Words of the Buddha

Read early Buddhist discourses in parallel Pāli and English — from memorable verses to the full Nikāyas.

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·

The Magdalen with the Smoking Flame
Recommended Read

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

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Parallel Texts

Read Pāli and English side-by-side or interleaved, with line-by-line fidelity to the source.

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Contextual Tooltips

Click any Pāli word or translated term for on-the-spot explanations that deepen understanding.

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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.

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DhammapadaThe Path of Dhamma
The Path of Dhamma — Dhammapada
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ItivuttakaAs It Was Said
As It Was Said — Itivuttaka
New translation
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UdānaInspired Utterances
Inspired Utterances — Udāna
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Dīgha NikāyaLong Discourses
Long Discourses — Dīgha Nikāya
New translationwith 33 illustrations
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Majjhima NikāyaMiddle Length Discourses
Middle Length Discourses — Majjhima Nikāya
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Saṁyutta NikāyaConnected Discourses
Connected Discourses — Saṁyutta Nikāya
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Aṅguttara NikāyaNumerical Discourses
Numerical Discourses — Aṅguttara Nikāya
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Sutta NipātaThe Buddha's Ancient Discourses
The Buddha's Ancient Discourses — Sutta Nipāta
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KhuddakapāṭhaMinor Passages
Minor Passages — Khuddakapāṭha

Latest Discourses

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SN 47.42 Samudaya sutta - ArisingNew

The Buddha teaches the arising and passing away of the four establishments of mindfulness: the body with nutriment, felt experience with contact, the mind with name and form, and mental qualities with the steering of attention.

Added September 3, 2026

PTS 5.184

SN 44.10 Ānanda sutta - With ĀnandaNew

The Buddha meets Vacchagotta’s question about the self with silence, explaining to Ānanda that answering would endorse eternalism or annihilationism, and only deepen Vacchagotta’s confusion about the nature of not-self.

Added September 3, 2026

PTS 4.400

SN 36.3 Pahāna sutta - AbandoningNew

Not discerning feeling leads to underlying tendencies to desire, aversion, and ignorance.

Added September 3, 2026

PTS 4.205

SN 22.100 Dutiya gaddulabaddha sutta - Tied with a Leash (Second)New

Cyclic existence is without a conceivable beginning. Like a dog tied to a post, the uninstructed person stays bound to the five aggregates. The mind is more diverse than any picture or than the animal realm; like a painter, one produces only the aggregates. Seeing them as they truly are, there is no more coming to any state of existence.

Added September 3, 2026

PTS 3.151

AN 1.1-10 Cittapariyādāna vagga - The Chapter on the Obsession of the MindNew

The Buddha explains how the mind can be obsessed by the senses.

Added September 3, 2026

PTS 1.1–1.2
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