Sutta Readings

What is your best response when someone is angry with you? Hint: if you offer some food to a guest, but the guest declines the offer, to whom does the food belong?

Listen to this sutta read by Ayya Medhanandi (05'05" 1.7 MB)

Recorded by the reader in July 2005 in Paekakariki, New Zealand. 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.

In this stirring discourse the Buddha underscores the vital urgency of keeping one's attention firmly rooted in the present moment. After all, the past is gone, the future isn't here; this present moment is all we have.

Listen to this sutta read by Larry Rosenberg (08'24" 2.8 MB)

Recorded by jtb on 24 August 2005 at Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. Translated from the Pali by Thanissaro Bhikkhu. From »Access to Insight. Text is copyright © 1997 Thanissaro Bhikkhu. Courtesy of Access to Insight, »www.accesstoinsight.org.

Five practical methods of responding wisely to unskillful thoughts (thoughts connected with desire, aversion, or delusion).

Listen to this sutta read by Ayya Medhanandi (11'31" 3.9 MB)

Recorded by the reader in July 2005 in Paekakariki, New Zealand. 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 explains to the wealthy lay-follower Anathapindika about four kinds of happiness that a householder may enjoy. Some require wealth, but the best is free of charge

Listen to this sutta read by Kamala Masters (03'36" 1.2 MB)

Recorded by jtb on 11 Dec 2005 at Gaston Pond, Barre, Massachusetts, USA. Translated from the Pali by Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi. From Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: An Anthology of Suttas from the Anguttara Nikaya, translated and edited by Nyanaponika Thera and Bhikkhu Bodhi (Kandy: »Buddhist Publication Society, 1999). Text is copyright © 1999 Buddhist Publication Society. Courtesy of, and with permission from, Buddhist Publication Society, P.O. Box 61, No. 54 Sangharaja Mawatha, Kandy, Sri Lanka, »www.bps.lk.