Important Suttas Referenced:

  The Upādānaparipavatta Sutta discusses the five aggregates of clinging: form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. The Tathagata explains that he did not claim enlightenment until he fully understood these aggregates in their four aspects: understanding each aggregate, its arising, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation. This path is the Noble Eightfold Path, which includes right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. The sutta emphasizes that true understanding and practice of these principles lead to disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation of clinging, resulting in complete liberation and the end of the cycle of rebirth.

   Sāriputta is asked by Venerable Bhūmija as to the origin of pleasure and pain. He replies that the Tathagata teaches that pleasure and pain originate by conditions. Moreover, all those who offer opinions on this question are themselves part of the web of conditions, as they cannot state their views without contact.

  This Tathagata teaches that beings are the owners and heirs of their actions, determining their rebirth and future conditions based on their deeds. Actions, whether good or evil, lead to corresponding rebirths in realms of suffering or bliss. Misconduct by body, speech, and mind leads to rebirth in realms of intense suffering or as lower creatures like snakes and scorpions. Conversely, abstaining from harmful actions and cultivating compassion and righteousness leads to rebirth in blissful heavens or among noble families. Thus, one's destiny is shaped by one's actions.

  Both unlearned ordinary people and learned noble disciples experience pleasant, painful, and neutral feelings. The key difference lies in their reactions to these feelings. An ordinary person reacts to painful feelings with emotional distress and seeks relief in sensual pleasures, thus remaining attached to suffering due to ignorance of true escape. In contrast, a learned noble disciple does not react emotionally to pain, does not seek sensual pleasure, and understands the true nature of feelings, including their origin, danger, and escape, remaining detached from suffering. This understanding and detachment mark the profound difference between ordinary individuals and noble disciples in handling life experiences.

  The venerable Kaccānagotta asked the Blessed One about the nature of right view. The Tathagata explained that the world largely operates on the duality of existence and nonexistence. He taught that true wisdom sees beyond these concepts, recognizing neither nonexistence nor existence of the world. The world is often trapped in attachment and identity, but right view involves understanding the impermanence of suffering without clinging to notions of self. The Tathagata emphasized avoiding the extremes of "everything exists" and "nothing exists," instead teaching the Middle Way, which links ignorance to the arising and cessation of suffering through dependent origination.

  The Tathagata used a speck of dust on his fingernail to illustrate a point to the disciples. He compared the tiny amount of dust to the vastness of the earth, highlighting that the earth was immensely greater. Similarly, he explained that for a noble disciple who has attained right view and made a breakthrough in understanding the Dhamma, the suffering that remains is negligible compared to the vast amount of suffering that has been overcome. This demonstrates the profound benefit of realizing the Dhamma.

   Challenged to show the difference between his teaching and that of other ascetics, the Tathagata points out that they speak of letting go, but do not really understand why. He then explains in great detail the suffering that arises from attachment to sensual stimulation.

  A disciple asked the Blessed One about the length of an eon. The Tathagata explained that an eon is immensely long, difficult to quantify in years. He used an analogy of a massive, solid mountain being worn away by a fine cloth stroked once every hundred years, stating that the mountain would erode faster than an eon would pass. He emphasized the vastness of time by mentioning the countless eons that have already passed, underscoring the endless cycle of rebirths. This led to the conclusion that one should aim to become disenchanted and liberated from all worldly formations.

   The householder Nakulapitā asks the Tathagata for help in coping with old age. The Tathagata says to reflect: “Even though I am afflicted in body, my mind will be unafflicted.” Later Sāriputta explains this in terms of the five aggregates.

  From Sāvatthi, the Khandhasutta teaches about the five aggregates and the five clinging aggregates. The five aggregates include form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness, encompassing all states whether past, present, or future, and varying in nature (internal/external, gross/subtle). The five clinging aggregates are similar but are characterized by being tainted and subject to clinging. This teaching highlights the nature of existence and attachment in philosophy.

  The Blessed One, while at Ayujjhā on the Ganges riverbank, taught disciples about the nature of existence using various similes. He compared form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness to transient and insubstantial phenomena like foam, water bubbles, mirages, banana trees, and illusions. By observing and investigating these wisely, they appear empty and void of substance. This understanding leads a learned noble disciple to become disenchanted and dispassionate, ultimately achieving liberation. The Tathagata emphasized the importance of diligent investigation and mindfulness to see beyond the superficial and recognize the essenceless nature of all aggregates, urging disciples to seek liberation with the urgency of a head on fire.

  In the Dutiyachiggaḷayuga Sutta, a metaphor is used where a blind turtle surfaces every hundred years, attempting to thread its neck through a yoke floating randomly on an ocean-covered earth. This illustrates the rarity of being born human, the arising of a Tathāgata (a Perfectly Enlightened One), and the presence of his Dhamma in the world. Given these rare opportunities, disciples are urged to diligently pursue understanding and cessation of suffering.

  The Nibbedhikasutta teaches that understanding desires, feelings, perceptions, mental fermentations, karma, and suffering is crucial in the training. Each element should be comprehended in terms of its origin, diversity, result, cessation, and the path leading to its cessation. The discourse emphasizes the Noble Eightfold Path as the method to cease desires, feelings, perceptions, and other mental and existential afflictions. This understanding is essential for leading a holy life that penetrates the true nature of existence and achieves cessation of suffering and desires.

   A series of questions and answers between Sāriputta and Mahākoṭṭhita, examining various subtle and abstruse aspects of the teachings.

  The Blessed One, while in Sāvatthī, taught that an uninstructed ordinary person might disengage from their physical body, recognizing its impermanence. However, they struggle to detach from the mind or consciousness due to long-held beliefs of self-identity. Unlike the body, which may last many years, the mind constantly changes, similar to a discipleey swinging between branches. A well-instructed noble disciple understands dependent origination and the transient nature of all mental formations, leading to disenchantment and liberation from suffering, ultimately realizing the cessation of the cycle of rebirth.

   The Tathagata teaches how to contemplate the six senses from six perspectives, and discern the unsubstantial nature of all of them.

  The Venerable Ānanda asked the Blessed One about the nature of existence. The Blessed One explained that existence in different realms (sensual, form, and formless) is dependent on karma. Without karma ripening in these realms, such existence would not be discerned. He described karma as the field, consciousness as the seed, and craving as the moisture. Beings, hindered by ignorance and bound by craving, have their consciousness established in various realms, leading to the continuation of existence.

   Venerable Yamaka had the wrong view that one whose defilements have ended is annihilated at death. The disciples ask Sāriputta to help, and he asks Yamaka whether the Realized One in this very life may be identified as one of the aggregates, or apart from them. Convinced, Yamaka lets go of his view and sees the Dhamma.

  The Tathagata describes the five dangers that the Dhamma will face in the future. It will begin to decline, fade, and eventually become corrupted. With his teachings no longer being truly understood, and with no true practitioners left to pass on the Dhamma, people will struggle to practice effectively until eventually the teachings fade completely from memory.

  The Sugatavinaya Sutta explains the significance of the presence of a Well-Gone One (Sugata) or their discipline (Sugatavinaya) in the world, emphasizing their role in promoting the welfare and happiness of many, including gods and humans. A Well-Gone One is described as a Tathāgata, an Arahant, and a Fully Enlightened One, perfect in knowledge and conduct, and a teacher of gods and humans. The discipline of the Well-Gone One involves teaching the Dhamma, which is beneficial throughout and reveals a pure, perfect holy life. The sutta also outlines four detrimental factors leading to the confusion and disappearance of the true Dhamma: incorrect learning of discourses, disciples being difficult to admonish, learned disciples not teaching others properly, and elder disciples being indulgent and lax. Conversely, four factors that maintain the Dhamma include precise learning of discourses, disciples being easy to instruct, learned disciples diligently teaching others, and elder disciples being dedicated and striving for higher attainments. These elements ensure the stability and clarity of the true Dhamma.

  The Mahāpadesa Sutta recounts the Tathagata teaching at Ānandacetiya in Bhoganagara, where he introduced the concept of four great references to verify teachings attributed to him. He instructed disciples to neither immediately accept nor reject claims about his teachings but to carefully compare these claims with the Suttas and the Vinaya. If a claim aligns with these texts, it is to be accepted as the Tathagata's word; if not, it should be rejected. This method ensures the integrity and accuracy of the teachings, safeguarding them from misinterpretation or alteration.

  The Tathagata compared the future of his teachings to a drum called 'Summoner' used by the Dasārahas, which over time was repaired with pegs until its original form was lost. He predicted that disciples in the future would ignore his profound teachings connected with emptiness, favoring instead attractive, poetically composed discourses by disciples. He warned that this would lead to the disappearance of his deep teachings. Therefore, he urged disciples to focus on understanding and mastering his original, profound discourses.

  The Tathagata explains the different types of defilements and the seven methods that should be used to abandon them: seeing, restraining, using, avoiding, enduring, removing, and developing.

  The Tathagata explains how to develop Right Intention by dividing thoughts into two kinds, wholesome and unwholesome, and how single-minded intention leads to Jhana, Right Concentration and then ultimately to letting go of all intention.

   A discourse on the prerequisites of right concentration that emphasizes the interrelationship and mutual support of all the factors of the eightfold path. It covers both the mundane and super mundane versions of the path.

   The Tathagata asks Sāriputta about the four factors for stream-entry: association with good people, hearing the teaching, proper attention, and right practice. He also defines the “stream” and the “stream-enterer”. Keep in mind however that the only way to hear the Dharma at that time was through association with a noble one.

   How does someone recognize that they are a trainee? By understanding the four noble truths and the five faculties. But only a perfected one fully embodies these qualities.

  Originating in Sāvatthi, the discourse emphasizes the impermanence of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness, all subject to change. Those who have faith in these teachings are deemed faith-followers, entering a superior spiritual plane and avoiding rebirth in lower realms. Accepting these teachings, even minimally, prevents one from actions leading to negative rebirths and ensures realization of stream-entry. Understanding these teachings qualifies one as a 'stream-enterer,' destined for full awakening and protected from spiritual decline.

  The householder Anāthapiṇḍika visited the Blessed One. The Tathagata explained that a noble disciple who has calmed five dangers and hostilities—arising from killing, theft, sexual misconduct, false speech, and intoxication—can consider themselves free from lower realms and destined for enlightenment. This disciple also possesses four factors of stream-entry: unwavering confidence in the Tathagata, Dhamma, and Sangha, and virtues leading to concentration. Additionally, they understand the noble method of dependent origination, recognizing the causal relationships that lead to suffering and its cessation.

  Anathapindika visited the Blessed One, who taught him about overcoming five fears and hostilities through abstaining from killing, theft, sexual misconduct, lying, and intoxication, which prevents fear and mental distress in this life and the next. Additionally, a noble disciple endowed with four factors of stream-entry—unwavering confidence in the Tathagata, Dhamma, and Sangha, along with possessing virtues praised by the wise—can consider themselves free from lower realms and destined for enlightenment.

  The Tathagata used a speck of dust on his fingernail to illustrate a point to the disciples. He compared the tiny amount of dust to the vastness of the earth, highlighting that the earth was immensely greater. Similarly, he explained that for a noble disciple who has attained right view and made a breakthrough in understanding the Dhamma, the suffering that remains is negligible compared to the vast amount of suffering that has been overcome. This demonstrates the profound benefit of realizing the Dhamma.

  In Sāvatthī, it is taught that all sensory experiences—forms, sounds, smells, tastes, tangibles, and mental phenomena—are impermanent and constantly changing. Those who have faith in these teachings are deemed 'followers of faith,' set on a righteous path, aligned with noble ones, and protected from rebirth in lower realms. They are assured of achieving at least the initial stage of enlightenment, known as stream-entry. Similarly, those who intellectually reflect on these teachings are also safeguarded from lower rebirths and destined for enlightenment. The deepest understanding and realization of these teachings define a 'stream-enterer,' who is securely on the path to enlightenment, immune to spiritual decline.

  Samiddhi asks about the concept of the "world." The response clarifies that the world exists where sensory and mental faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, mind) and their corresponding objects and consciousnesses are present. Conversely, where these faculties and their interactions are absent, there is no world. This dialogue highlights the understanding of the world as sensory and mental processes.

  A disciple asked the Blessed One how to abandon wrong view. The Blessed One explained that recognizing the impermanence of the eye, forms, eye-consciousness, eye-contact, and all feelings arising from mind-contact as impermanent leads to the abandonment of wrong view. This understanding helps one see the transient nature of these elements, thus relinquishing incorrect perceptions.

  A disciple asks how to abandon identity view. The response is that identity view is abandoned by recognizing all elements of perception—such as the eye, forms, eye-consciousness, and eye-contact—as sources of suffering. This extends to all feelings arising from mind-contact, whether pleasant, painful, or neutral. By perceiving these as suffering, one can abandon identity view.

  The Venerable Sāriputta, while in Nālaka, Magadha, was approached by the wanderer Jambukhādaka. After greetings, Jambukhādaka inquired about Nibbāna, which Sāriputta described as the destruction of lust, hatred, and delusion. Jambukhādaka then asked about the path to achieve Nibbāna, to which Sāriputta explained it as the Noble Eightfold Path, consisting of right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. Jambukhādaka acknowledged the path's value and the importance of being heedful.

  A disciple approached the Blessed One at Sāvatthī, inquiring about the meaning of "the removal of lust, hatred, and delusion." The Blessed One explained that these terms refer to Nibbāna, characterized by the destruction of these taints. Further, the disciple asked about "the deathless," to which the Blessed One replied that the deathless is the destruction of lust, hatred, and delusion, achievable through the Noble Eightfold Path, which includes right view through right concentration.

  The Tathāgata delivers a brief statement of the Four Noble Truths. Then Venerable Sāriputta expands upon it in detail, making this sutta one of the most complete teachings on the Four Noble Truths. Venerable Sāriputta shows how everything tied to the five aggregates is dukkha: The body is subject to birth, aging, and death. Pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings are all impermanent. What we perceive changes over time. Awareness depends on external conditions and is not permanent. Venerable Sāriputta explains that The Root of Suffering is craving, the fuel for rebirth. The mind constantly grasps at things, creating attachment and suffering. Craving arises from ignorance—not understanding that everything is impermanent. Venerable Sāriputta describes Nibbāna as the complete cessation of craving. It is not a state of nothingness, but the freedom from all suffering and attachment. It is beyond birth and death—a state of peace and liberation. Nibbāna is not something one “attains” but the realization of the cessation of craving. Venerable Sāriputta breaks down each factor of the Eightfold Path, explaining how they work together. Right View: Understanding suffering, impermanence, and non-self. Right Intention: Developing renunciation, goodwill, and compassion. Right Speech, Action, and Livelihood: Establishing ethical conduct. Right Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration: Training the mind to let go of craving.

  The longest of all discourses, this extended narrative tells of the events surrounding the Tathagata’s death. Full of vivid and moving details, it is an ideal entry point into knowing the Tathagata as a person, and understanding how the community coped with his passing.

   A wanderer teaches that a person has reached the highest attainment when they keep four basic ethical precepts. The Tathagata’s standards are considerably higher.

  The lay follower Dhammadinna, along with 500 others, seeks guidance for long-term welfare and happiness. The Tathagata advises them to engage with deep and profound teachings on emptiness. Dhammadinna responds that, as householders engaged in worldly life, this is difficult for them. The Tathagata then instructs them to cultivate unwavering confidence in the Tathagata, Dhamma, and Sangha and to uphold the virtues dear to the noble ones, unbroken... conducive to concentration. Dhammadinna affirms that they already possess these qualities, and the Tathagata acknowledges: "Fortunate are you, Dhammadinna, well-gained are you, Dhammadinna. You have declared the fruit of stream-entry."

   The Tathagata explains to a brahmin how your deeds in past lives affect you in this life.

  The venerable Ānanda asked the Blessed One about the purpose and benefits of wholesome virtues. The Tathagata explained a progressive path: wholesome virtues lead to non-remorse, which fosters joy, leading to rapture, tranquility, happiness, concentration, knowledge and vision of things as they are, disenchantment, dispassion, and ultimately, knowledge and vision of liberation. Each step serves a purpose and benefits the next, illustrating how virtues ultimately guide one towards liberation.

  The Greater Discourse at Assapura is a comprehensive discourse on the true meaning of being a renunciant. The Tathagata explains that being a true renunciant is not about outward appearance, but about internal transformation—developing virtue, restraint, mental training, and wisdom until one attains full liberation. This sutta provides a step-by-step guide on how to move from superficial renunciation to true spiritual progress, leading to Arahantship.

  On the Uposatha day, yakkhas Sātāgira and Hemavata discuss visiting the Tathagata, Gotama. Hemavata inquires about Gotama's virtues, such as his equanimity, honesty, detachment from sensual pleasures, wisdom, and whether he has overcome rebirth. Sātāgira confirms that Gotama embodies all these virtues, leading them to decide to meet him. Upon meeting, they question Gotama about the nature of the world and suffering. Gotama explains that the world arises and is agitated based on the six senses and that escaping suffering involves dispelling desire for sensual pleasures. The yakkhas, impressed by Gotama's teachings, declare their reverence and decide to spread his teachings.

  The Brahmin householders of Veḷudvāra express their desire for worldly pleasures and a good rebirth, asking the Tathagata to guide them. In response, the Tathagata delivers a discourse on ethical conduct and self-reflection, emphasizing the importance of treating others as one wishes to be treated. He outlines principles such as abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, false speech, divisive speech, harsh speech, and idle chatter. By purifying their bodily, verbal, and mental conduct, individuals can cultivate virtues and unwavering confidence in the Tathagata, Dhamma, and Sangha. The Tathagata explains that those who embody these qualities and attain stream-entry are assured of a positive rebirth and eventual full enlightenment. The householders, deeply moved, take refuge in the Tathagata , Dhamma, and Sangha, committing to follow his teachings as lay followers.

  At Sāvatthī, King Pasenadi of Kosala visited the Blessed One and discussed the recent death of a wealthy householder named Anāthapiṇḍika. The king described how the deceased, despite his vast wealth, lived frugally and did not use his resources to provide for the well-being of his family, servants, or community, nor did he make offerings to ascetics and brahmins that could lead to happiness and spiritual merit. The king compared improperly used wealth to a clear, refreshing lotus pond that remains untouched and ultimately unused, emphasizing that wealth should be used wisely to ensure personal and communal well-being, rather than hoarded or squandered.

  Anathapindika visits the Blessed One, who teaches him about four desirable yet hard-to-obtain qualities: acquiring wealth righteously, gaining fame with relatives and teachers, living a long life, and being reborn in a heavenly realm after death. These qualities are achieved through faith, virtue, generosity, and wisdom. Faith involves belief in the enlightenment of the Tathagata, virtue includes abstaining from harmful actions, generosity is being open-handed and charitable, and wisdom means abandoning mental defilements. Additionally, a noble disciple should use wealth righteously gained to make oneself and others satisfied, protect against dangers, perform offerings, and establish uplifting offerings for ascetics and brahmins. This proper utilization of wealth leads to a fulfilled household life and praise in this life and the next.

  The Siṅgāla Sutta is one of the most practical teachings of the Tathagata, focusing on lay ethics, social responsibilities, and financial wisdom. It is sometimes called "The Layperson’s Code of Discipline," as it provides guidance on ethical living, relationships, and wealth management for householders. It provides a complete framework for how to live wisely in society. Furthermore, it teaches how to protect wealth, cultivate good friendships, and avoid harmful influences.

  In the Cetanākaraṇīyasutta, it is taught that for a virtuous person, natural progressions occur without the need for intentional willing. Virtue naturally leads to non-regret, which leads to joy, then to rapture, tranquility, pleasure, concentration, true understanding, disenchantment, dispassion, and ultimately the knowledge and vision of liberation. Each quality naturally results in the next, illustrating how virtuous behavior sets a foundation for a progressive spiritual journey towards liberation. This sequence shows how each state is both a result of the previous and a cause for the next, facilitating the ultimate goal of crossing over to liberation.

  The Abhiṇhapaccavekkhitabbaṭhānasutta teaches that both laypeople and monastics should frequently reflect on five realities: the inevitability of aging, sickness, and death; the eventual separation from all that is dear; and the ownership of one's actions, which determine one's future. Reflecting on these truths helps overcome delusions of youth, health, and permanence, leading to ethical conduct and spiritual growth. This practice is said to lead to the abandonment of mental fetters and the eradication of underlying tendencies, guiding practitioners towards Nibbana.

  The Tathāgata must protect four aspects: pure bodily, verbal, mental conduct, and livelihood, ensuring nothing needs to be hidden. He is blameless in three areas: his clear proclamation of the Dhamma, the well-explained path to Nibbāna for his disciples, and the attainment of liberation by many of his disciples. These attributes allow him to dwell secure, fearless, and confident, free from any rightful accusation by any being.

  The Paṭhamanāthasutta emphasizes the importance of living with protection to avoid suffering. It outlines ten protective dhammas for disciples: 1) Virtue, involving adherence to monastic rules and seeing danger in minor faults. 2) Deep understanding of the Dhamma, including recollection and investigation of teachings. 3) Having good friends and companions. 4) Being open to correction and instruction. 5) Skill and diligence in communal tasks. 6) A deep love and commitment to the Dhamma. 7) Maintaining energy for cultivating wholesome states. 8) Contentment with basic necessities. 9) Mindfulness and alertness, remembering past actions and teachings. 10) Wisdom that leads to the end of suffering. These principles collectively provide a framework for a protected, fulfilling monastic life.

  The Vatthasutta recounts a teaching by the Blessed One at Sāvatthī, emphasizing the importance of mental purity. He compares the mind to a cloth, explaining that just as a clean cloth takes dye well, an undefiled mind leads to a good destination. He lists various mental defilements such as greed, ill will, and deceit, and stresses the importance of abandoning these to achieve purity. The sutta also describes the virtues of unwavering confidence in the Tathagata, Dhamma, and Sangha, and the practice of pervading the world with loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy, and equanimity. The sutta concludes with the story of the Brahmin Sundarika Bharadvaja, who, inspired by the Tathagata's teachings on the futility of ritual bathing in rivers for purification, seeks refuge in the Tathagata, Dhamma, and Sangha, eventually attaining arahantship.

  If we are to transcend the animal and human realms, we must stop acting like animals and stop being mindlessly controlled by our desires. Our six senses ought to be viewed as animals within ourselves, seeking pleasure and avoiding displeasure in the world. The senses are like a snake, a crocodile, a bird, a dog, a jackal, and a monkey all tied up together in our body, pulling in all different directions towards their natural habitat, which are pleasant sights, thoughts, tastes, tactile sensations and smell. Mindfulness of the body is like a post that keeps these animals tied to a leash, restraining the senses from mindlessly following their desires.

  At Sāvatthi, the Tathagata taught that there are four nutriments essential for beings: physical food, contact, mental volition, and consciousness. He illustrated each with vivid analogies to emphasize their importance and how they should be perceived: 1. **Physical Food**: Like a desperate couple in a forest who, to survive, eat their only child, physical food should be seen as a means of survival, not for pleasure or beauty. Understanding this curbs lust for sensual pleasures and breaks worldly fetters. 2. **Contact**: Compared to a diseased cow bitten wherever it leans, contact should be understood as a source of inevitable suffering. Fully understanding contact leads to understanding the three feelings (pleasant, unpleasant, neutral), completing a disciple's task. 3. **Mental Volition**: Likened to a man dragged towards a fiery pit, mental volition should be seen as a force that can lead to suffering if not understood. Understanding it fully reveals the nature of the three cravings (sensual pleasures, existence, non-existence), completing a disciple's spiritual work. 4. **Consciousness**: Illustrated by a bandit repeatedly speared, consciousness should be viewed as a form of nourishment that, when fully understood along with name and form, leaves nothing more for a noble disciple to accomplish. These teachings emphasize the importance of understanding these four nutriments to transcend suffering and achieve spiritual liberation.

  While staying in Vesālī, the Tathagata was approached by Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī who requested a brief teaching of the Dhamma to guide her solitary spiritual practice. The Tathagata instructed her to discern and avoid qualities that lead to passion, bondage, and discontent, such as accumulation, great desires, and laziness. Instead, she should embrace qualities that foster dispassion, detachment, and contentment, including diminishment, few desires, and energetic effort, recognizing these as true Dhamma and discipline.

  The Tathagata explains how to develop Right Intention by dividing thoughts into two kinds, wholesome and unwholesome, and how single-minded intention leads to Jhana, Right Concentration and then ultimately to letting go of all intention.

  The Samudayasutta discusses the origin and cessation of the four foundations of mindfulness. It explains that the body originates from food and ceases with the lack of it. Feelings arise from contact and end when contact ceases. The mind stems from name-and-form, disappearing with its cessation. Mental phenomena originate from attention and cease when attention ends.

  The eight worldly conditions that affect an ordinary person are: gain and loss, fame and disgrace, praise and blame, pleasure and pain. For a Noble Disciple neither gain nor loss, fame nor disrepute, blame nor praise, happiness nor suffering overwhelm his mind. He reflects thus: This gain has arisen for me, but it is impermanent, suffering, and subject to change; he understands it as it really is.

  The Tathagata emphasizes the importance of wise attention in managing mental states. Without it, negative states like sensual desire, ill will, sloth, restlessness, and doubt can arise and intensify, while positive qualities like mindfulness and equanimity fail to develop or diminish. Conversely, wise attention prevents the emergence of these negative states and helps in the development and fulfillment of positive enlightenment factors.

  The Tathagata explains how to develop Right Intention by dividing thoughts into two kinds, wholesome and unwholesome, and how single-minded intention leads to Jhana, Right Concentration and then ultimately to letting go of all intention.

  The Sūdasutta compares two types of individuals using the metaphor of cooks serving a king. A foolish cook, unable to discern the king's preferences among various soups, fails to receive rewards. Similarly, an unskilled disciple, despite practicing mindfulness and contemplation (of the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena), fails to achieve concentration or overcome defilements because he does not understand the signs of his own mind. Conversely, a skilled cook who understands and caters to the king's tastes earns rewards. Likewise, a skilled disciple, mindful and aware, achieves concentration and mindfulness by recognizing and responding to the signs of his mind, leading to happiness and awareness in life.

  The Vitakkasaṇṭhānasutta, delivered by the Blessed One at Sāvatthī in Jeta's Grove, outlines methods for disciples to manage and overcome unwholesome thoughts related to desire, aversion, and delusion. The Tathagata advises shifting focus to wholesome thoughts, examining the dangers of negative thoughts, ignoring them, and calming thought formations. Techniques include comparing the aversion to carrying a carcass and physically restraining thoughts by clenching teeth. These practices help stabilize and concentrate the mind, leading to mastery over one's thoughts and ultimately ending suffering. The disciples received these teachings with satisfaction and delight.

   Before his awakening the Tathagata generally practiced mindfulness of the breath, which kept him alert and peaceful and led to the ending of defilements. One who wishes for any of the higher fruits of the renunciate life should practice the same way.

  The Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta is one of the most important suttas in the Pāli Canon. It provides a comprehensive guide to mindfulness and insight, leading to liberation from suffering. This sutta is almost identical to MN 10, but with an expanded section on the Four Noble Truths, making it the most detailed canonical instruction on mindfulness practice.

  The Blessed One, while at Sāketa in the Tikaṇḍakī forest, taught disciples about the importance of perception in overcoming attachment and aversion. He advised them to sometimes see the unattractive in the attractive to avoid lust, and the attractive in the unattractive to prevent aversion. Additionally, he recommended perceiving both qualities in all things to balance lust and aversion, and to practice equanimity by avoiding both extremes, staying mindful and aware. This approach helps in not developing lust, aversion, or delusion towards any provocations.

  The Mahārāhulovāda Sutta is a powerful discourse given by the Tathagata to his son, Venerable Rāhula. In this sutta, the Tathagata teaches various practices to develop detachment, wisdom, and concentration. This discourse is significant because it provides structured training suitable for both beginners and advanced practitioners. It teaches non-self, mindfulness of breathing (ānāpānasati), and the four elements. It emphasizes detachment from the body and mind, leading to liberation.

  In this sutta, Venerable Sāriputta, the Tathagata’s chief disciple in wisdom, explains how the entire teaching can be understood through the Five Aggregates, the elements, and dependent origination. It uses the famous simile of the elephant’s footprint, illustrating how all teachings fit within the Four Noble Truths. It provides a profound analysis of the five aggregates and their impermanence. Furthermore, it explains how wisdom leads to detachment and liberation.

  At Nātika in the Brick Hall, the Blessed One emphasized to the disciples the importance of cultivating mindfulness of death, which leads to the deathless. Disciples shared their practices, ranging from hoping to live for a night and day to just the duration of a breath, each keeping the Tathagata's teachings in mind. The Tathagata clarified that those who think of living longer, even up to a meal, cultivate mindfulness slowly and live negligently. In contrast, those who consider their life span as brief as a breath or a mouthful practice diligently and sharply, effectively working towards the destruction of taints. He urged all disciples to train in living heedfully with acute mindfulness of death.

  At Nātika in the Brick Hall, the Blessed One taught disciples about the importance of mindfulness of death. He explained that being mindful of death, when developed and cultivated, leads to significant benefits and ultimately to the deathless. Disciples are encouraged to reflect daily on the potential causes of death and to examine whether they harbor any evil, unwholesome states. If such states are found, disciples should exert great effort to abandon them, akin to extinguishing a fire on their clothes or head. If no such states are found, they should continue to cultivate joy and wholesome states. This practice, the Tathagata emphasized, leads to profound spiritual benefits and the deathless.

  The Saṁvarasutta outlines four key exertions taught by the Tathagata: restraint, abandoning, developing, and protecting. Restraint involves controlling sensory faculties to prevent unwholesome states. Abandoning refers to actively dispelling harmful thoughts and emotions. Developing focuses on cultivating factors of enlightenment such as mindfulness and equanimity, based on seclusion and dispassion. Protecting entails maintaining beneficial mental states and perceptions. These practices aim to help disciples overcome suffering and achieve spiritual liberation.

  The Discourse on the Bases of Mindfulness outlines six bases of mindfulness taught by the Tathagata to help disciples free their minds from defilements such as lust, hatred, and delusion. These bases include recollecting the Tathagata, the Dhamma, the Sangha, one's own virtue, generosity, and the qualities of devas. By focusing on these aspects, a disciple's mind remains straight and purified, overcoming the five cords of sensual pleasure, which are termed as defilements. This practice leads to mental purity and concentration.

  A disciple who embodies five specific qualities can quickly achieve deep spiritual insight through mindfulness of breathing. These qualities include being low-maintenance, having few responsibilities, moderate eating, diligence in wakefulness, and profound understanding of the teachings. These teachings are comprehensive, pure, and effectively internalized. Additionally, such a disciple consistently reflects on the liberated state of mind. Possessing these traits enables a disciple to swiftly reach a profound, unshakable level of enlightenment.

  The Blessed One repeatedly asked Venerable Udāyī about the bases of recollection, but Udāyī remained silent until prompted by Ānanda. Udāyī then described recollecting past lives as a base of recollection. The Tathagata, recognizing Udāyī's limitations, asked Ānanda, who listed five bases: entering and dwelling in the third jhāna, developing the perception of light, examining the body's impurities, contemplating the nature of corpses to understand the body's fate, and entering the fourth jhāna. These practices lead to happiness, knowledge, removal of lust, uprooting of conceit, and penetration of elements. The Tathagata added a sixth base involving mindfulness in daily activities, which cultivates full awareness.

  A disciple residing in a forest in Kosala was plagued by harmful thoughts of sensuality, ill-will, and violence. The forest's guardian deity, concerned for the disciple's well-being, advised him to focus properly, abandon negative thoughts, and rely on the Teacher, the Dhamma, the Sangha, and his virtues. This guidance promised joy and the cessation of suffering. Inspired by the deity, the disciple felt a renewed sense of urgency in his spiritual practice.

  This sutta covers many practices found throughout the canon, especially mindfulness of the body, and is one of the most comprehensive discourses on practicing the gradual path.

  The Dutiyasannasutta teaches that seven perceptions, when developed and cultivated, lead to significant spiritual benefits and ultimately to the deathless. These perceptions are: unattractiveness, death, repulsiveness in food, dissatisfaction in every world, impermanence, suffering in impermanence, and non-self in suffering. Each perception, when frequently contemplated, helps a disciple recoil from worldly desires and attachments, leading to a state of indifference or repulsion. If a disciple's mind still inclines towards these desires despite frequent contemplation, it indicates an undeveloped perception. Conversely, if the mind recoils, it signifies a well-developed perception and spiritual progress. These practices are crucial for achieving liberation and the deathless state.

   The householder Nakulapitā asks the Tathagata for help in coping with old age. The Tathagata says to reflect: “Even though I am afflicted in body, my mind will be unafflicted.” Later Sāriputta explains this in terms of the five aggregates.

  The Tathagata explains that three types of feelings—pleasant, painful, and neutral—arise from and are rooted in sensory contact. Each feeling emerges when there is contact of a corresponding nature and ceases when that contact ends, similar to how fire from rubbing sticks subsides when the action stops. This teaching highlights the transient nature of feelings, emphasizing their dependence on contact.

  The Simile of the Beauty Queen illustrates the proper mind state and the full, real-time body awareness required to practice Right Mindfulness while walking. When confronted with extreme danger from all sides, the mind cannot afford to cling to the self or its formations, as such attachment would obscure clear seeing. Instead, all attention is focused solely on awareness itself and the observation of the Five Aggregates.

  In Sāvatthī, a disciple asked the Blessed One about ignorance and knowing. Ignorance, the Tathagata explained, is when an ordinary person lacks understanding of the true nature of arising and vanishing in form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. This lack of understanding binds one in ignorance. Conversely, knowing is when a learned noble disciple comprehends these phenomena as they truly are, which endows them with knowledge. This understanding liberates them from ignorance.

   Contemplating the arising and falling away of the Five Aggregates leads to knowing and liberation, but this may not be immediately apparent. The Tathagata illustrates this with similes of a hen brooding on her eggs, the wearing away of an axe handle, and the rotting of a ship’s rigging.

  The Poṭṭhapāda Sutta is a discourse where the Tathagata engages in a deep philosophical discussion about perception, consciousness, and the nature of ultimate reality with the wanderer Poṭṭhapāda and his group. The sutta also includes the gradual path to liberation, emphasizing the development of jhāna, the cessation of perception and feeling, and the attainment of Nibbāna.

  The Tathagata, while residing at Jeta's Grove near Sāvatthī, was approached by Venerable Ānanda concerning the severe illness of Venerable Girimānanda. Ānanda requested the Tathagata to visit Girimānanda, but the Tathagata instead suggested that Ānanda relay ten specific perceptions to Girimānanda, believing these teachings could alleviate his suffering. These perceptions included the inconstancy and not-self nature of phenomena, the unattractiveness and dangers of the body, the importance of abandoning unwholesome states, and the practices leading to dispassion, cessation, and mindfulness of breathing. Ānanda conveyed these perceptions to Girimānanda, which subsequently eased his illness.

  The Blessed One, while at Ayujjhā on the Ganges riverbank, taught disciples about the nature of existence using various similes. He compared form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness to transient and insubstantial phenomena like foam, water bubbles, mirages, banana trees, and illusions. By observing and investigating these wisely, they appear empty and void of substance. This understanding leads a learned noble disciple to become disenchanted and dispassionate, ultimately achieving liberation. The Tathagata emphasized the importance of diligent investigation and mindfulness to see beyond the superficial and recognize the essenceless nature of all aggregates, urging disciples to seek liberation with the urgency of a head on fire.

   Venerable Māluṅkyaputta asks for a teaching to take on retreat. The Tathagata wonders how to teach an old disciple like him, then questions him on his desire for sense experience that has been or might be, and encourages him to simply let sense experience be. Māluṅkyaputta says he understands, and expands the Tathagata’s teaching in a series of verses.

  The Dutiyavibhaṅgasutta discusses five key faculties essential for spiritual development: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. Faith involves belief in the enlightenment of the Tathāgata. Energy is about vigorous effort to abandon unwholesome states and cultivate wholesome ones. Mindfulness requires supreme alertness and the ability to recall past actions and words, focusing on the body, feelings, and mental states without covetousness or grief. Concentration is achieved through seclusion from sensual pleasures and unwholesome states, progressing through four stages of jhāna, each marked by deeper focus and equanimity. Wisdom entails understanding the nature of suffering and the path to its cessation. These faculties guide a disciple towards enlightenment.

  The Mahāsatipaṭṭhāna Sutta is one of the most important suttas in the Pāli Canon. It provides a comprehensive guide to mindfulness and insight, leading to liberation from suffering. This sutta is almost identical to MN 10, but with an expanded section on the Four Noble Truths, making it the most detailed canonical instruction on mindfulness practice.

   To be fully accomplished, a desciple should investigate the five aggregates in light of the four noble truths, as well as their gratification, drawback, and escape. In addition, they should investigate the elements, sense fields, and dependent origination.

   Surrounded by many well-practiced desciples, the Tathagata teaches mindfulness of breathing in detail, showing how it relates to the four kinds of mindfulness practice.

  This sutta covers many practices found throughout the canon, especially mindfulness of the body, and is one of the most comprehensive discourses on practicing the gradual path.

  The Avijjāsutta explains the causal relationships that lead to ignorance and liberation. Ignorance is sustained by the five hindrances, which in turn are fueled by three kinds of misconduct. These misconducts are influenced by lack of sense restraint, which is affected by deficient mindfulness and clear comprehension. This deficiency stems from unwise attention, which is a result of faithlessness, itself caused by not hearing the true Dhamma. This lack of exposure to true teachings is due to associating with bad people. Conversely, liberation is nourished by the seven factors of enlightenment, which are supported by the four foundations of mindfulness. These foundations are upheld by three kinds of good conduct, which are influenced by proper sense restraint. This restraint is enhanced by mindfulness and clear comprehension, which are nourished by wise attention. Wise attention comes from faith, which is fostered by hearing true teachings, and this is facilitated by associating with good people. This Sutta uses the metaphor of rainwater flowing down a mountain to illustrate how these elements are interconnected, emphasizing the importance of good associations for achieving true knowledge and liberation.

  The Impurities Sutta discusses the concept of impurities in both gold and the mind, drawing parallels between the two. In gold, impurities such as iron, copper, tin, lead, and silver prevent it from being pliable, workable, and radiant, hindering its use in craftsmanship. Similarly, the mind has five impurities: sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt. These impurities make the mind inflexible, unworkable, and dull, obstructing concentration and the ability to achieve higher states of knowledge. When these mental impurities are removed, the mind becomes capable of extraordinary feats, such as recalling past lives, understanding the minds of others, and perceiving the karmic destinies of beings with the divine eye. The sutta emphasizes the importance of purifying the mind to attain deep concentration and spiritual powers.

  Anathapindika, accompanied by 500 followers, visited the Blessed One and was advised not to be content with just supporting disciples materially. Instead, he should focus on experiencing the joy of seclusion. Venerable Sariputta praised this teaching, noting that when one dwells in seclusion, they are free from both pleasure and pain associated with sensual, unwholesome, and even wholesome states, emphasizing the profound peace found in such solitude.

   The brahmin Saṅgārava asks why sometimes verses stay in memory while other times they don’t. The Tathagata replies that it is due to the presence of either the hindrances of awakening factors. He gives a set of similes illustrating each of the hindrances with different bowls of water.

  The Sutta explains how both the body and mental states depend on nourishment. It likens the sustenance of the body by food to the sustenance of mental hindrances and enlightenment factors by their respective nourishments. Sensual desire is nourished by focusing on beauty, ill-will by focusing on repulsiveness, sloth and torpor by boredom and lethargy, restlessness and remorse by an unsettled mind, and doubt by ambiguous situations. Conversely, enlightenment factors like mindfulness, investigation of dhamma, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity are nourished by appropriate attention to conducive states and qualities. This analogy emphasizes the importance of proper mental nourishment for spiritual growth.

  The Silasutta emphasizes the profound benefits of associating with noble disciples skilled in virtue, concentration, and liberation. Engaging with such individuals—through seeing, listening, and following them—leads disciples to experience both bodily and mental satisfaction. This satisfaction fosters mindfulness, which in turn triggers a series of awakening factors: investigation of Dhamma, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity. As these factors are developed, they culminate in significant spiritual achievements. Depending on the extent of their cultivation, disciples can expect one of seven outcomes, ranging from enlightenment in this life to various states of liberation after death, highlighting the transformative power of diligently practicing the Dhamma.

  Venerable Sāriputta, while in Sāvatthī at Jeta's Grove, taught the disciples about the seven factors of enlightenment: mindfulness, investigation of the Dhamma, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity. He explained his ability to dwell in any chosen enlightenment factor at different times of the day, describing each as 'boundless' and 'well cultivated'. He compared this mastery to a king choosing garments to wear, emphasizing his deep understanding and control over these spiritual states.

  The Blessed One, while in Sāketa's Añjanavana Deer Park, was approached by the wanderer Kuṇḍaliya. Kuṇḍaliya inquired about the benefits of the Tathagata's teachings. The Tathagata explained that he lives for the benefit of knowledge and liberation, achievable through the development of the seven factors of enlightenment. These factors are cultivated by practicing the four foundations of mindfulness, which in turn are fulfilled by the three kinds of good conduct, underpinned by sense restraint. Sense restraint involves guarding the senses to prevent unwholesome states and maintain mental stability. This practice leads to good conduct, which supports mindfulness, fostering the factors of enlightenment essential for ultimate knowledge and liberation. Impressed, Kuṇḍaliya expressed his admiration and declared his commitment to the Tathagata, the Dhamma, and the Sangha as a lay follower.

  The Udāyivagga Taṇhakkhayasutta teaches that the path to the cessation of craving is through developing the seven factors of enlightenment, as explained by the Blessed One to the venerable Udāyi. These factors, including mindfulness and equanimity, are cultivated based on seclusion, dispassion, cessation, and relinquishing attachment. This development leads to the abandonment of craving, action, and consequently, suffering, illustrating a direct path to the cessation of suffering through the cessation of craving and action.

  The Ayonisomanasikārasutta discusses the effects of improper and proper attention. Improper attention leads to the emergence and growth of negative states like sensual desire, ill will, sloth, torpor, restlessness, remorse, and doubt. Conversely, proper attention fosters the development and fulfillment of positive qualities such as the mindfulness and equanimity enlightenment factors, enhancing spiritual growth.

  When a noble disciple attentively listens to the Dhamma, fully engaged and focused, the five hindrances—sensual desire, ill will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt—are absent. Concurrently, the seven factors of enlightenment, including mindfulness and equanimity, are fully developed. This state of focused engagement and absence of hindrances allows for the deepening of spiritual understanding and progress.

  Originating in Sāvatthi, the discourse emphasizes that ascetics and brahmins across all times—past, present, and future—successfully abandon the threefold due to their development and cultivation of the seven factors of enlightenment. These factors range from mindfulness to equanimity, underscoring their essential role in spiritual abandonment and enlightenment.

  The Tathagata emphasizes the importance of wise attention in cultivating the seven factors of enlightenment. He states that no other single factor is as crucial for the development of these enlightenment factors as wise attention. A disciple with wise attention is expected to develop and cultivate these factors, particularly mindfulness and equanimity, both of which are rooted in seclusion, dispassion, cessation, and mature through relinquishment.

  The Sākacchavagga Āhārasutta teaches about the nourishment and non-nourishment for the five hindrances and the seven factors of enlightenment. Sensual desire is nourished by frequent improper attention to the sign of beauty, while ill-will is fueled by the sign of repulsiveness. Sloth and torpor grow from discontent and lethargy, restlessness and remorse from non-quietude of the mind, and doubt from uncertain things. Conversely, the enlightenment factors such as mindfulness, investigation of states, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity are nourished by frequent proper attention to conducive states and signs. Non-nourishment involves applying wise attention to counteract the arising and development of hindrances, such as perceiving unattractiveness to combat sensual desire, and cultivating loving-kindness against ill-will.

  Some wanderers tell some desciples that they, too, teach the five hindrances and the seven awakening factors, so what is the difference? The Tathagata explains by giving a detailed analytical treatment that he says is beyond the scope of the wanderers.

  Some wanderers tell some desciples that they, too, teach the five hindrances and the four Brahmā dwellings, so what is the difference? The Tathagata explains the detailed connection between the Brahmā dwellings and the awakening factors, which taken together lead to liberation.

  The Bojjhaṅgasutta teaches that mindfulness of breathing, when developed and cultivated, offers significant benefits. It involves developing seven enlightenment factors—mindfulness, investigation-of-states, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity—each accompanied by mindfulness of breathing. These practices are rooted in seclusion, dispassion, cessation, and lead to letting go, culminating in substantial spiritual rewards.

   Venerable Lomasavaṅgīsa explains to Mahānāma that the difference between a trainee and the Realized One is that the trainees practice to give up the hindrances, whereas the Realized One has already ended all defilements.

  In Sāvatthī, Venerable Ānanda asked the Blessed One if a single practice could fulfill multiple spiritual developments. The Blessed One confirmed that mindfulness of breathing, when properly cultivated, fulfills the four foundations of mindfulness, which in turn fulfill the seven factors of enlightenment, leading to true knowledge and liberation. This practice involves a disciple being fully aware and mindful while breathing, focusing on the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena, thereby cultivating mindfulness, investigation, energy, joy, tranquility, concentration, and equanimity. These factors, developed through seclusion, dispassion, and cessation, ultimately lead to enlightenment and liberation.

  To enter and dwell in the first jhāna, one must abandon six qualities: sensual desire, ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness and worry, and doubt. Additionally, one must recognize the true danger in sensual pleasures through right wisdom. Without abandoning these impediments, achieving the first jhāna is impossible.

  The Poṭṭhapāda Sutta is a discourse where the Tathagata engages in a deep philosophical discussion about perception, consciousness, and the nature of ultimate reality with the wanderer Poṭṭhapāda and his group. The sutta also includes the gradual path to liberation, emphasizing the development of jhāna, the cessation of perception and feeling, and the attainment of Nibbāna.

  The Blessed One, while at Suveḷuvana in Gajaṅgala, engaged in a dialogue with Uttara, a student of the brahmin Pārāsiviya. Uttara explained that Pārāsiviya taught the development of faculties by not perceiving forms or sounds, which the Blessed One critiqued as equivalent to being blind or deaf. The Blessed One then taught the unsurpassed development of faculties in the discipline of the Noble One, emphasizing equanimity in response to sensory experiences. This involves recognizing the transient, conditioned nature of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral sensations and maintaining equanimity. The discourse concludes with the Blessed One instructing on the importance of meditation and vigilance.

  In the Aṭṭhakanāgara Sutta, the householder Dasama from Aṭṭhakanagara seeks out Venerable Ānanda in Vesālī to learn about a single Dhamma taught by the Tathagata that can liberate an unliberated mind and destroy taints. Ānanda explains that through practices like entering various jhānas and developing boundless loving-kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity, a disciple can achieve liberation or reach higher realms. Dasama, inspired by the teachings, honors Ānanda and supports the monastic community, expressing gratitude for discovering multiple paths to enlightenment.

  The Kolita Sutta recounts an experience of Venerable Mahāmoggallāna at Sāvatthī in Jeta’s Grove. Mahāmoggallāna, in seclusion, pondered the meaning of "noble silence," realizing it referred to the state of the second jhāna—characterized by internal confidence, unification of mind, absence of thought, and joy from concentration. Despite initial distractions, he achieved this state following the Tathagata's advice to focus and stabilize his mind in noble silence. This attainment exemplified profound spiritual knowledge assisted by the Tathagata.

   In a less confrontational meeting, the Tathagata and Saccaka discuss the difference between physical and mental development. The Tathagata gives a long account of the various practices he did before awakening, detailing the astonishing lengths he took to mortify the body.

   This is one of the most important biographical discourses, telling the Tathagata’s experiences from leaving home to realizing awakening. Throughout, he was driven by the imperative to fully escape from rebirth and suffering.

  There are four developments of concentration. There is concentration that, when developed and cultivated, leads to living happily in the present life, concentration that leads to the attainment of knowing and vision, concentration that leads to mindfulness and full awareness, and concentration that leads to the destruction of the taints.

  The Pañcaṅgikasutta describes the development of the noble five-factored right concentration, taught by the Tathagata to his disciples. This practice involves progressing through four stages of jhana, each characterized by deepening levels of concentration and detachment from sensory pleasures. The first jhana is marked by joy and happiness born of seclusion, the second by joy from concentration, the third by pleasure devoid of joy, and the fourth by a state of pure, bright mind. The fifth factor involves establishing mindfulness deeply, allowing a disciple to direct his mind towards various phenomena for the realization of knowledge. This advanced state of concentration enables the practitioner to potentially experience psychic powers, hear divine and human sounds, understand others' minds, recollect past lives, see beings' rebirths according to their karma, and achieve liberation of mind.

  The Blessed One repeatedly asked Venerable Udāyī about the bases of recollection, but Udāyī remained silent until prompted by Ānanda. Udāyī then described recollecting past lives as a base of recollection. The Tathagata, recognizing Udāyī's limitations, asked Ānanda, who listed five bases: entering and dwelling in the third jhāna, developing the perception of light, examining the body's impurities, contemplating the nature of corpses to understand the body's fate, and entering the fourth jhāna. These practices lead to happiness, knowledge, removal of lust, uprooting of conceit, and penetration of elements. The Tathagata added a sixth base involving mindfulness in daily activities, which cultivates full awareness.

  The Fortress Nagara Sutta compares a well-fortified royal frontier fortress to a disciplined disciple of the noble ones. The fortress, equipped with seven requisites such as a deep foundation, wide moat, and ample weaponry, and access to four types of essential supplies, is impervious to external threats and internal treachery. Similarly, a disciple possessing seven true qualities, including conviction, shame, compunction, learning, persistence, mindfulness, and discernment, and who can effortlessly achieve the four jhānas providing serene abiding—is invulnerable to spiritual corruption by Māra, the embodiment of evil and temptation.

  The Jhānasutta discusses the attainment of the destruction of taints through progressive jhānas and higher formless states. It outlines how a disciple, by secluding from sensual pleasures and entering various jhānas, perceives phenomena as impermanent and suffering, leading to dispassion and cessation, ultimately aiming for Nibbāna. If full liberation isn't achieved in these states, the disciple may still reach a significant spiritual milestone, potentially being reborn in the Pure Abodes where final Nibbāna is attained without returning to the sensory world. The sutta emphasizes the importance of seeing through the transient nature of existence and redirecting the mind towards the deathless element, highlighting the path to enlightenment through deep meditative practice.

  Venerable Ānanda, staying in Kosambi at Ghosita's Monastery, was approached by Venerable Udāyī who inquired about a saying by the deva Pancālacanda regarding finding space amidst confinement. Ānanda explained that the "confinement" refers to the five strands of sensual pleasure: forms, sounds, odors, flavors, and tangibles that provoke lust. The "space" found is the progressive stages of jhānas that a disciple enters, starting from the first jhāna, characterized by seclusion from sensual pleasures, to deeper states where even subtle perceptions and feelings are transcended. Each stage still has some form of "confinement" until the final stage, the cessation of perception and feeling, where true liberation is achieved, and all taints are destroyed. This represents the ultimate "space" free from all confinement.

  The Blessed One was in Vesālī with elder disciples when many noisy Licchavis arrived in splendid vehicles to see him. Disturbed by the noise, which the Tathagata described as a thorn to Jhana, the elders moved to the quieter Gosiṅga Sāla-tree Wood. The Tathagata later listed ten thorns to spiritual progress, including desire for company, indulgence in sense pleasures, and various distractions within meditative states. He urged disciples to live free from these thorns, highlighting that those who do are arahants, free from afflictions.

  The Tathagata explains how to develop Right Intention by dividing thoughts into two kinds, wholesome and unwholesome, and how single-minded intention leads to Jhana, Right Concentration and then ultimately to letting go of all intention.

   The Tathagata resolves a disagreement on the number of kinds of feelings that he taught, pointing out that different ways of teaching are appropriate in different contexts, and should not be a cause of disputes. He goes on to show the importance of pleasure in developing higher levels of abiding.

   A little baby has no wrong views or intentions, but the underlying tendency for these things is still there. Without practicing, they will inevitably recur.

  The Tathagata describes the process of insight as practiced by Venerable Sāriputta, detailing in great detail the different phenomena as they arise and pass away.

  The Tathagata teaches on the importance of seclusion in order to enter fully into emptiness.

   The Tathagata gives a brief and enigmatic statement on the ways consciousness may become attached. Venerable Mahākaccāna is invited by the deciples to draw out the implications.

  A disciple asked the Blessed One about his statement that all feelings, including pleasant, painful, and neutral, are forms of suffering. The Tathagata confirmed this, explaining that suffering arises from the impermanence and cessation of these feelings. He also discussed the progressive cessation of mental and physical formations through the attainment of higher states of jhānas and the ultimate cessation of perception and feeling. This leads to the calming of formations and the cessation of lust, hatred, and delusion for one whose taints are destroyed.

  The Dutiyavibhaṅgasutta discusses five key faculties essential for spiritual development: faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom. Faith involves belief in the enlightenment of the Tathāgata. Energy is about vigorous effort to abandon unwholesome states and cultivate wholesome ones. Mindfulness requires supreme alertness and the ability to recall past actions and words, focusing on the body, feelings, and mental states without covetousness or grief. Concentration is achieved through seclusion from sensual pleasures and unwholesome states, progressing through four stages of jhāna, each marked by deeper focus and equanimity. Wisdom entails understanding the nature of suffering and the path to its cessation. These faculties guide a disciple towards enlightenment.

   The layman Visākha asks the nun Dhammadinnā about various difficult matters, including some of the highest Jhana attainments. The Tathagata fully endorses her answers.

  In the Maggasutta, the Tathagata recounts his pre-enlightenment quest for the path to develop psychic powers. He identifies four bases of psychic power: concentration due to desire, energy, mind, and investigation, emphasizing the need for balance—neither too lax nor too tense. By maintaining a consistent perception of unity in all things and cultivating an open, bright mind, a disciple can achieve manifold supranormal abilities and ultimately realize the destruction of mental taints, achieving liberation in this life.

  The Blessed One repeatedly asked Venerable Udāyī about the bases of recollection, but Udāyī remained silent until prompted by Ānanda. Udāyī then described recollecting past lives as a base of recollection. The Tathagata, recognizing Udāyī's limitations, asked Ānanda, who listed five bases: entering and dwelling in the third jhāna, developing the perception of light, examining the body's impurities, contemplating the nature of corpses to understand the body's fate, and entering the fourth jhāna. These practices lead to happiness, knowledge, removal of lust, uprooting of conceit, and penetration of elements. The Tathagata added a sixth base involving mindfulness in daily activities, which cultivates full awareness.

  Shortly after the Tathagata’s death, Venerable Ānanda explains the core teachings of the gradual path.

  The Asaṅkhatasutta teaches about the Unconditioned, defined as the destruction of lust, hatred, and delusion. The path to the Unconditioned includes various forms of concentration and mindfulness, focusing on the body, feelings, mind, and phenomena, as well as developing spiritual powers and faculties like faith, energy, and wisdom. The Tathagata emphasizes the importance of practice and diligence in this pursuit, instructing disciples to use solitude and dispassion to achieve cessation and relinquishment, ultimately leading to the Unconditioned.

  The Tathagata explains that to attain liberation, one has to fully understand clinging, its origin, and its cessation. He covers the four different types of clinging.

  The Samādhisutta emphasizes the importance of concentration for disciples to perceive reality clearly. It explains that understanding the nature of form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness involves recognizing their arising and passing away. Arising occurs when one delights in and clings to these elements, leading to a cycle of becoming, birth, and suffering. Conversely, passing away happens when one does not delight in or cling to these elements, leading to the cessation of suffering. This understanding helps disciples grasp the transient nature of existence and the root of suffering.

  Originating in Sāvatthī, the discourse emphasizes that attachment prevents liberation, while detachment leads to freedom. Consciousness, when attached to form, feeling, perception, or mental formations, remains dependent and continues to grow. Liberation is unattainable if consciousness is described independently of these elements. A disciple liberates consciousness by abandoning desire for these elements, cutting off their support. An unestablished consciousness is stable, content, and unagitated, ultimately achieving final Nibbāna, signifying the end of rebirth and fulfillment of the holy life.

  The Upādānaparipavatta Sutta discusses the five aggregates of clinging: form, feeling, perception, mental formations, and consciousness. The Tathagata explains that he did not claim enlightenment until he fully understood these aggregates in their four aspects: understanding each aggregate, its arising, its cessation, and the path leading to its cessation. This path is the Noble Eightfold Path, which includes right view, intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration. The sutta emphasizes that true understanding and practice of these principles lead to disillusionment, dispassion, and cessation of clinging, resulting in complete liberation and the end of the cycle of rebirth.

  During a full moon night in Sāvatthī, the Blessed One, surrounded by disciples, engaged in a deep discussion on the nature of the five aggregates subject to clinging: form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. He explained that these aggregates are rooted in desire and lust, which constitute clinging. The disciple inquired about the nature, variation, and manifestation of these aggregates, to which the Blessed One responded by detailing their conditions and causes, such as the four great elements and contact. The discussion also covered identity view, highlighting how it arises from misconceptions about the self in relation to the aggregates and is prevented by correct understanding and discipline in Dhamma. The dialogue further explored the impermanence and suffering associated with these aggregates and the path to liberation through the removal of desire and lust. The Blessed One emphasized the importance of seeing all forms of existence as not-self to prevent conceit and the illusion of self.

  In Sāvatthī, the Tathagata teaches about phenomena that require full understanding, which include form, feeling, perception, formations, and consciousness. Full understanding is defined as the destruction of lust, hatred, and delusion. The person who achieves this state is known as an Arahant, a venerable individual identified by name and clan. This teaching is presented as the fourth in a series.

  The Blessed One taught disciples at Kammāsadhamma about transcending sensual pleasures, which are impermanent and deceptive, belonging to Māra. He outlined paths leading to the Imperturbable and the Dimension of Nothingness, emphasizing the importance of overcoming attachments to achieve serenity and potentially rebirth in higher realms or final Nibbāna. The discourse concludes with the reminder to meditate diligently to avoid future regrets, highlighting the teachings on liberation through non-clinging to perceptions and identity views.

  At Gayā, the Blessed One taught a thousand disciples that all sensory experiences are "burning" with the fires of lust, hatred, and delusion, leading to suffering and despair. This includes the senses like the eye and mind, and their respective objects and consciousness. Recognizing this, a wise disciple becomes disenchanted and dispassionate, leading to liberation from suffering and the cycle of rebirth. The disciples were enlightened by this teaching, achieving liberation during the discourse.

   Venerable Migajāla asks how one lives alone, and how with a partner. The Tathagata says that so long as one is bound by desire to the senses, one lives with a partner. A desciple free of such desire dwells alone, even if they live in close association with worldly people.

  In Sāvatthi, a disciple requested the Tathagata to visit a gravely ill, new disciple at a monastery. Upon arrival, the Tathagata conversed with the sick disciple, who expressed his inability to endure his suffering and his lack of understanding of the Dhamma for conduct purification. The Tathagata clarified that the Dhamma primarily aims to eliminate lust and taught the impermanence of sensory faculties and the resultant suffering. Recognizing their impermanence leads to dispassion and liberation. The sick disciple, enlightened by this teaching, realized that all that arises will also cease.

  The Sutta instructs disciples to focus attentively on the impermanence of sensory faculties (eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind). By recognizing their transient nature, disciples become disenchanted, leading to the destruction of delight and lust. This process ultimately liberates the mind.

   While staying overnight in a potter’s workshop, the Tathagata has a chance encounter with a disciple who does not recognize him. They have a long and profound discussion based on the four elements. This is one of the most insightful and moving discourses in the canon.

   Explains how insight into the six senses is integrated with the eightfold path and leads to liberation.

  The Blessed One, while at Suveḷuvana in Gajaṅgala, engaged in a dialogue with Uttara, a student of the brahmin Pārāsiviya. Uttara explained that Pārāsiviya taught the development of faculties by not perceiving forms or sounds, which the Blessed One critiqued as equivalent to being blind or deaf. The Blessed One then taught the unsurpassed development of faculties in the discipline of the Noble One, emphasizing equanimity in response to sensory experiences. This involves recognizing the transient, conditioned nature of pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral sensations and maintaining equanimity. The discourse concludes with the Blessed One instructing on the importance of meditation and vigilance.

  The Blessed One, while at Rajagaha on Vulture Peak, led disciples to Paṭibhānakūṭa. There, a disciple pointed out a frightening chasm, prompting a discussion on a metaphorical chasm more daunting: ignorance of the true nature of suffering and its cessation. The Tathagata explained that misunderstanding the nature of suffering leads to mental formations that perpetuate birth, aging, death, and despair. Conversely, understanding these truths prevents the creation of such formations, freeing one from this cycle of suffering. The Tathagata emphasized the importance of recognizing and understanding the nature of suffering to achieve liberation.

   Rejecting Venerable Ānanda’s claim to easily understand dependent origination, the Tathagata presents a complex and demanding analysis, revealing hidden nuances and implications of this central teaching.

  The Tathagata teaches monks about dependent origination, explaining it as a sequence starting with ignorance and leading to suffering through various stages including formations, consciousness, name-and-form, the six sense bases, contact, feeling, craving, clinging, becoming, birth, and finally aging and death. Each stage is defined in detail, such as different types of becoming, clinging, and craving. The Tathagata emphasizes that understanding and ceasing ignorance can lead to the cessation of this entire process and thus end suffering.

  Intentions, plans, and latent tendencies sustain consciousness, leading to future existence and suffering, including birth, aging, and death. However, if one eliminates intentions, plans, and latent tendencies, consciousness does not continue, preventing future existence and the associated suffering. This cessation of consciousness halts the cycle of suffering.

  A desciple should thoroughly investigate the causes of suffering in accordance with dependent origination. If someone who still has ignorance makes a choice, their consciousness fares on to a suitable state of existence. But one who has eradicated ignorance is detached and is not reborn anywhere.

  The great discourse on the destruction of craving starts out describing how consciousness is dependently originated and how to bring about the cessation of craving. It then describes in detail the gradual path.

  The Tathāgata delivers a brief statement of the Four Noble Truths. Then Venerable Sāriputta expands upon it in detail, making this sutta one of the most complete teachings on the Four Noble Truths. Venerable Sāriputta shows how everything tied to the five aggregates is dukkha: The body is subject to birth, aging, and death. Pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral feelings are all impermanent. What we perceive changes over time. Awareness depends on external conditions and is not permanent. Venerable Sāriputta explains that The Root of Suffering is craving, the fuel for rebirth. The mind constantly grasps at things, creating attachment and suffering. Craving arises from ignorance—not understanding that everything is impermanent. Venerable Sāriputta describes Nibbāna as the complete cessation of craving. It is not a state of nothingness, but the freedom from all suffering and attachment. It is beyond birth and death—a state of peace and liberation. Nibbāna is not something one “attains” but the realization of the cessation of craving. Venerable Sāriputta breaks down each factor of the Eightfold Path, explaining how they work together. Right View: Understanding suffering, impermanence, and non-self. Right Intention: Developing renunciation, goodwill, and compassion. Right Speech, Action, and Livelihood: Establishing ethical conduct. Right Effort, Mindfulness, and Concentration: Training the mind to let go of craving.