Yasadatta – Hearing True Dhamma
In this poem, Yasadatta shows the foolishness of debating the Dhamma rather than actually practicing a Buddha’s teachings…
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta – Four Noble Truths
The Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta is the very first teaching ever presented by the Buddha. It occurred a few weeks after Siddhartha Gotama awakened…
The Yasa Sutta – Freedom From Entanglements
The Yasa Sutta – Freedom From Entanglements teaches importance to avoid creating a “Dhamma” practice that depends on external entanglements as its theme…
The Arahant Sutta – Awakening in a Single Paragraph
Seeing the “five clinging aggregates as they really are” is understanding Anatta, not-self, or a self-referential ego-personality in relation to Anicca, Dukkha and The Four Noble Truths…
Bhikkhuni Sujata’s Final Knowledge
Sujata, enamored with the world and her position of wealth and privilege encounters the Buddha. She hears from him a simple, pure, and direct Dhamma and her mind clears…
The Bhaddekaratta Sutta – Mindfulness of What Is Occurring
The Bhaddekaratta Sutta teaches the importance of being mindfully present of life as life unfolds. The title of this Sutta means an auspicious day…
Kuta Sutta – A Good Roof
In the Kuta Sutta, the Buddha teaches Anathapindika the importance of protecting one’s mind through restraint. Anathapindika was a wealthy businessman and early benefactor of the Buddha and the original Sangha…
Subhuti – A Comfortable Abode
This poem is from the Theragatha. The Theragatha preserves 264 poems of elder monks and is the eighth section in the Khuddaka Nikāya.
Here, the monk Subhuti describes in concise and profoundly sublime detail the quality of an awakened mind…
Agantuka Sutta: For All Who Reside In The Dhamma
In the Agantuka Sutta, the Buddha uses the metaphor of a common residence to show that the Eightfold Path is a true refuge for anyone seeking to develop the profound understanding of the nature of stress and suffering,..
Vitakkasanthana Sutta Relaxation of Thoughts
The Vitakkasanthana Sutta — the sutta on the relaxation of thoughts — the Buddha teaches that the refined mindfulness developed through the Eightfold Path brings a relaxed and peaceful quality of mind…
Sona – A Mother Of Ten Awakens
In this poem, Sona comes to the Dhamma late in life and quickly develops a profound understanding of key elements of the Dhamma including Five Clinging Aggregates, Three Marks Of Existence, restraint at the Six-Sense-Base, meditative absorption, and a penetrative understanding of Four Noble Truths..
The Nagara Sutta – The Buddha Describes His Awakening
The Nagara Sutta is remarkable in its simplicity in describing Dependent Origination in a practically applied way. In this sutta the Buddha clearly shows how ignorance of Four Noble Truths and of The Three Marks of existence “originates” the process that all manner of disappointment, unsatisfactoriness, distraction, and suffering – in a word Dukkha – is “dependent” on…
Kumma Sutta: The Tortoise
These short sutta shows the importance of restraint in the Dhamma. The Four Noble Truths show that all manner of disappointment and suffering arises from craving and clinging. ..
Vimala – A Courtesan Unbound
This poem describes the nun Vimala’s awakening, gaining full human maturity. Through developing the Eightfold Path, [2] Vimala, abandoned all self-referential views rooted in ignorance of Four Noble Truths [3] and gained release from self-imposed suffering…
Bhikkhuvaga Sutta – To a Monk
In the Bhikkhuvaga Sutta, the Buddha teaches the importance to develop the virtuous factors of the Eightfold Path of Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood to recognize and abandon unskillful thoughts, words, and deeds…
Sundari Sutta, The Liberation Of Restraint
The Sundari Sutta, the liberation of restraint, teaches the unending peace gained through developing the Eightfold Path…
Aparihani Sutta: Not Losing The Way
“Having developed four qualities a Dhamma practitioner cannot lose the way and is free of clinging to views. When one has fully integrated the Eightfold Path they are…
Mahākāla – The Corpse
This poem directly shows the wisdom of understanding the reality of human life and the inevitable conclusion for every life. When understood in the context of Dependent Origination and Four Noble Truths, this poem contains the wisdom of a Buddha…
Pamadaviharin Sutta: Dwelling in Mindfulness
It is mindful restraint at the Six-sense base that develops awakening or full human maturity. The Six-sense base is our five physical senses and interpretive thinking. In this way, the teachings on restraint directly relate to Dependent Origination in a very practical way…
Mittakali – A Nuns Path Completed
In this poem, the nun Mittakali recounts her going forth still affected by continued clinging to wrong views ignorant of Four Noble Truths. ..
Dhammannu Sutta – One With A Sense Of The Dhamma
The Dhammannu Sutta is similar to the Dhamma-Viharin Sutta. [1] In both suttas the Buddha describes in detail what it means to have developed a well-integrated Dhamma practice..
Dhamma-Viharin Sutta – Dwelling In The Dhamma
In the Dhamma-Viharin Sutta, the Buddha is teaching that engaging with the Dhamma through intellectual study alone will not develop cessation of craving after and clinging to views ignorant of Four Noble Truths, and the confusion and suffering that follows…
The Nidana Sutta – Ending The Defilements
In the Nidana Sutta, the Buddha focuses on recognizing and abandoning the Three Defilements of greed, aversion, and deluded thinking. All three of the defilements are rooted in ignorance of Four Noble Truths and the resulting ongoing self-referential “I-making”…
Upaddha Sutta – An Admirable Sangha
The context here is a Dhamma practitioners associations. Having admirable friends and admirable companions supports the joyful camaraderie that follows a well-informed and well-focused sangha…
The Phena Sutta – Emptiness and The Five Clinging-Aggregates
The Phena Sutta is another sutta on emptiness as the Buddha uses the term. In this sutta he teaches the emptiness of The Five Clinging Aggregates and the emptiness of creating self-identities by clinging to fleeting objects, events, views and ideas…