Sumangala – Freedom Through Jhana
In this poem, The awakened monk Sumangala concisely describes the quality of an awakened mind through Right Meditation practiced as part of the Eightfold Path…
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. ..
Sumangala’s Mother – Freedom Through Jhana, Too
In this poem, the awakened monk Sumangala’s mother concisely describes the quality of an awakened mind through Right Meditation practiced as part of the Eightfold Path…
Dhammika – Pure Protection
In this poem, the awakened monk Dhammika shows the importance of a well-practiced and authentic Dhamma practice and the protection from worldly entanglements provided….
Maha Kotthita – Awakened Calm
In this poem Kotthita describes the quality of an awakened mind directly and attainable – calm…
Upacala Defeats Mara
Upacala teaches how she has overcome suffering by establishing refined mindfulness and gaining insight into impermanence, not-self, and suffering through developing to its culmination the Eightfold Path…
Yasadatta – Hearing True Dhamma
In this poem, Yasadatta shows the foolishness of debating the Dhamma rather than actually practicing a Buddha’s teachings…
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…
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…
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..
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…
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…