The Buddha expounds the noble right collectedness complete with its supporting conditions, clarifying how the factors of the noble eightfold path give rise to either mundane or supramundane fruits. He shows how right view leads to the sequential development of the path, culminating in right knowledge and right liberation.

The Buddha details a comprehensive training in mindfulness of the body—from breath and postures to anatomical reflection and charnel-ground contemplations. He explains how this cultivation steadies the mind and leads to ten benefits culminating in the four jhānas and final liberation.

When the Buddha fails to achieve reconciliation among quarrelsome bhikkhus at Kosambi, he withdraws into solitude and later encounters an inspiring community of monks devoted to liberation. He teaches them the path of inner purification based on his own practice prior to full awakening—discerning and abandoning eleven subtle impurities of mind, developing collectedness in three ways, and realizing unshakable liberation.

Using the role of food as nutriment that sustains and endures the body, the Buddha describes the nutriments for the arising and growth of the five hindrances and the seven factors of awakening.

The Buddha describes four benefits of deeply internalizing the Dhamma. Even if one dies muddle-minded, they are reborn among the deities, where hearing the Dhamma again and recollecting their past spiritual practice enables them to swiftly reach distinction.

The Buddha describes the four establishments of mindfulness to be cultivated in detail, namely - mindfulness of the body, mindfulness of the felt experience, mindfulness of the mind, and mindfulness of the mental qualities.

The Dhamma can be like a snake that bites if grasped wrongly. This discourse tackles the danger of misinterpretation, sparked by a bhikkhu who claimed sensual pleasures weren't obstructions. The Buddha warns that a “wrong grasp” of the teachings leads to harm, while the right grasp leads to liberation. The ultimate goal is to use the teachings like a raft to cross over, letting go of all views—especially the view of a permanent self—to end suffering.

The Buddha explains which factors of awakening are suitable to cultivate when the mind is sluggish or restless, using a metaphor of tending a fire.

A systematic listing of the thirty-two constituents of the body categorized into solid and liquid elements. This contemplation deconstructs the physical form from external features like hair and skin to internal organs and fluids to sever attachment to physical form.

Dissatisfied with unanswered questions, the venerable Mālukyaputta demands explanations about the world, life force, and what happens to a realized one after death. The Buddha replies with a simile of a man struck by a poisoned arrow who refuses treatment until every trivial detail about the arrow and the archer is explained. Such delay would inevitably lead to death. Likewise, speculative views do not bring freedom from suffering.

The Buddha explains how to cultivate recollection of death so that it is of great fruit and great benefit, and leads to the deathless.

When asked about the state of peace and the way of practice to reach it, the Buddha describes this state as being steady and unruffled, like the middle of the ocean where no wave arises. He then shares the way of practice to achieve it without delay: guarding the senses, letting go of indulgence, to be a meditator who cultivates wakefulness, and through investigation, abandoning a host of unwholesome qualities.

Venerable Sāriputta inquires of the Buddha about how a bhikkhu dwelling in solitude should deal with various challenges and cultivate the path. The Buddha delivers a complete guide for dispelling the darkness, moving from withstanding hardships to dispelling ‘distressing thoughts’ and ultimately purifying the mind from the ‘five kinds of dust.’

The Buddha explains how to completely comprehend the gratification, drawback, and escape in the case of sensual pleasures, form, and felt experience.

On being asked about his teaching and what he proclaims, the Buddha describes non-conflict as the goal of his teaching and proclaims a state where perceptions do not lead to preoccupation. Venerable Mahākaccāna elaborates on this by thoroughly examining the dependent arising of phenomena, beginning with the six sense bases—eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind.

A series of questions and answers between Venerable Sāriputta and Venerable Mahākoṭṭhika that clarify subtle yet important aspects of the teachings. Topics covered include wisdom, consciousness, felt experience, perception, purified mind-consciousness, right view, existence, first jhāna, the five faculties, vital formations, and the release of the mind.

A series of questions and answers between the lay follower Visākha and bhikkhunī Dhammadinnā that clarify subtle yet important aspects of the teachings. Topics covered include personal existence, Noble Eightfold Path, intentional constructs, attainment of cessation of perception and what is felt, felt experience, underlying tendencies and various counterparts.

The Buddha teaches in detail how to develop mindfulness while breathing in and out through sixteen naturally unfolding steps, showing how their cultivation fulfills the four establishments of mindfulness, which in turn fulfill the seven factors of awakening, culminating in true knowledge and liberation.

The Buddha provides a detailed analysis of the six sense bases, differentiating worldly feelings based on attachment from those born of renunciation and insight. He outlines a progressive path of abandoning lower states for higher ones, guiding practitioners through refined meditative states toward complete liberation.

In a chance meeting, the Buddha, unrecognized by the bhikkhu Pukkusāti, teaches him to deconstruct experience into six elements, six fields of contact, eighteen mental explorations, and four foundations. He further reveals that all notions of self—such as “I am this” or “I will be that”—are mere conceptions, inherently afflictive, and the peace of Nibbāna is realized by overcoming all conceptual proliferations.

A bhikkhu endowed with two qualities of being moved on occasions that inspire a sense of urgency and by wisely striving when aroused with urgency, dwells in the here and now with abundant ease and joy, and his mind is directed towards the wearing away of the mental defilements.

The Blessed One explains the two thoughts that frequently arise in him - the thought of safety for beings and the thought of seclusion.

The Buddha advises to 1) dwell contemplating the unattractive nature of the body, 2) establish mindfulness as the first priority while breathing in and out, and 3) observe impermanence in all conditioned phenomena.

The three unwholesome thoughts are blinding, produce lack of clarity, cause ignorance, obstruct wisdom, and are troublesome and not conducive to Nibbāna. The three wholesome thoughts give sight, produce clarity and create insight, grow wisdom, and are trouble-free and conducive to Nibbāna.

The Buddha describes the subsequent training guideline to virtuous conduct - to practice being free of the unwholesome states craving, ill will, dullness and drowsiness, restlessness and worry, and doubt while walking, standing, sitting, and lying down.

Household Anāthapiṇḍika, after passing away, appears as a young deity and recites verses to the Buddha on the value of thoroughly examining the Dhamma.

The Buddha recounts how he attained full awakening by examining the principle of dependent co-arising. He likens this realization to a man discovering an ancient, forgotten city.

A bhikkhu asks the Buddha if there exists any form, feeling, perception, intentional constructs, or consciousness that is stable, enduring, and not subject to change.

The Buddha presents a simile of the nāgās, serpent beings, who rely on the Himalayas to nurture their bodies and acquire strength before entering the ocean, as a metaphor for the bhikkhu cultivating the seven factors of awakening to attain greatness and expansiveness of mental qualities.

Venerable Sāriputta explains how he can dwell in any of the seven factors of awakening at will, knowing their qualities and conditions. He likens this mastery to a king or royal minister freely choosing garments from a wardrobe for morning, midday, or evening wear.

When a bhikkhu asks the Buddha why the factors of awakening are called so, the Buddha gives a simple and direct answer, ‘since they lead to awakening.’

When the venerable Mahākassapa falls gravely ill, the Buddha visits him and teaches him about the seven factors of awakening. This inspired the venerable Mahākassapa to a swift recovery from his illness.

The Buddha explains how frequently paying attention to certain things can lead to the arising and expansion of hindrances and awakening factors.

The Buddha describes the nutriments for the sustenance of the five hindrances and the seven factors of awakening.

An analysis of the four bases of psychic powers that are endowed with collectedness arising from aspiration, determination, purification of mind, and investigation.

The Buddha’s serene conduct on an alms round catches the attention of King Bimbisāra. In the ensuing encounter, the king offers him wealth and royal pleasures, but the Buddha shares his insight on the drawbacks in sensual pleasures, his view of renunciation as security and where his mind delights in.

The venerable Nandaka teaches Sāḷha and his friend about how to independently verify the unwholesome and wholesome mental qualities.

What gives rise to kamma? The Buddha explains that the roots of kamma lie in how one relates to the past, future, and present. Through repeated reflections and mental re-examination, desire springs up and binds one to objects of attachment. But when one sees the consequences of those things clearly, one instead turns away from them, leading to kamma arising from complete penetration and wisdom.

The Buddha outlines the four right strivings: striving for restraint, striving to abandon, striving to cultivate, and striving to protect.

Dhammapada verses 221-234 emphasize abandoning anger, conceit, and mental defilements while cultivating restraint in body, speech, and mind. The verses highlight overcoming harmful actions by giving and speaking truth, the inevitability of criticism, and the value of moral discipline. Those intent on Nibbāna, ever watchful, and well-restrained are beyond reproach and honored even by the gods.

Dhammapada verses 360–382 depict the ideal bhikkhu as one who restrains the senses, body, speech, and mind, leading to freedom from suffering. Emphasis is placed on mindfulness, inner joy, collectedness, and self-reliance. Through discipline and reflection, the bhikkhu advances towards the peace of Nibbāna, shining like the moon freed from clouds.