Sutta Readings

King Bimbisara, struck by the young Buddha's radiant demeanor, follows him to the mountains to discover who he is and whence he comes.

Listen to this sutta read by Ajahn Candasiri (04'38" 1.6 MB)

Recorded by jtb on 17 May 2006 in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA. Translated from the Pali by H. Saddhatissa. From The Sutta Nipata (London: »Curzon Press, Ltd., 1985). Text is copyright © 1985 H. Saddhatissa. Permission pending.

The Buddha explains the criteria for determining whether or not something is worth saying. This discourse is a beautiful example of the Buddha's skill as teacher: not only does he talk about right speech, but he also demonstrates right speech in action.

Listen to this sutta read by Ajahn Candasiri (09'55" 2.8 MB)

Recorded by jtb on 17 May 2006 in Lexington, Massachusetts, USA. Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Ñanamoli and Bhikkhu Bodhi. From »The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha (Somerville: »Wisdom Publications, 1995). Text is copyright © 1995 Wisdom Publications. Courtesy of, and with permission from, Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 USA, »www.wisdompubs.org.

The Buddha retells the story of how, on the eve of his Awakening, he re-discovered the long-forgotten laws of dependent co-arising and the Four Noble Truths.

Listen to this sutta read by Leigh Brasington (08'16" 2.8 MB)

Recorded by jtb on 30 April 2006 in Barre, Massachusetts. Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. From »The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans. (Somerville: »Wisdom Publications, 2000). Text is copyright © 2000 Wisdom Publications. Courtesy of, and with permission from, Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 USA, »www.wisdompubs.org.

The Buddha explains how seeing deeply into dependent co-arising leads to Awakening. The causal chain here includes an additional set of factors not present in the "standard" chain of dependent co-arising.

Listen to this sutta read by Leigh Brasington (05'44" 2.0 MB)

Recorded by jtb on 30 April 2006 in Barre, Massachusetts. Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. From »The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans. (Somerville: »Wisdom Publications, 2000). Text is copyright © 2000 Wisdom Publications. Courtesy of, and with permission from, Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 USA, »www.wisdompubs.org.

The Buddha explains how dependent co-arising functions in the development of right view.

Listen to this sutta read by Leigh Brasington (03'47" 1.3 MB)

Recorded by jtb 30 April 2006 in Barre, Massachusetts. Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. From »The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans. (Somerville: »Wisdom Publications, 2000). Text is copyright © 2000 Wisdom Publications. Courtesy of, and with permission from, Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 USA, »www.wisdompubs.org.

The third chapter of verses from the Dhammapada, a classic collection of concise teachings from the Buddha.

Listen to this sutta read by Gil Fronsdal (02'41" 0.9 MB)

Recorded by the reader in Feb 2006 . Translated from the Pali by Gil Fronsdal. From »The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotations, edited by Gil Fronsdal (Boston: »Shambhala Publications, 2005). Text is copyright © 2005 Shambhala Publications. Courtesy of, and with permission from, the author.

The second chapter of verses from the Dhammapada, a classic collection of concise teachings from the Buddha.

Listen to this sutta read by Gil Fronsdal (03'03" 1.1 MB)

Recorded by the reader in Feb 2006 . Translated from the Pali by Gil Fronsdal. From »The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotations, edited by Gil Fronsdal (Boston: »Shambhala Publications, 2005). Text is copyright © 2005 Shambhala Publications. Courtesy of, and with permission from, the author.

The first chapter of verses from the Dhammapada, a classic collection of concise teachings from the Buddha.

Listen to this sutta read by Gil Fronsdal (04'49" 1.7 MB)

Recorded by the reader in Feb 2006 . Translated from the Pali by Gil Fronsdal. From »The Dhammapada: A New Translation of the Buddhist Classic with Annotations, edited by Gil Fronsdal (Boston: »Shambhala Publications, 2005). Text is copyright © 2005 Shambhala Publications. Courtesy of, and with permission from, the author.

Taken together, this series of parallel suttas offers one of the most evocative descriptions of Nibbana to be found in the entire Canon.

Listen to this sutta read by Joseph Goldstein (03'05" 1.1 MB)

Recorded by jtb on 18 Feb 2006 at the Forest Refuge, Barre, Massachusetts, USA. Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. From »In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon, Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans. and ed. (Somerville: »Wisdom Publications, 2005). Text is copyright © 2000 Bhikkhu Bodhi. Courtesy of, and with permission from, Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 USA, »www.wisdompubs.org.

Ven. Anuradha learns that if you can't even locate the Tathagata in space when he's sitting right in front of you, how can you ever hope to answer questions about his fate after death?

Listen to this sutta read by Joseph Goldstein (4'54" 1.7 MB)

Recorded by jtb on 18 Feb 2006 at the Forest Refuge, Barre, Massachusetts, USA. Translated from the Pali by Bhikkhu Bodhi. From »The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Samyutta Nikaya, Bhikkhu Bodhi, trans. (Somerville: »Wisdom Publications, 2000). Text is copyright © 2000 Wisdom Publications. Courtesy of, and with permission from, Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm Street, Somerville, MA 02144 USA, »www.wisdompubs.org.