In the Buddha’s WordsBhikkhu Bodhi · Anthology
Words of the Buddha
Read early Buddhist discourses in parallel Pāli and English — from memorable verses to the full Nikāyas.
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Noble Truths, Noble PathBhikkhu Bodhi · Anthology
DhammapadaChapter 1 — Pairs · Audio
Reflection of the Day
“I do not see any other form that so completely obsesses a man’s mind as the form of a woman.”
— AN 1.1·
Recommended Read
Fire: Investigating Recurrent Experience
The Buddha cast his entire framework of liberation in the language of fire and its cessation. This essay traces that structure using what we now understand about how fire actually works.
Experience is examined starting with the texture of a single moment, to the cascade of experience, across the terrain where consciousness takes root, and to the extinguishing that is Nibbāna.
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Browse the major texts of the Pāli Canon, with parallel Pāli and English on every page.
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Dīgha NikāyaLong DiscoursesNew translationwith 32 illustrations
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Majjhima NikāyaMiddle Length Discoursessn
Saṁyutta NikāyaConnected Discoursesan
Aṅguttara NikāyaNumerical Discoursessnp
Sutta NipātaThe Buddha's Ancient DiscoursesLatest Discourses
View all →Prompted by an elephant trainer's observation on the tangled, deceitful nature of humans compared to animals, the Buddha categorizes humanity into four types based on who they torment. He then details the profound path of the fourth person—the one who abandons all harm to attain complete, unburdened liberation in this very life.
The four kinds of kamma in brief.
The Buddha explains four kinds of kamma: afflictive, non-afflictive, mixed, and the intention to abandon these deeds.
Refuting a claim that he teaches the annihilation of the world, the Buddha explains the four kinds of kamma to the brahmin Sikhāmoggallāna.
Can imitating animal behavior lead to heavenly rebirth? The Buddha warns two ascetics that their canine and bovine practices lead only to animal rebirth or hell, before explaining the four kinds of kamma and the path to the complete ending of kamma.
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