Dhamma Articles And Talks By Subject
Right Meditation - Samadhi - Jhana
Articles And Talks Archive - Newest First
True Refuge - The Ratana Sutta
Becoming Explained - The Loka, Bhava, and Mula Suttas
Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta - The Buddha's First Discourse
Magga-Vibhanaga Sutta - Analysis of The Eightfold Path
Satipatthana Sutta - Four Foundations Of Mindfulness
Anapanasati Sutta - Breath-Mindfulness Meditation
Anicca, Anatta, Dukkha - Three Marks Of Existence
Four Noble Truths Articles and Talks
Eightfold Path Articles and Talks
Refined Mindfulness Articles And Talks
Five Common Hindrances To Be Mindful Of
Modern Buddhism - A Thicket Of Views
Dependent Origination, Anatta, And The Myth Of Non-Duality
Theragatha and Therigatha - Poems Of Awakened Monks and Nuns
Dhamma Articles And Talks Archive
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Brahma-Vihara’s Exalted Mind States
There are four exalted states of mind taught by the Buddha. These are perfected mind-states that reflect an enlightened view of humanity…
The Sallatha Sutta – The Two Arrows
The Sallatha Sutta – The Two Arrows is a key teaching as it clearly explains what for many is a confusing aspect of the Dhamma – individual contributions to suffering…
Magga-Vibhanga Sutta: Analysis of the Path
Friends, I will now give you a detailed analysis of the Noble Eightfold Path. Listen mindfully. This is the Noble Eightfold Path…
The Buddha’s Noble Search For The Noble Path – Ariyapariyesana Sutta
The Ariyapariyesana Sutta is one of the most significant suttas in the Sutta Pitaka. It provides continual guidance on establishing and maintaining an authentic, practical, and effective Dhamma practice…
Maha Kotthita – Awakened Calm
In this poem Kotthita describes the quality of an awakened mind directly and attainable – calm…
Anupada Sutta – Ending Fabrications One After Another
The Anupada Sutta is similar to the Anapanasati Sutta. Here the Buddha uses Sariputta’s skillful development of Jhana as example…
The Sambodhi Sutta – The Wings of Self-Awakening
In any situation it is possible to maintain the eight qualities mentioned here. Nothing is more important then maintaining integrity with the Eightfold Path…
Atthakanagara Sutta – The Single Quality For Awakening
In the Aṭṭhakanāgara Sutta, the householder Dasama inquires of Ananda if there is a single quality taught by the Buddha that would result in release from all 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…
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…
Rahogata Sutta – Ending Fabrications Through Jhana
In the Rahogata Sutta, the Buddha teaches that feelings of pleasure, pain, or ambivalence, when perceived through a mimd rooted in ignorance of Four Noble Truths will fabricate what is experienced in a way that reaffirms ignorance and continues stress…
Jhāna Sutta – Meditative Absorption – Mind And Body United
The four levels of Jhana are impermanent and are developed from engaging in Shamatha-Vipassana meditation as taught by the Buddha and so should not be viewed as meditative achievement. ..
The Kimsuka Sutta – A Swift Pair of Messengers Shamatha-Vipassana in the Pali Canon
A Swift Pair of Messengers Shamatha-Vipassana in the Pali Canon. The Buddha’s teachings on Shamatha-Vipassana are found throughout the Pali Canon…
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….
Five Factors Of Concentration – The Samadhanga Sutta
The Samadhanga Sutta is another sutta on the proper use of the singular method of meditation as an awakened human being teaches – to engage with Shamatha-Vipassana meditation to increase concentration…
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…
The Waste-Water Pool – Jambali Sutta
The Jambali Sutta is another sutta on the proper use of meditation – to engage with Shamatha-Vipassana [1] meditation to increase concentration. Jhana means meditative absorption…
Samadhi Sutta – The Purpose and Practice of Concentration
The Buddha taught Shamatha-Vipassana meditation as one factor of the Eightfold Path for the purpose of developing the concentration necessary to support the refined mindfulness of the other seven factors of the path…
Yuganaddha Sutta Tranquility and Insight In Tandem
In the Yuganaddha Sutta [1] Ananda teaches that that those that achieve lasting peace and happiness do so by developing shamatha & vipassana (tranquility & insight) in tandem…
Gilana Sutta: Seven Factors of Enlightenment
These seven qualities or factors of enlightenment are taught by the Buddha to remain free of the distraction of craving, aversion and further deluded thinking…
Rahula, The Buddha’s Son Unbound
This poem is from the now awakened son of the Buddha, Rahula. There is a beautiful sutta where the Buddha teaches a seven-year-old Rahula simple and direct refined mindfulness…
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…
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My Dhamma articles and talks are based on the Buddha's teachings (suttas) as preserved in the Sutta Pitaka, the second book of the Pali Canon. I have relied primarily on Thanissaro Bhikkhu’s excellent and insightful translation of the Pali generously made freely available at his website Dhammatalks.org, as well as the works of Nyanaponika Thera, John Ireland, Maurice Walsh, Hellmuth Hecker, and Sister Khema, among others, as preserved at Access To Insight.
Also, I have found Bhikkhu Bodhi's translations from Wisdom Publications Pali Canon Anthologies to be most informative and an excellent resource.
I have made contextual edits to the suttas from these sources for further clarity, to modernize language, to minimize repetition, and maintain relevance to Dependent Origination and Four Noble Truths.
Becoming-Buddha.com and Dhamma articles and recordings by John Haspel are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
