About Upatissa (Sāriputta) — When there is no I-making or mine-making, there is no reason for grief.
SN 21:3 Ghaṭa Sutta | The Barrel — Ven. Sāriputta praises Ven. Moggallāna for his psychic powers; Ven. Moggallāna praises Ven. Sāriputta for his discernment.
SN 21:6 Bhaddiya Sutta | Bhaddiya — Greatness is a matter of the mind, not of the physique.
SN 21:9 Tissa Sutta | Tissa — A monk makes himself miserable because he can’t stand being admonished.
SN 21:10 Theranāma Sutta | (A Monk) by the Name of Elder (On Solitude) — The true meaning of living in solitude.

Khandha-vagga | on the Aggregates

SN 22:1 Nakulapitar Sutta | To Nakulapitar — What it means to be afflicted in body but not afflicted in mind.
SN 22:2 Devadaha Sutta | At Devadaha — Ven. Sāriputta’s recommendations for how to explain the Dhamma to people new to it.
SN 22:3 Haliddikāni Sutta | To Haliddikāni — Ven. Mahā Kaccāna explains a verse from the Aṭṭhaka Vagga (Sn 4:9).
SN 22:5 Samādhi Sutta | Concentration — When the mind is concentrated, it can discern the origination and disappearance of the aggregates.
SN 22:18 Hetu Sutta | Cause (1) — How can anything whose cause is inconstant be constant?
SN 22:19 Hetu Sutta | Cause (2) — How can anything whose cause is stressful be easeful?
SN 22:20 Hetu Sutta | Cause (3) — How can anything whose cause is not-self be self?
SN 22:22 Bhāra Sutta | The Burden — The Buddha explains the burden, the carrier of the burden, the taking up of the burden, and the casting off of the burden.
SN 22:23 Pariñña Sutta | Comprehension — The four noble truths are to be comprehended. This sutta explains what comprehension means.
SN 22:36 Bhikkhu Sutta | The Monk — If you are obsessed with the aggregates, you define yourself by them and limit yourself to them. If you are not obsessed with them, you are unlimited and undefined.
SN 22:39 Anudhamma Sutta | In Accordance with the Dhamma (1) — Toward the end of his life, the Buddha stated that the proper way to pay homage to him was to “practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” This sutta explains what that means, in terms of cultivating disenchantment (nibbidā).
SN 22:40 Anudhamma Sutta | In Accordance with the Dhamma (2) — Toward the end of his life, the Buddha stated that the proper way to pay homage to him was to “practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” This sutta explains what that means, in terms of focusing on inconstancy (anicca).
SN 22:41 Anudhamma Sutta | In Accordance with the Dhamma (3) — Toward the end of his life, the Buddha stated that the proper way to pay homage to him was to “practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” This sutta explains what that means, in terms of focusing on stress/suffering (dukkha).
SN 22:42 Anudhamma Sutta | In Accordance with the Dhamma (4) — Toward the end of his life, the Buddha stated that the proper way to pay homage to him was to “practice the Dhamma in accordance with the Dhamma.” This sutta explains what that means, in terms of focusing on not-self (anattā).
SN 22:47 Samanupassanā Sutta | Assumptions — How the assumption “I am” colors the experience of the five physical senses, and how that assumption can be overcome.
SN 22:48 Khandha Sutta | Aggregates — The difference between aggregates and clinging-aggregates.
SN 22:53 Upaya Sutta | Attached — The bases on which consciousness lands and grows.
SN 22:54 Bīja Sutta | Means of Propagation — This sutta explains the principle from the preceding sutta with an example from plant propagation.
SN 22:55 Udāna Sutta | Exclamation — How the contemplation of the theme, “It should not be, it should not occur to me; it will not be, it will not occur to me” can lead to awakening.
SN 22:56 Parivaṭṭa Sutta | The (Fourfold) Round — The Buddha’s fourfold knowledge concerning each of the five aggregates: knowledge of the aggregate itself, of its origination, of its cessation, and of the path of practice leading to its cessation.
SN 22:57 Sattaṭṭhāna Sutta | Seven Bases — The Buddha recommends knowing each aggregate in terms of the aggregate itself, its origination, its cessation, the path of practice leading to its cessation, its allure, its drawbacks, and the escape from it. He also describes three ways of investigating the aggregates: in terms of the six sense media, in terms of properties, and in terms of dependent co-arising.
SN 22:58 Buddha Sutta | Awakened — Some schools of Buddhism teach that there is a qualitative difference between the liberation of a Buddha and that of an arahant disciple — namely, that a Buddha awakens to one level of truth, whereas an arahant awakens to another. This sutta shows that the Buddha saw the distinction in different terms.
SN 22:59 Pañca Sutta | The Five (Brethren) — This discourse is also known as the Anatta-lakkhaṇa Sutta, the Discourse on the Not-self Characteristic, although this title is not found in the Canon. According to Mv I, this was the first of the Buddha’s discourses during which his listeners became arahants.
SN 22:60 Mahāli Sutta | To Mahāli — Sometimes it is said that people are attached to things because they believe those things to have an inherent essence or existence. Here, however, the Buddha points out that people are attached to things because they pay attention to the pleasure offered by those things, and ignore the stress they cause.
SN 22:76 Arahanta Sutta | Arahants — How happy are the arahants!
SN 22:78 Sīha Sutta | The Lion — The terror that the Buddha’s teaching on the aggregates inspires in the heavenly worlds.
SN 22:79 Khajjanīya Sutta | Chewed Up — This sutta defines the aggregates in terms of verbs. It also shows how, when you feed on the aggregates through clinging, they chew you up in return.
SN 22:80 Piṇḍolya Sutta | Almsgoers — After having dismissed the monks, the Buddha returns to teach them out of compassion for the monks newly gone-forth.
SN 22:81 Pālileyyaka Sutta | At Pālileyyaka — After the Buddha has gone into seclusion, Ven. Ānanda leads a group of monks to visit him and to hear the Dhamma. The Buddha responds by addressing the question, “Knowing in what way, seeing in what way, does one without delay put an end to effluents?”
SN 22:82 Puṇṇama Sutta | The Full-moon Night — A thorough discussion of issues related to the five aggregates. Toward the end of the discussion, a monk thinks that he has found a loophole in the teaching. The way the Buddha handles this incident shows the proper use of the teachings on the aggregates: not as a metaphysical theory, but as a tool for gaining dispassion for clinging—and, as a result, release.
SN 22:83 Ānanda Sutta | Ānanda — Ven. Ānanda recalls the Dhamma explanation, given by Ven. Puṇṇa Mantāṇiputta (see MN 24), that enabled him to break through to the Dhamma.
SN 22:84 Tissa Sutta | Tissa — The Buddha comforts and encourages one of his cousins who has become dissatisfied with the holy life. He concludes with a simile, comparing the noble eightfold path to a path going through a dense forest (ignorance), a marshy swamp (sensual desires), past a steep drop-off (anger & despair), and finally arriving at a patch of level ground: unbinding.
SN 22:85 Yamaka Sutta | To Yamaka — Ven. Sāriputta teaches the Dhamma to a monk who has given rise to an evil view: that an arahant, after death, does not exist.
SN 22:86 Anurādha Sutta | To Anurādha — The Buddha teaches the Dhamma to a monk who thinks that, after death, a Tathāgata can be described as something other than existing, not existing, both, or neither.
SN 22:88 Assaji Sutta | To Assaji — The Buddha teaches a sick monk who is concerned that he cannot attain the level of concentration he had before falling ill.
SN 22:89 Khemaka Sutta | About Khemaka — How a non-returner views the issue of self.
SN 22:90 Channa Sutta | To Channa — Ven. Channa, after having been punished by the Buddha for his stubbornness, has a change of heart and seeks out Ven. Ānanda to hear the Dhamma.
SN 22:93 Nadī Sutta | The River — Trying to hold onto the aggregates is like trying to hold onto grasses on the bank of a river as the current is sweeping you away.
SN 22:94 Puppha Sutta | Flowers — What the Buddha describes as existing and not-existing.
SN 22:95 Pheṇa Sutta | Foam — Five vivid similes for the insubstantial nature of the aggregates.
SN 22:96 Gomaya Sutta | Cow Dung — The Buddha reflects on the transiency of past glory.
SN 22:97 Nakhasikhā Sutta | The Tip of the Fingernail — There isn’t even a smidgen of any of the aggregates that lasts for eternity.
SN 22:99 Gaddūla Sutta | The Leash (1) — As long as you cling to the aggregates, you keep running around them, like a dog on a leash, even after the Earth is consumed by flames.
SN 22:100 Gaddūla Sutta | The Leash (2) — As long as you cling to the aggregates, you keep running around them, like a dog on a leash, creating from them many variegated forms of delusion and suffering.
SN 22:101 Nava Sutta | The Ship — Two vivid similes for the practice, one illustrating the principle that results depend, not on wishing, but on actually doing the practice; the other illustrating the gradual nature of progress along the path.
SN 22:121 Upādāna Sutta | Clinging — Clinging defined.
SN 22:122 Sīlavant Sutta | Virtuous — How and why to attend appropriately to the aggregates at various stages of the path, even after full awakening.
SN 22:126 Samudaya-dhamma Sutta | Subject to Origination (1) — Ignorance defined.
SN 22:127 Samudaya-dhamma Sutta | Subject to Origination (2) — Clear knowing (vijjā) defined.
SN 22:131 Samudaya Sutta | Origination (1) — Another definition of ignorance.
SN 22:132 Samudaya Sutta | Origination (2) — Another definition of clear knowing (vijjā).
SN 23:1 Māra Sutta | Mortality — How to see the aggregates rightly, and the purpose of seeing rightly.
SN 23:2 Satta Sutta | A Being — How we define ourselves as “beings,” and how to go beyond that self-definition.
SN 25:1 Cakkhu Sutta | The Eye — The ten suttas in this saṁyutta discuss the different ways that a faith-follower, a Dhamma-follower, and a stream-enterer (see MN 70) understand the inconstancy of different aspects of experience: (1) the six sense bases; (2) their objects; (3) consciousness; (4) contact; (5) feeling; (6) perception; (7) intentions; (8) craving; (9) the six properties (earth, liquid, fire, wind, space, and consciousness); and (10) the five aggregates.
SN 25:2 Rūpa Sutta | Forms — See description of SN 25:1, above.
SN 25:3 Viññāṇa Sutta | Consciousness — See description of SN 25:1, above.
SN 25:4 Phassa Sutta | Contact — See description of SN 25:1, above.
SN 25:5 Vedanā Sutta | Feeling — See description of SN 25:1, above.
SN 25:6 Saññā Sutta | Perception — See description of SN 25:1, above.
SN 25:7 Cetanā Sutta | Intention — See description of SN 25:1, above.
SN 25:8 Taṇhā Sutta | Craving — See description of SN 25:1, above.
SN 25:9 Dhātu Sutta | Properties — See description of SN 25:1, above.
SN 25:10 Khandha Sutta | Aggregates — See description of SN 25:1, above.
SN 27:1 Cakkhu Sutta | The Eye — The ten suttas in this saṁyutta discuss the benefits of overcoming passion-delight (another term for clinging—see SN 22:121) for different aspects of experience: (1) the six sense bases; (2) their objects; (3) consciousness; (4) contact; (5) feeling; (6) perception; (7) intentions; (8) craving; (9) the six properties (earth, liquid, fire, wind, space, and consciousness); and (10) the five aggregates.
SN 27:2 Rūpa Sutta | Forms — See description of SN 27:1, above.
SN 27:3 Viññāṇa Sutta | Consciousness — See description of SN 27:1, above.
SN 27:4 Phassa Sutta | Contact — See description of SN 27:1, above.
SN 27:5 Vedanā Sutta | Feeling — See description of SN 27:1, above.
SN 27:6 Saññā Sutta | Perception — See description of SN 27:1, above.
SN 27:7 Cetanā Sutta | Intention — See description of SN 27:1, above.
SN 27:8 Taṇhā Sutta | Craving — See description of SN 27:1, above.
SN 27:9 Dhātu Sutta | Properties — See description of SN 27:1, above.
SN 27:10 Khandha Sutta | Aggregates — See description of SN 27:1, above.

Saḷāyatana-vagga | on the Six Sense Bases

SN 35:17 No Cedaṁ Sutta | If There Were Not This (1) — How to dwell with unrestricted awareness.
SN 35:18 No Cedaṁ Sutta | If There Were Not This (2) — Another way to dwell with unrestricted awareness.
SN 35:19 Abhinanda Sutta | Delight (1) — To delight in the senses is to delight in stress.
SN 35:20 Abhinanda Sutta | Delight (2) — To delight in the objects of the senses is to delight in stress.
SN 35:23 Sabba Sutta | The All — What does the Buddha mean by “the All”?
SN 35:24 Pahāna Sutta | For Abandoning — What is the “All” that is to be abandoned?
SN 35:28 Āditta-pariyāya Sutta | Aflame — The Buddha teaches a group of 1,000 monks who formerly worshiped fire. Stating that the six senses and all the processes dependent on them are aflame with the fires of defilement and suffering, he explains how to put the fires out. During his explanation, all 1,000 monks gain awakening.
SN 35:63 Migajāla Sutta | To Migajāla — How a person living in isolation can still be described as living with a companion, and how a person living near people can still be described as living alone.
SN 35:69 Upasena Sutta | Upasena — An arahant, bitten by a snake, approaches death with no apparent change in his faculties.
SN 35:74 Gilāna Sutta | Ill (1) — The Buddha teaches a newly-ordained monk who has fallen ill, leading him to stream-entry.
SN 35:75 Gilāna Sutta | Ill (2) — The Buddha teaches a newly-ordained monk who has fallen ill, leading him to arahantship.
SN 35:80 Avijjā Sutta | Ignorance — How to reach arahantship by contemplating all the processes of the senses as something separate.
SN 35:82 Loka Sutta | The World — How the Buddha defines the world.
SN 35:85 Suñña Sutta | Empty — In what way is the world empty?
SN 35:88 Puṇṇa Sutta | To Puṇṇa — A monk takes leave of the Buddha to go a country where the inhabitants are reputed to be vicious and rough.
SN 35:93 Dvaya Sutta | A Pair — Sensory consciousness is inconstant because the conditions by which it comes into play are inconstant.
SN 35:95 Māluṅkyaputta Sutta | To Māluṅkyaputta — An elderly monk asks the Buddha for a brief explanation of the Dhamma that he can put into practice. The Buddha gives him the same instruction that he gives to Bāhiya in Ud 1:10.
SN 35:97 Pamādavihārin Sutta | Dwelling in Heedlessness — What it means to dwell in heedlessness and to dwell in heedfulness.
SN 35:99 Samādhi Sutta | Concentration — What can be seen when the mind is concentrated.
SN 35:101 Na Tumhāka Sutta | Not Yours — “Whatever’s not yours: Let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness & benefit.”
SN 35:115 Mārapāsa Sutta | Māra’s Power — What it means to be under Māra’s power and to have escaped that power.
SN 35:116 Loka Sutta | Cosmos — How to come to the end of the cosmos within.
SN 35:117 Kāmaguṇa Sutta | Strings of Sensuality — That dimension is to be experienced where the internal sense media cease and the perception of the external sense media fades away.
SN 35:118 Sakka Sutta | To Sakka — Why some beings reach unbinding in the present lifetime and some don’t.
SN 35:127 Bhāradvāja Sutta | About Bhāradvāja — How do young monks successfully make celibacy a life-long practice?
SN 35:134 Devadaha Sutta | At Devadaha — Why even those who have attained the lower levels of the noble attainments still have work to do with heedfulness.
SN 35:135 Khaṇa Sutta | The Opportunity — The opportunity to practice the holy life is a rare and valuable opportunity.
SN 35:136 Rūpārāma Sutta | Delight in Forms — What the noble ones have seen runs counter to the views of the world.
SN 35:145 Kamma Sutta | Action — New kamma, old kamma, the cessation of kamma, and the path of practice leading to the cessation of kamma.
SN 35:153 Indriya Sutta | Faculties — What it means to be consummate in faculties.
SN 35:187 Samudda Sutta | The Ocean (1) — The six senses are like a dangerous ocean.
SN 35:188 Samudda Sutta | The Ocean (2) — The object of the senses are like a dangerous ocean.
SN 35:189 Bāḷisika Sutta | The Fisherman — Agreeable sense objects are like hooks for catching fish.
SN 35:190 Khīrarukkha Sutta | The Milk Sap Tree — Passion, aversion, and delusion are like the sap of a tree.
SN 35:191 Koṭṭhita Sutta | To Koṭṭhita — With what are the senses fettered?
SN 35:193 Udāyī Sutta | With Udāyin — Why consciousness is not-self.
SN 35:197 Āsīvisa Sutta | Vipers — A vivid extended metaphor for the dangers of the aggregates, properties, and sense media, and for the path leading to safety from those dangers.
SN 35:198 Ratha Sutta | The Chariot — Similes to illustrate three practices: guarding the doors to your sense faculties, knowing moderation in eating, and being devoted to wakefulness.
SN 35:199 Kumma Sutta | The Turtle — Just as a jackal can’t harm a turtle who has withdrawn its head and limbs into its shell, Māra can’t find an opening to harm you when you keep your sense doors well guarded.
SN 35:200 Dārukkhandha Sutta | The Log — The Buddha, seeing a log floating down the river, uses it as an extended metaphor for the dangers faced in the practice.
SN 35:202 Avassuta Sutta | Soggy — What does it mean to be soggy inside?
SN 35:204 Kiṁsuka Sutta | The Riddle Tree — A monk asks a number of other monks how to purify his vision of the Dhmma, and receives a variety of answers. The Buddha explains the variety with the simile of the riddle tree.
SN 35:205 Vīṇā Sutta | The Lute — Two similes. The Buddha explains the practice of restraint of the senses with the simile of how to restrain a corn-eating ox, and the search for an “I” in the aggregates with the simile of the king looking for the sound in a lute.
SN 35:206 Chappāṇa Sutta | The Six Animals — Mindfulness of the body provides a firm foundation for practicing restraint of the senses.
SN 35:207 Yavakalāpi Sutta | The Sheaf of Barley — The subtle bonds of Māra.
SN 36:4 Pātāla Sutta | The Bottomless Chasm — How to find a foothold in the bottomless chasm of physical pain.
SN 36:6 Sallattha Sutta | The Arrow — When you get distraught over physical pain, it’s like having been shot by an arrow and then shooting yourself with a second arrow.
SN 36:7 Gelañña Sutta | The Sick Ward — How to approach the time of death mindful and alert.
SN 36:11 Rahogata Sutta | Alone — Two topics connected through the theme of fabrication: (1) How is it that—even though the Buddha describes feelings as pleasant, painful, and neither pleasant nor pain—he also describes all feelings as stressful? (2) How does progress through the jhānas and formless attainments involve the step-by-step cessation, stilling, and calming of fabrications?
SN 36:19 Pañcakaṅga Sutta | Pañcakaṅga — The Buddha explains many ways of analyzing feelings and concludes by showing how to use the pleasures of concentration as a basis for reaching a pleasure—unbinding—that lies beyond feelings.
SN 36:21 Sivaka Sutta | To Sivaka — Old and new kamma do not override other causal factors operating in the universe—such as those recognized by the medical and physical sciences—but instead find expression within them.
SN 36:22 Aṭṭhasata Sutta | The One-Hundred-and-Eight Exposition — Various ways of classifying feelings.
SN 36:23 Bhikkhu Sutta | To a Certain Bhikkhu — Feeling, its origination, the path of practice leading to its origination, its cessation of feeling, the path of practice leading to its cessation, its allure, its drawback, and the escape from feeling.
SN 36:31 Nirāmisa Sutta | Not of the Flesh — The differences among feelings of the flesh, feelings not of the flesh, and feelings more not of the flesh than not of the flesh.
SN 37:34 Vaḍḍhinā Sutta | Growth — This brief sutta, which encourages education for women, may account for the fact that in the pre-modern world Theravada Buddhist countries had the highest rates of female literacy.
SN 38:14 Dukkha Sutta | Stress — Ven. Sāriputta defines three types of stressfulness.
SN 41:3 Isidatta Sutta | About Isidatta — In this sutta, Ven. Isidatta finds himself in an awkward situation: He can answer a question posed by Citta the householder that the more senior monks can’t answer.
SN 41:4 Mahaka Sutta | About Mahaka — Citta catches sight of a junior monk performing a miracle of psychic power and asks to see more.
SN 41:6 Kāmabhū Sutta | With Kāmabhū (On the Cessation of Perception & Feeling) — Questions and answers on the topic of the three types of fabrication—bodily, verbal, and mental—as they apply to the attainment of the cessation of perception and feeling.
SN 41:7 Godatta Sutta | To Godatta (On Awareness-release) — Ven. Godatta questions Citta the householder on the immeasurable awareness-release, the nothingness awareness-release, the emptiness awareness-release, and the themeless awareness-release.
SN 41:10 Gilāna Sutta | Sick (Citta the Householder’s Last Hours) — After rejecting a request from devas that he set his mind on becoming a wheel-turning monarch in a future life, Citta the householder teaches his relatives before passing away.
SN 42:2 Tālapuṭa Sutta | To Tālapuṭa the Actor — What are the karmic consequences of being an actor who, intoxicated and heedless, tries to make others intoxicated and heedless?
SN 42:3 Yodhājīva Sutta | To Yodhājīva (The Professional Warrior) — What future awaits a soldier who is killed in battle while he is trying to kill others?
SN 42:6 Paccha-bhūmika Sutta | (Brahmans) of the Western Land — Can prayers and incantations dedicated to a person after death counteract the kamma that that person made when alive?
SN 42:7 Desanā Sutta | Teaching — Why does the Buddha teach the Dhamma with full attentiveness to some, and not with full attentiveness to others? The Buddha answers with the simile of the farmer sowing seed.
SN 42:8 Saṅkha Sutta | The Conch Trumpet — The skillful way to respond to the realization that you have behaved unskillfully in the past.
SN 42:9 Kula Sutta | Families — Why the monks go for alms even during a time of famine.
SN 42:10 Maṇicūḷaka Sutta | To Maṇicūḷaka — Why the Buddha forbade the monks from consenting to gifts of money or from seeking money.
SN 42:11 Gandhabhaka Sutta | To Gandhabhaka — The Buddha explains the origination and ending of stress in simple and very immediate terms.
SN 43 Asaṅkhata Saṁyutta | Unfabricated-Connected — This saṁyutta provides a list of 33 names for the goal of the practice.
SN 44 Abyākata Saṁyutta | Undeclared-Connected — Introduction.
- SN 44:1 Khema Sutta | With Khemā — Using the similes of the uncountable number of grains of sand in the River Ganges, and the unmeasureable amount of water in the ocean, Khemā the nun explains why a Tathāgata, after death, cannot be described as existing, not existing, both, or neither.
- SN 44:2 Anurādha Sutta | To Anurādha (SN 22:86) — The Buddha teaches the Dhamma to a monk who thinks that, after death, a Tathāgata can be described as something other than existing, not existing, both, or neither.
- SN 44:3 Sāriputta-Koṭṭhita Sutta | Sāriputta and Koṭṭhita (1) — To try to describe a Tathāgata after death as existing, not existing, both, or neither is to be immersed in the aggregates.
- SN 44:4 Sāriputta-Koṭṭhita Sutta | Sāriputta and Koṭṭhita (2) — To someone who has comprehended the aggregates, their origination, their cessation, and the path of practice leading to their cessation, thoughts of describing a Tathāgata after death simply do not occur.
- SN 44:5 Sāriputta-Koṭṭhita Sutta | Sāriputta and Koṭṭhita (3) — To someone whose passion, desire, affection, thirst, fever, and craving for the aggregates have been removed, thoughts of describing a Tathāgata after death simply do not occur.
- SN 44:6 Sāriputta-Koṭṭhita Sutta | Sāriputta and Koṭṭhita (4) — To one who, abandoning love for the aggregates, sees their cessation, thoughts of describing a Tathāgata after death simply do not occur.
- SN 44:7 Moggallāna Sutta | With Moggallāna — Anyone who is free of assumptions of self around the aggregates sees no need to answer any of the ten undeclared questions.
- SN 44:8 Vacchagotta Sutta | With Vacchagotta — The Buddha and Ven. Moggallāna give identical reasons for why a Tathāgata does not answer any of the ten undeclared questions.
- SN 44:9 Kutūhalasālā Sutta | The Debating Hall — Using the simile of a fire spreading from one house to another, the Buddha explains how rebirth is sustained by craving.
- SN 44:10 Ānanda Sutta | To Ānanda — The Buddha explains why he does not answer the question of whether or not there is a self.
- SN 44:11 Sabhiya Sutta | With Sabhiya — A newly ordained monk explains why a Tathāgata, after death, cannot be described as existing, not existing, both, or neither.

Mahā-vagga | the Great Section

SN 45:1 Avijjā Sutta | Ignorance — The development of the right and wrong paths explained in linear terms.
SN 45:2 Upaḍḍha Sutta | Half (of the Holy Life) — The Buddha explains how and why having admirable people as friends is not just half of the holy life, but is the whole of the holy life.
SN 45:4 Brāhmaṇa Sutta | The Brahman — The Buddha gives an extended metaphor to explain how the noble eightfold path can be described as a “sublime vehicle,” a “Dhamma-vehicle,” and “unexcelled victory in battle.”
SN 45:8 Magga-Vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis of the Path — The Buddha defines the factors of the noble eightfold path.
SN 45:27 Kumbha Sutta | A Pot — How to keep the mind from getting knocked over.
SN 45:56 Kalyāṇa-mittatā Sutta (SN 45:56–62) | Admirable Friendship — Various factors that are forerunners for the arising of the noble eightfold path.
SN 45:153 Kumbha Sutta | A Pot — How to disgorge evil, unskillful qualities.
SN 45:154 Suka Sutta | The Spike — Right view can cut into ignorance just as a well-aimed spike of bearded wheat or bearded barley can cut into the hand.
SN 45:155 Ākāsa Sutta | The Air — Just as the air contains winds of many types, a person who has developed the noble eightfold path brings all the wings to awakening (bodhi-pakkhiya-dhamma) to the culmination of their development.
SN 45:159 Āgantukā Sutta | Guests — Developing the noble eightfold path completes the duties appropriate to all four noble truths.
SN 45:171 Ogha Sutta | Floods — Many discourses speak of “crossing over the flood.” This discourse lists the floods that should be crossed over, and how it should be done.
SN 46:1 Himavanta Sutta | The Himalayas (On the Factors for awakening) — A monk attains to greatness by being established in virtue and developing the seven factors for awakening.
SN 46:3 Sīla Sutta | Virtue — The rewards of reflecting properly on the Dhamma you have heard.
SN 46:4 Vattha Sutta | Clothes — An arahant can observe the seven factors for awakening as they arise and cease within him.
SN 46:5 Bhikkhu Sutta | To a Monk — The Buddha explains that the factors for awakening lead to awakening (and, by implication, they are not constituent factors of awakening itself).
SN 46:8 Upavāṇa Sutta | Upavāṇa — How a monk can know that “through appropriate attention, the seven factors for awakening, mastered in me in such a way, lead to a pleasant abiding.”
SN 46:11 Pāṇa Sutta | Living Beings — To neglect the factors for awakening is to neglect the noble path.
SN 46:14 Gilāna Sutta | Ill — The development of the factors for awakening depends on the support of virtue.
SN 46:18 Viraddha Sutta | Neglected — The Buddha helps Ven. Mahā Kassapa recover from an illness by reminding him of the factors for awakening.
SN 46:26 Khaya Sutta | Ending — The practice of the factors for awakening leads to the ending of craving, the ending of action, and the ending of stress.
SN 46:29 Ekadhamma Sutta | One Quality — The factors for awakening lead to the abandoning of things conducive to the fetters.
SN 46:30 Udāyin Sutta | To Udāyin — Ven. Udāyin reports on how much he has benefitted from his love and respect for the Buddha, and from his sense of shame and compunction with regard to the Buddha.
SN 46:38 Nīvaraṇa Sutta | Hindrances — When you focus your entire awareness on listening to the Dhamma, the hindrances are absndoned and the factors for awakening are developed.
SN 46:51 Āhāra Sutta | Food (for the Factors for awakening) — How to feed and starve the hindrances and factors for awakening.
SN 46:52 Pariyāya Sutta | An Exposition — An analysis of the hindrances and factors for awakening, showing how the five hindrances can be described as ten, and the seven factors for awakening as fourteen.
SN 46:53 Aggi Sutta | Fire — Which factors for awakening should be developed in response to torpor or restlessness in the mind.
SN 46:54 Mettā Sutta | Goodwill — How the Buddha’s instructions in the four sublime attitudes (brahma-vihāra) differ from those of other sects.
SN 47:4 Sālā Sutta | At Sālā — Three levels of mindfulness and concentration practice: for newcomers, for those in training, and for arahants.
SN 47:6 Sakuṇagghi Sutta | The Hawk — The safety of wandering in your proper range as a meditator—the four establishings of mindfulness—illustrated with the simile of the hawk and the quail.
SN 47:7 Makkaṭa Sutta | The Monkey — The safety of wandering in your proper range as a meditator—the four establishings of mindfulness—illustrated with the simile of the hunter and the monkey.
SN 47:8 Sūda Sutta | The Cook — Achieve results in mindfulness practice by taking note of what leads your mind to concentration, in the same way that a skilled cook takes note of what his employer likes to eat.
SN 47:10 Bhikkhun’upassaya Sutta | At the Nuns’ Residence — Mindfulness developed through directing and not directing the mind.
SN 47:13 Cunda Sutta | About Cunda (Ven. Sāriputta’s Passing Away) — The Buddha comforts Ven. Ānanda after Ven. Sāriputta’s passing away: “When he totally unbound, did Sāriputta take the aggregate of virtue… concentration… discernment… release… the aggregate of knowledge & vision of release along with him?”
SN 47:16 Uttiya Sutta | To Uttijya — The practice of establishing mindfulness is based on well-purified virtue and views made straight.
SN 47:19 Sedaka Sutta (1) | At Sedaka (The Acrobat) — When watching after yourself, you watch after others. When watching after others, you watch after yourself.
SN 47:20 Sedaka Sutta (2) | At Sedaka (The Beauty Queen) — The parable of the man with the bowl of oil on his head, illustrating the care and attention that should be given to practicing mindfulness of the body.
SN 47:25 Brāhmaṇa Sutta | To a Brahman — The practice of the four establishings of mindfulness helps the True Dhamma to last long.
SN 47:33 Viraddha Sutta | Neglected — To neglect the four establishings of mindfulness is to neglect the noble path.
SN 47:35 Sata Sutta | Mindful — What it means to be mindful and alert.
SN 47:37 Chanda Sutta | Desire — By practicing the establishings of mindfulness so as to abandon desire for the frames of reference on which they are based—body, feelings, mind, mental qualities—you can realize the deathless.
SN 47:38 Pariññā Sutta | Comprehension — By practicing the establishings of mindfulness so as to comprehend the frames of reference on which they are based—body, feelings, mind, mental qualities—you can realize the deathless.
SN 47:40 Satipaṭṭhāna-Vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis of the Establishings of Mindfulness — The establishings of mindfulness, the development of the establishings of mindfulness, and the path of practice for the development of the establishings of mindfulness.
SN 47:41 Amata Sutta | Deathless — If you neglect the establishings of mindfulness, you lose your opportunity for the deathless.
SN 47:42 Samudaya Sutta | Origination — The origination and the subsiding of the four frames of reference on which the establishings of mindfulness are based.
SN 48:3 Sota Sutta | The Stream — The results of discerning the origination, the passing away, the allure, the drawbacks, and the escape from the five faculties of conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment.
SN 48:4 Arahant Sutta | The Arahant — The higher results of discerning the origination, the passing away, the allure, the drawbacks, and the escape from the five faculties of conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment.
SN 48:8 Daṭṭhabbaṁ Sutta | To Be Seen — The five faculties related to other teachings.
SN 48:10 Indriya-Vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis of the Faculties — The Buddha defines the five faculties of conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment.
SN 48:21 Na Bhava Sutta | No Becoming — A sutta making the same point as the famous simile of the raft: When the path arrives at awakening, it, too, has to be abandoned.
SN 48:38 Vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis (of the Feeling Faculties) (3) — The Buddha defines the five faculties of faculties of pleasure, pain, happiness, distress, and equanimity.
SN 48:39 Vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis (of the Feeling Faculties) (4) — The Buddha explains how to contemplate the five faculties of pleasure, pain, happiness, distress, and equanimity as they are based on contact.
SN 48:41 Jarā Sutta | Old Age — Even in the Buddha, as he aged, there was deterioration in his faculties of the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and body.
SN 48:44 Pubbakoṭṭhaka Sutta | Eastern Gatehouse — Why Ven. Sāriputta didn’t take it on conviction that the faculties of conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment culminate in the deathless.
SN 48:46 Pubbārāma Sutta | The Eastern Monastery — The development of two faculties—noble discernment and noble release—enables an arahant to declare knowledge of awakening.
SN 48:50 Saddhā Sutta | Conviction — How conviction is developed into the faculty of conviction.
SN 48:52 Malla Sutta | Mallans — The faculty of discernment makes the other faculties firm, just as the ridge-beam of a roof makes the rafters that support it firm.
SN 48:53 Sekha Sutta | The Learner — The standards by which stream-winners can know that they are stream-winners, and by which arahants can know they are arahants.
SN 48:56 Patiṭṭhita Sutta | Established — When heedfulness is established, the five faculties of conviction, persistence, mindfulness, concentration, and discernment are developed well.
SN 51:13 Chanda Sutta | Desire — The four bases of power and the fabrications of exertion defined.
SN 51:14 Moggallāna Sutta | Moggallāna — At the Buddha’s request, Ven. Moggallāna displays a feat of psychic power to bring a group of rowdy monks to their senses. The Buddha then explains to the monks the other feats that Moggallāna has mastered through his mastery of the four bases of power.
SN 51:15 Brahmaṇa Sutta | To Uṇṇābha the Brahman — How desire can lead to the end of desire.
SN 51:20 Iddhipāda-Vibhaṅga Sutta | An Analysis of the Bases of Power — A detailed analysis of how the bases of power should be developed so as to be of great fruit and great benefit.
SN 51:22 Ayoguḷa Sutta | The Iron Ball — How the Buddha traveled to the Brahmā worlds.
SN 52:9 Ambapālī Sutta | Ambapālī — How Ven. Anuruddha, an arahant, meditates so that his faculties are bright.
SN 52:10 Gilāyana Sutta | Illness — How Ven. Anuruddha, when ill, meditates so that pains do not invade his mind or remain.
SN 54:6 Ariṭṭha Sutta | To Ariṭṭha (On Mindfulness of Breathing) — There is more to breath meditation than breathing mindfully while subduing desires for past and future sense pleasures, and subduing irritation for events in the present.
SN 54:8 Dīpa Sutta | The Lamp — The benefits to be gained by following the Buddha’s sixteen-step program for breath meditation.
SN 54:9 Vesālī Sutta | At Vesālī — The story of the monks who committed suicide after contemplating the unattractiveness of the body. The Buddha explains how the sixteen steps of breath meditation can disperse any unskillful states that may arise while contemplating other meditation themes.
SN 54:11 Icchānaṅgala Sutta | At Icchānaṅgala — The Buddha describes his own practice of the sixteen steps of breath meditation.
SN 54:13 Ānanda Sutta | To Ānanda (on Mindfulness of Breathing) — The Buddha explains how the practice of the sixteen steps of breath meditation brings to completion the four establishings of mindfulness, the seven factors for awakening, and clear knowing & release.
SN 55:1 Rāja Sutta | The Emperor — Why the fruit of stream-entry excels the fruits of being a wheel-turning monarch.
SN 55:5 Sāriputta Sutta | To Sāriputta — Stream-entry and the factors leading to stream-entry defined.
SN 55:7 Veḷudvāreyya Sutta | The People of Bamboo Gate — How to behave if you want to enjoy the pleasures of lay life and be reborn in heaven.
SN 55:21 Mahānāma Sutta | To Mahānāma (1) — Why a stream-winner need not fear death even if his/her mindfulness gets muddled.
SN 55:22 Mahānāma Sutta | To Mahānāma (2) — Another explanation for why a stream-winner need not fear death even if his/her mindfulness gets muddled.
SN 55:26 Anāthapiṇḍika Sutta | To Anāthapiṇḍika (1) — Ven. Sāriputta gives an instruction to Anāthapiṇḍika—who is ill—and Anāthapiṇḍika immediately recovers.
SN 55:27 Anāthapiṇḍika Sutta | To Anāthapiṇḍika (2) — Anāthapiṇḍika—who is ill—asks for Ven. Ānanda to visit him.
SN 55:30 Licchavi Sutta | To the Licchavi — The four factors of stream-entry and their rewards in future lives.
SN 55:31 Abhisanda Sutta | Bonanzas (1) — The four factors of stream-entry.
SN 55:32 Abhisanda Sutta | Bonanzas (2) — An alternative list of the four factors of stream-entry.
SN 55:33 Abhisanda Sutta | Bonanzas (3) — Yet another alternative list of the four factors of stream-entry.
SN 55:40 Nandiya Sutta | To Nandiya — At the end of his life, the Buddha told the assembled monks to gain consummation through heedfulness—even though the most backward of the monks there were already stream-winners. This sutta explains what it means for a stream-winner to be heedful or heedless.
SN 55:54 Gilāna Sutta | Ill — How to counsel a discerning lay follower at the time of his or her death.
SN 56:1 Samādhi Sutta | Concentration — Concentration is needed to discern the four noble truths.
SN 56:2 Paṭisallāna Sutta | Seclusion — Seclusion is needed to discern the four noble truths.
SN 56:11 Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta | Setting the Wheel of Dhamma in Motion — The Buddha’s first sermon, in which he sets forth the four noble truths and explains that he claimed to have reached awakening only after having purified three levels of knowledge with regard to each of the four truths.
SN 56:20 Tatha Sutta | Real — The four noble truths are real, not unreal, without alteration.
SN 56:26 Mittā Sutta | Friends — It’s an act of kindness to direct those who will listen to you toward breaking through to the four noble truths.
SN 56:27 Tatha Sutta | Real — The noble truths are noble because they are real.
SN 56:28 Loka Sutta | The Cosmos — The noble truths are noble because they are taught by one who is noble.
SN 56:30 Gavampati Sutta | Gavampati — Whoever sees one of the four noble truths see all four of them.
SN 56:31 Siṁsapā Sutta | Siṁsapā Leaves — What the Buddha taught as compared to what he knew but didn’t teach.
SN 56:32 Khadira Sutta | Acacia — Bringing about the end of stress without breaking through to the four noble truths is as impossible as carrying water in a basket woven from tiny leaves.
SN 56:35 Sattisata Sutta | One Hundred Spears — If it were possible to make an offer that you would be speared by 300 spears a day for 100 years, yet be guaranteed a realization of the four noble truths at the end of the 100 years, why it would be worthwhile to take the offer.
SN 56:36 Pāṇa Sutta | Animals — An image for the immensity of the animal realm as a realm of deprivation, and how one can be freed from returning to that realm by contemplating the four noble truths.
SN 56:42 Papāta Sutta | The Drop-off — The huge and frightening drop-off that comes from reveling in fabrications, and how the drop-off can be avoided by contemplating the four noble truths.
SN 56:44 Kūṭa Sutta | Gabled — Bringing about the end of stress without breaking through to the four noble truths is as impossible as constructing an upper story to a building without first constructing the lower story.
SN 56:45 Vāla Sutta | The Horsehair — Piercing the four noble truths is more difficult than taking a horsehair split into seven strands and piercing tip with a tip.
SN 56:46 Andhakāra Sutta | Darkness — The intergalactic darkness is smaller and less frightening than the darkness that comes from reveling in fabrications.
SN 56:48 Chiggaḷa Sutta | The Hole — The simile of the blind turtle. The opportunity to meet with the Dhamma is extremely rare, so take advantage of it while you can.
SN 56:102 Paṁsu Suttas (SN 56:102–113) | Dust — How rare it is to be reborn as a human being or a deva.