MN 41 The Brahmins of Sālā
The Buddha explains to a group of brahmins the conduct leading to rebirth in higher or lower states, including detailed explanations of the ten core practices which lay people should undertake, and which also form the basis for liberation.
19m Jan 26, 2020
19m
MN 40 The Shorter Discourse at Assapura
The labels of being a spiritual practitioner don’t just come from external trappings, but from sincere inner change.
9m Jan 23, 2020
9m
MN 39 The Longer Discourse at Assapura
The Buddha encourages the mendicants to live up to their name, by  actually practicing in a way that meets or exceeds the expectations  people have for renunciants.
26m Jan 21, 2020
26m
MN 38 The Longer Discourse on the Ending of Craving
To counter the wrong view that a self-identical consciousness transmigrates from one life to the next, the Buddha teaches dependent origination, showing that consciousness invariably arises dependent on conditions.
47m Jan 20, 2020
47m
MN 37 The Shorter Discourse on the Ending of Craving
Moggallāna visits the heaven of Sakka, the lord of gods, to see whether he really understands what the Buddha is teaching.
10m Jan 14, 2020
10m
MN 36 The Longer Discourse with Saccaka
In a less confrontational meeting, the Buddha and Saccaka discuss the difference between physical and mental development. The Buddha gives a long account of the various practices he did before awakening, detailing the astonishing lengths he took to mortify the body.
40m Jan 04, 2020
40m
MN 35 The Shorter Discourse with Saccaka
Saccaka was a debater, who challenged the Buddha to a contest. Despite his bragging, the Buddha is not at all perturbed at his attacks.
27m Dec 29, 2019
27m
MN 34 The Shorter Discourse on the Cowherd
Drawing parallels with a cowherd guiding his herd across a dangerous river, the Buddha presents the various kinds of enlightened disciples who cross the stream of transmigration.
7m Dec 27, 2019
7m
MN 33 The Longer Discourse on the Cowherd
For eleven reasons a cowherd is not able to properly look after a herd. The Buddha compares this to the spiritual growth of a mendicant.
16m Dec 25, 2019
16m
MN 32 The Longer Discourse at Gosingha
Several senior mendicants, reveling in the beauty of the night, discuss what kind of practitioner would adorn the park. They take their answers to the Buddha, who praises their answers, but gives his own twist.
14m Dec 21, 2019
14m
MN 31 The Shorter Discourse at Gosingha
A Sutta which shows the good practice of Vinya and Dhamma by the bhikkhus of those days. Many of the practices here can be compared with present-day bhikkhu life in the forest Wats (monastries) of N.E. Thailand. The same spirit prevails both in this ancient document and in the modern forest wat: “you all live in concord and agreement, as undisputing as milk with water, viewing each other with k...
13m Dec 17, 2019
13m
MN 30 The Shorter Simile of the Heartwood
Notice the treatment of the brahmin Pingalakoccha’s question by the Buddha. When this question of “Are there other teachers also enlightened?” was put to him on other occasions, he has answered it in the same way: “Let that be, I shall teach you the Dhamma.” This question often comes up today with the multitude of teachings and teachers but an affirmative answer (if given on the basis of ratioc...
19m Dec 15, 2019
19m
MN 29 The Longer Simile of the Heartwood
Following the incident with Devadatta, the Buddha cautions the mendicants against becoming complacent with superficial benefits of spiritual life and points to liberation as the true heart of the teaching.
13m Dec 12, 2019
13m
MN 28 The Longer Simile of the Elephant's Footprint
Sāriputta gives an elaborate demonstration of how, just as any footprint can fit inside an elephant’s, all the Buddha’s teaching can fit inside the four noble truths. This offers an overall template for organizing the Buddha’s teachings.
20m Dec 08, 2019
20m
MN 27 The Shorter Simile of the Elephant's Footprint
The Buddha cautions against swift conclusions about a teacher’s spiritual accomplishments, comparing it to the care a tracker would use when tracking elephants. He presents the full training of a monastic.
26m Dec 06, 2019
26m
MN 26 The Noble Search
This is one of the most important biographical discourses, telling the Buddha’s experiences from leaving home to realizing awakening. Throughout, he was driven by the imperative to fully escape from rebirth and suffering.
39m Dec 06, 2019
39m
MN 25 Fodder
The Buddha compares getting trapped by Māra with a deer getting caught in a snare, illustrating the ever more complex strategies employed by hunter and hunted.
14m Dec 04, 2019
14m
MN 24 Discourse on the Relays of Chariots
Venerable Sāriputta seeks a dialog with an esteemed monk, Venerable Puṇṇa Mantāniputta, and they discuss the stages of purification.
24m Dec 04, 2019
24m
MN 23 The Anthill
In a curious discourse laden with evocative imagery, a deity presents a riddle to a mendicant, who seeks an answer from the Buddha.
8m Dec 03, 2019
8m
MN 22 The Simile of the Snake
The sutta falls into two parts. The first part concerns the monk Arittha who has wrong views concerning the teaching. The Buddha reprimands Arittha and gives two similes (of the snake and raft) which illustrate different ways in which someone might miss the point of his teachings. The second part of the sutta details issues connected with views of the self.
40m Nov 30, 2019
40m
MN 21 The Simile of the Saw
A discourse full of vibrant and memorable similes, on the importance of patience and love even when faced with abuse and criticism. The Buddha finishes with the simile of the saw, one of the most memorable similes found in the discourses.
20m Nov 28, 2019
20m
MN 20 The Stilling of Thoughts
This short sutta is one of relatively few that give specific advice on the techniques of meditation practice. The sutta offers five approaches to overcoming distracting thoughts.
12m Nov 24, 2019
12m
MN 19 Two Kinds of Thought
The Buddha describes two kinds of thoughts. Firstly thoughts of sensual desire, ill will and cruelty and secondly thoughts of renunciation, thoughts of non ill will and non cruelty.
20m Nov 17, 2019
20m
MN 18 Discourse of the Honey Ball
The Buddha praises an explanation elucidated by the venerable Mahā Kaccāna on the causal process that gives rise to papanca (mental proliferation) which can easily lead on to conflicts
56m Nov 12, 2019
56m
MN 17 Jungle Thickets
Why does a bhikkhu who is developing his mind stay in one place but not in another? In this Sutta the answer is given: he stays where he progresses in Dhamma but does not stay where he makes no progress. And he takes no account of whether material support is good or not, for he did not go forth to homelessness just to get material support. The first four paragraphs speak of bhikkhus living in t...
8m Nov 09, 2019
8m
MN 16 Emotional Barrenness
The Buddha explains various ways one can become emotionally cut off from one’s spiritual community.
10m Nov 08, 2019
10m
MN 15 Measuring Up
Venerable Moggallāna raises the topic of admonishment, without which healthy community is not possible. He lists a number of qualities that will encourage others to think it worthwhile to admonish you in a constructive way.
21m Nov 01, 2019
21m
MN 14 The Shorter Discourse on the Mass of Suffering
A lay person is puzzled at how, despite their long practice, they still have greedy or hateful thoughts. The Buddha explains the importance of absorption meditation for letting go such attachments. But he also criticizes self-mortification, and recounts a previous dialog with Jain ascetics.
15m Oct 31, 2019
15m
MN 13 The Longer Discourse on the Mass of Suffering
18m Oct 29, 2019
18m
MN 12 The Longer Discourse on the Lion's Roar
A disrobed monk, Sunakkhata, attacks the Buddha’s teaching because it merely leads to the end of suffering. The Buddha counters that this is, in fact, praise, and goes on to enumerate his many profound and powerful achievements.
41m Oct 26, 2019
41m
MN 11 The Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar
The Buddha declares that only those following his path can genuinely experience the four stages of awakening. This is because, while much is shared with other systems, none of them go so far as to fully reject all attachment to the idea of a self.
11m Oct 17, 2019
11m
MN 10 Satipatthāna sutta
The Satipaṭṭhāna sutta is a most highly revered sutta setting out mindfulness as the one way to overcome suffering. The Buddha sets out in clear terms the four contemplations that constitute “establishing mindfulness” watching the body, feeling, mind and qualities. The sutta closes with an extended statement on the result of establishing mindfulness – enlightenment or something very close to en...
34m Oct 14, 2019
34m
MN 9 Right View
In this sutta the Venerable Sāriputta explains how right view can be understood in a number of different ways.
43m Oct 12, 2019
43m
MN 8 Self Effacement
The Buddha differentiates between peaceful meditation and spiritual practices that encompass the whole of life. He lists forty-four aspects, which he explains as “effacement”, the wearing away of conceit.
28m Oct 09, 2019
28m
MN 7 The Simile of the Cloth
"Dirty stained cloth takes dye badly, like a dirty stained mind takes one to low states of birth full of suffering. New cloth well washed, on the other hand takes dye well, likewise when a pure mind when good rebirth can be expected. What are the dirt and stains of the mind? Things we know well like covetousness and unrighteous greed, ill will, anger, revenge and so on – these are our stained a...
11m Oct 04, 2019
11m
MN 6 If a Bhikkhu should wish
In this discourse the Buddha teaches how, by keeping the precepts, devotion to internal serenity of mind, meditation, insight and seclusion various wishes can be obtained.
12m Sep 28, 2019
12m
MN 5 Unblemished
The Buddha’s chief disciples, Sāriputta and Moggallāna, use a simile of a tarnished bowl to illustrate the blemishes of the mind and conduct. They emphasize how the crucial thing is not so much whether there are blemishes, but whether we are aware of them.
19m Sep 26, 2019
19m
MN 4 Fear and Dread
The Buddha describes what it would be like to live in solitude in a remote jungle resting place free from fear and dread.
25m Sep 24, 2019
25m
MN 3 Heirs in the Teaching
Some of the Buddha’s students inherit from him only material profits and fame. But his true inheritance is the spiritual path, the way of contentment. Venerable Sāriputta explains how by following the Buddha’s example we can experience the fruits of the path.
14m Sep 18, 2019
14m
MN 2 All the Taints
Everyone has troubles and difficulties in this life - all the various aspects of dukkha and these troubles the Buddha shows should be dealt  with in appropriate ways. A Buddhist who knows the Dhamma can thus practice so to rid himself of these troubles in a way which will lead him out if complications, not further into difficulties. No doubt this discourse is directed to those who have most tim...
18m Aug 14, 2019
18m
MN 1 The Root of all Things
In this sutta the Buddha analyses the thinking process of four different types of people, the untaught ordinary person, the Disciple in higher training the Arahant and the Tathagata. The sutta details the progression from perception and delight because of misunderstanding the true nature of perception to directly knowing, dispassion and release through full understanding.
1hr 5m Aug 14, 2019
1hr 5m