Important Suttas Referenced:

   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.

   Both ordinary and awakened people experience the three feelings. The difference is that when an ordinary person is stricken with feeling, they react, creating more suffering, whereas an awakened person responds with equanimity.

   Venerable Kaccānagotta asks the Tathagata about right view, and the Tathagata answers that right view arises when one sees the origin and cessation of "The World", the Five Aggregates, and is free of clinging.

   For someone who has seen the truth, the suffering eliminated in future lives is like the great earth; what remains is like the dirt under a fingernail.

   The Tathagata gives a series of similes for the aggregates: physical form is like foam, feeling is like a bubble, perception is like a mirage, choices are like a coreless tree, and consciousness is like an illusion.

   The distinction between “five aggregates” and “five grasping aggregates”.

   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.

   A great mountain would erode before the end of the eon.

   A detailed analysis of several central themes, including sense perception, feeling, defilements, kamma, etc.

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

   An ignorant person might become free of attachment to their body, but not their mind. Still, it would be better to attach to the body, as it is less changeable than the mind, which jumps about like a discipleey.

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

   How consciousness, karma, and craving create and sustain future lives.

   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 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.

   One with faith in the teachings on the five aggregates is called a “follower by faith”, while someone with conceptual understanding is called a “follower of the teachings”. But someone who sees them directly is called a stream-enterer

   A noble disciple who is a layperson has eliminated the fear that comes from breaking precepts, possesses the four factors of stream-entry, and understands dependent origination.

   A householder who has eliminated the perils that come with breaking the five precepts, and possesses the four factors of stream-entry is freed from lower rebirths.

   For someone who has seen the truth, the suffering eliminated in future lives is like the great earth; what remains is like the dirt under a fingernail.

   Identity view arises due to grasping the process of sense experience.

   Expanding on the Tathagata’s first sermon, Venerable Sāriputta gives a detailed explanation of the four noble truths.

   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.

   Good conduct leads to non-regret, to joy, and so on all the way to liberation.

   The Tathagata encourages the desciples to live up to their name, by actually practicing in a way that meets or exceeds the expectations people have for renunciants.

   A wealthy man dies childless, having not enjoyed his riches. The Tathagata says that wealth should be properly enjoyed and shared.

  There are four qualities are desirable, agreeable, and pleasing but hard to obtain in the world. Accomplishment in faith, accomplishment in virtue, accomplishment in generosity, and accomplishment in wisdom.

   The Tathagata encounters a young man who honors his dead parents by performing rituals. The Tathagata recasts the meaningless rites in terms of virtuous conduct. This is the most detailed discourse on ethics for lay people.

   A virtuous person need not make a wish; it is natural for the path to flow on.

   Topics that are worthy regularly reflecting on, whether as a lay person or a disciple.

   Four areas where the Realized One has nothing to hide, and three ways he is irreproachable.

  The ten dhammas that protect one from suffering.

   The many different kinds of impurities that defile the mind are compared to a dirty cloth. When the mind is clean we find joy, which leads to states of higher consciousness. Finally, the Tathagata rejects the Brahmanical notion that purity comes from bathing in sacred rivers.

  The senses are like a snake, a crocodile, a bird, a dog, a jackal, and a monkey all tied up together, pulling in all directions towards their natural habitat. Mindfulness is like a post that keeps them grounded.

   The Tathagata defines the four kinds of “food” or “nutriment”, which include edible food, contact, intention, and consciousness. He illustrates them with a series of powerful and horrifying similes.

   Mahāpajāpatī wishes to go on retreat, so the Tathagata teaches her eight principles that summarize the Dhamma in brief.

  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 causes for the origination and cessation of the phenomena upon which the four kinds of mindfulness practice are grounded.

  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 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 parable of the cook. The cook prepares different kinds of dishes for the king and keeps track and observes which ones the king likes at different times and on different occasions. In the same way, a disciple observes what the mind needs at that time and gives it an appropriate practice.

  The Tathagata describes five different approaches for letting go of unwholesome thoughts. Moving attention to a wholesome thought, seeing the danger in the thought, forgetting the thought, calming the thought or abandoning it through force.

   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.

  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.

   Five perceptions that train a desciple to shift their perception at will.

   The Tathagata tells Rāhula to contemplate on not-self, which he immediately puts into practice. Seeing him, Venerable Sāriputta advises him to develop mindfulness of breath, but the Tathagata suggests a wide range of different practices first.

   Sāriputta gives an elaborate demonstration of how, just as any footprint can fit inside an elephant’s, all the Tathagata’s teaching can fit inside the four noble truths. This offers an overall template for organizing the Tathagata’s teachings.

   Many of those who practice mindfulness of death don’t do so urgently enough. Death might come to us at any moment.

   A method for recollecting one’s own death that leads to urgency, diligence, and joy.

   The endeavors to restrain, to give up, to develop, and to preserve.

   The six recollections are a way to escape from greed.

   Supported by five factors, one who practices mindfulness of breathing will soon realize the unshakable.

   When the Tathagata asks about the topics for recollection, a disciple reveals his ignorance. Ānanda then gives an unusual list of five recollections, which the Tathagata supplements with a sixth.

   A desciple plagued by bad thoughts is encouraged by a deity.

  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.

  Contemplating the seven perceptions leads to the deathless.

   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 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.

   The Tathagata explains to a desciple that ignorance is not knowing the Five Aggregates in terms of arising and passing away.

   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 Tathagata discusses with a wanderer the nature of perception and how it evolves through deeper states of meditation. None of these, however, should be identified with a self or soul.

   The disciple Girimānanda is sick. The Tathagata encourages Ānanda to visit him and teach him the ten perceptions.

   The Tathagata gives a series of similes for the aggregates: physical form is like foam, feeling is like a bubble, perception is like a mirage, choices are like a coreless tree, and consciousness is like an illusion.

   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 Tathagata gives a detailed explanation of each of the five faculties.

  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.

   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.

   Even though ignorance has no discernible first point, it still has a cause.

   Just as the body depends on food, the awakening factors depend on nutriment. The Tathagata gives specific conditions for each of the factors.

   Here the awakening factors are described in the context of hearing the teachings and reflecting on them. This leads to full enlightenment, or at least to some lesser attainment.

   The various awakening factors can be donned at different times of the day, like a man who puts on bright colored clothes whenever he wants.

  The awakening factors lead to the ending of craving.

   The Tathagata spells out in detail the factors that nourish the hindrances, and those that nourish the awakening factors.

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

   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 hindrances are like the corruptions in gold.

   Mindfulness of the breath is very beneficial. It is developed together with the seven factors of awakening.

   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.

   Answering Ānanda, the Tathagata explains how one thing fulfills four things, four things fulfill seven things, and seven things fulfill two things.

   The Tathagata discusses with a wanderer the nature of perception and how it evolves through deeper states of meditation. None of these, however, should be identified with a self or soul.

   Asked by a householder to teach a path to freedom, Venerable Ānanda explains no less than eleven states of abiding that may serve as doors to the deathless.

   Moggallāna reflects that second absorption is the true noble silence, and the Tathagata encourages him to develop it.

   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 Tathagata teaches the development of the noble five-factored right concentration.

   When the Tathagata asks about the topics for recollection, a disciple reveals his ignorance. Ānanda then gives an unusual list of five recollections, which the Tathagata supplements with a sixth.

  The Tathagata compares the factors of the practice to a well-fortified fortress that can’t be brought down by external foes or untrustworthy allies.

   The ending of defilements happens due to the practice of concentration.

   At Udāyī’s request, Ānanda explains an obscure verse spoken (in SN 2.7) by a deity. The nine progressive meditations are the escape from confinement.

  The 10 Thorns that prevent a disciple from a peaceful abiding.

  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 deciple wonders how there can be three kinds of feeling, yet all of them are suffering.

   The Tathagata gives a detailed explanation of each of the five faculties.

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

   Before his awakening, the Tathagata reflected on the path for developing the bases of psychic power.

   When the Tathagata asks about the topics for recollection, a disciple reveals his ignorance. Ānanda then gives an unusual list of five recollections, which the Tathagata supplements with a sixth.

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

  The Unconditioned and the path 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.

  A desciple should develop concentration in order to truly understand the origin and ending of the five aggregates.

   Consciousness stands dependent on the other four aggregates, and this attachment is what fuels the cycle of rebirth.

   On a sabbath day with the Sangha at Sāvatthi, the Tathagata answers a series of ten questions on the aggregates.

   The Tathagata teaches how to abide and dwell in deeper and deeper levels of concentration, showing how insight on this basis leads to the detaching of consciousness from any form of rebirth.

   The “all” consisting of the six interior and exterior sense fields is burning. This is the famous “third sermon” taught at Gayā’s Head to the followers of the three Kassapa brothers.

   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.

   Hearing that a newly-ordained desciple was sick, the Tathagata visited him to offer support and Dhamma encouragement.

   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 Tathagata takes the desciples to a steep precipice, and points out that those who do not understand the four noble truths fall into a still deeper precipice.

   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 gives definitions for each of the twelve links. These are general definitions that apply wherever the twelve links are mentioned.

   Intentions or choices are the force that propels consciousness from one life to the next.

  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.

   Expanding on the Tathagata’s first sermon, Venerable Sāriputta gives a detailed explanation of the four noble truths.