In the Buddha’s WordsBhikkhu Bodhi · Anthology
Words of the Buddha
Read early Buddhist discourses in parallel Pāli and English — from memorable verses to the full Nikāyas.
Start here
Noble Truths, Noble PathBhikkhu Bodhi · Anthology
DhammapadaChapter 1 — Pairs · Audio
Reflection of the Day
“I do not see any other form that so completely obsesses a man’s mind as the form of a woman.”
— AN 1.1·
Recommended Read
Fire: Investigating Recurrent Experience
The Buddha cast his entire framework of liberation in the language of fire and its cessation. This essay traces that structure using what we now understand about how fire actually works.
Experience is examined starting with the texture of a single moment, to the cascade of experience, across the terrain where consciousness takes root, and to the extinguishing that is Nibbāna.
Read essay
📖
Parallel Texts
Read Pāli and English side-by-side or interleaved, with line-by-line fidelity to the source.
💬
Contextual Tooltips
Click any Pāli word or translated term for on-the-spot explanations that deepen understanding.
🔖
Bookmarks & Highlights
Save discourses and highlight key passages to build your personal collection of insights.
Explore the Collections
Browse the major texts of the Pāli Canon, with parallel Pāli and English on every page.
dn
Dīgha NikāyaLong DiscoursesNew translationwith 33 illustrations
mn
Majjhima NikāyaMiddle Length Discoursessn
Saṁyutta NikāyaConnected Discoursesan
Aṅguttara NikāyaNumerical Discoursessnp
Sutta NipātaThe Buddha's Ancient DiscoursesLatest Discourses
View all →The Buddha describes the three divine messengers that appear among human beings and what happens to those who do not heed their message.
Why do we ignore life’s ultimate wake-up calls? Through King Yama’s questioning of the deceased, the Buddha frames aging, sickness, and death as divine messengers, urging immediate spiritual urgency before the inescapable karmic consequences of negligence catch up with us.
Verses depicting a poetic duel between the wealthy cowherd Dhaniya and the Buddha. While Dhaniya boasts of his worldly security, family, and thriving herd, the Buddha counters with declarations of profound spiritual freedom.
The Buddha shares the importance of explaining correctly what is not the Dhamma, Vinaya, spoken or uttered, practiced, and prescribed by the Tathāgata.
The Buddha shares the importance of correctly explaining offenses and non-offenses, and the harm or benefit that comes from doing so.
Join r/WordsOfTheBuddha2,101 members
A daily learning feed of the Buddha's teachings — learn, reflect, and apply in practice.