Majjhima Nikāya

  The Tathagata gives an exposition on the root of all suffering: the attachment to being and the self-views that arise from taking on a body as a being separate from the world. A liberated person, on the other hand, has destroyed the craving for being, let go of greed, aversion, delusion, and any sense of self, and has fully awakened to unsurpassed, perfect enlightenment.

  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.

   According to the Tathagata, careful observance of ethical precepts is the foundation of all higher achievements in the spiritual life.

   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.

   Venerable Sāriputta gives a detailed explanation of right view, the first factor of the noble eightfold path. At the prompting of the other desciples, he approaches the topic from a wide range of perspectives.

  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 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 disrobed disciple, Sunakkhatta, attacks the Tathagata’s teaching because it merely leads to the end of suffering. The Tathagata counters that this is, in fact, praise, and goes on to enumerate his many profound and powerful achievements.

   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 lay person is puzzled at how, despite their long practice, they still have greedy or hateful thoughts. The Tathagata explains the importance of absorption meditation for letting go such attachments. But he also criticizes self-mortification, and recounts a previous dialog with Jain ascetics.

  Venerable Moggallāna raises the topic of admonishment, without which healthy community is not possible. He lists a number of qualities that will encourage others to think it worthwhile to admonish you in a constructive way.

   Challenged by a brahmin, the Tathagata gives an enigmatic response on how conflict arises due to proliferation based on perceptions. Venerable Kaccāna draws out the detailed implications of this in one of the most insightful passages in the entire canon.

  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 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.

   A discourse full of vibrant and memorable similes, on the importance of patience and love even when faced with abuse and criticism. The Tathagata finishes with the simile of the saw, one of the most memorable similes found in the discourses.

   One of the disciples denies that prohibited conduct is really a problem. The disciples and then the Tathagata subject him to an impressive dressing down. The Tathagata compares someone who understands only the letter of the teachings to someone who grabs a snake by the tail, and also invokes the famous simile of the raft.

   Venerable Sāriputta seeks a dialog with an esteemed disciple, Venerable Puṇṇa Mantāniputta, and they discuss the stages of purification.

   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.

   The Tathagata cautions against swift conclusions about a teacher’s spiritual accomplishments, comparing it to the care a tracker would use when tracking elephants. He presents the full training of a monastic.

   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.

   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.

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

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

   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.

   When Potaliya got upset at being referred to as “householder”, the Tathagata quizzed him as to the true nature of attachment and renunciation.

   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.

   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.

   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.

   Again raising the rule regarding eating, but this time as a reflection of gratitude for the Tathagata in eliminating things that cause complexity and stress. The Tathagata emphasizes how attachment even to little things can be dangerous.

   A third discourse that presents the health benefits of eating in one part of the day, and the reluctance of some deciples to follow this.

   Unlike many teachers, the Tathagata’s followers treat him with genuine love and respect, since they see the sincerity of his teaching and practice.

   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 reputed brahmin Caṅkī goes with a large group to visit the Tathagata, despite the reservations of other brahmins. A precocious student challenges the Tathagata, affirming the validity of the Vedic scriptures. The Tathagata gives a detailed explanation of how true understanding gradually emerges through spiritual education.

   Not all of those who claim to be awakened are genuine. The Tathagata teaches how true spiritual progress depends on an irreversible letting go of the forces that lead to suffering.

   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 Tathagata compares the training of an accountant with the step by step spiritual path of his followers. But even with such a well explained path, the Tathagata can only show the way, and it is up to us to walk it.

  Amid rising military tensions after the Tathagata’s death, Venerable Ānanda is questioned about how the Saṅgha planned to continue in their teacher’s absence. As the Tathagata refused to appoint a successor, the teaching and practice that he laid down become the teacher, and the Saṅgha resolves issues by consensus.

  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.

   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.

   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 covers the first foundation of mindfulness, mindfulness of the body and all the different practices.

   The Tathagata describes his own practice of the meditation on emptiness.

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

   A young disciple is unable to persuade a prince of the blessings of peace of mind. The Tathagata offers similes based on training an elephant that would have been successful, as this was a field the prince was familiar with.

   A lay person becomes confused when encouraged to develop the “limitless” and “expansive” liberations, and asks Venerable Anuruddha to explain whether they are the same or different.

   A second discourse set at the quarrel of Kosambi, this depicts the Tathagata, having failed to achieve reconciliation between the disputing desciples, leaving the monastery. He spends time in the wilderness before encountering an inspiring community of practicing disciples. There he discusses in detail obstacles to practice that he encountered before awakening.

   This discourse opens with a short but powerful set of verses extolling the benefits of insight into the here and now, followed by an explanation.

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

   A detailed analysis of the six senses and the relation to emotional and cognitive processes.

   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.

   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.

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

   The disciple Channa is suffering a painful terminal illness and wishes to take his own life.

  The Tathagata takes Rāhula with him to a secluded spot in order to lead him on to liberation.

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

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

   In discussion with a group of householders, the Tathagata helps them to distinguish those spiritual practitioners who are truly worthy of respect.