The Buddha explains how even small attachments can be strong fetters if not relinquished, using similes of a quail and an elephant, and contrasts between the poor and wealthy. He describes four types of practitioners based on their response to attachment and mindfulness. The discourse also presents gradual refinement of meditative attainments from the first jhāna to the cessation of perception and what is felt.

After Prince Jayasena expresses disbelief about the possibility of attaining unification of mind, the Buddha explains why a life of sensual pleasure blinds one to spiritual truths using two vivid similes. He then uses an analogy of taming a wild elephant, showing how training and renunciation lead to true mastery.

The Buddha teaches about the person who has had “a single auspicious night”. One who neither revives the past nor places hope in the future, but diligently discerns present phenomena with insight—without taking them as self, and practices with urgency today without being carried away by presently arisen phenomena, that wise one is one who has had a single auspicious night.

A radiant deity tempts young Samiddhi to enjoy sensual pleasures. The Buddha later reveals that true liberation transcends identity and craving, and is only found by those who let go of even the need to describe themselves.

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 likens consciousness to a seed which is propagated by a sprinkling of delight. So long as passion for forms, felt experience, perception, and intentional constructs persists, consciousness takes root and grows. When delight in these ceases, its support ends; consciousness becomes unestablished and liberated—stable, content, and unshaken—having reached final Nibbāna.

The Buddha shares in poignant terms his observations on the agitation all beings experience which led to his urgency to awaken. He then shares on the path to awakening and describes the dwelling of an awakened being.

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.

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.

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 Buddha describes three things that lead to the decline of a trainee bhikkhu and three things that lead to non-decline.

The Buddha describes the five signs that appear when a deity is about to pass away, and the three blessings that the gods give to the deity.

The Buddha teaches that one could be far from him despite being physically close, and one could be near to him despite being physically far. When one sees the Dhamma, one sees the Buddha.

The Buddha instructs that one should examine experience in such a way that consciousness does not become scattered among external sense objects, fixated internally, or entangled through grasping.

The Buddha defines the perfected person as one who is virtuous in conduct, devoted to the cultivation of the seven sets of qualities that lead to awakening, and possessing wisdom of the end of suffering—complete in training and free from the mental defilements.

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.

So long as passion for forms, felt experience, perception, and intentional constructs persists, consciousness takes root and grows. When delight in these ceases, its support ends; consciousness becomes unestablished and liberated—stable, content, and unshaken—having reached final Nibbāna.

After recovering from a severe illness, the Buddha tells Ānanda that he holds no "teacher's closed fist" with regard to the Dhamma and instructs the bhikkhus to be an island unto themselves, with themselves and the Dhamma as their only refuge.

Verses depicting the path to liberation through the central metaphor of a serpent shedding its skin. Each stanza illustrates how a bhikkhu abandons defilements like anger, passion, craving, and conceit, thereby casting off attachment to this world and the next.

The Buddha refused Māgaṇḍiya’s offer of his daughter, rejecting worldly desires. He taught that true peace arises not from clinging to views, observances, or status, but from letting go of all attachments. Like a lotus unstained by water, the sage remains free, calm, and detached amidst the world.

The Buddha describes the conduct of a person who is said to be ‘peaceful’. Such a person is free from craving before the breakup of body. He is one who examines distinctions in all contacts, withdrawn, straightforward, unassuming, unmoved amid views, not holding to a construct, and for whom, there is no ‘mine’ in the world.

The Buddha answers the venerable Tissa Metteyya's questions about who is content in the world, who is not perturbed, and who has gone beyond the net of existence.

The Buddha answers the venerable Puṇṇaka’s questions about the sacrifices made by sages and brahmins, the nature of their desires, and who has truly crossed over birth and old age.

The venerable Mettagū asks the Blessed One about the origin of suffering and how the wise cross the flood of birth and sorrow. The Buddha shares a Dhamma that is directly visible, revealing that sufferings have acquisitions as their source and showing the path for the wise to reach the far shore, free from craving and untroubled.

The venerable Nanda asks: Is a sage defined by knowledge or by way of life? The Buddha replies that neither views nor observances lead to liberation. Only by abandoning all fixed ways and by completely comprehending craving does one cross over the flood.

The Buddha describes the four right strivings concisely and precisely.

A bhikkhu endures sharp, severe, and painful bodily feelings caused by the results of past actions, while remaining mindful and fully aware, untroubled by the experience.

When five hundred bhikkhus headed by the venerable Yasoja come to see the Buddha, they make a great commotion while preparing their lodgings. The Buddha dismisses them out of compassion, and later, they so dwell that the Buddha may be pleased with them. Living secluded, diligent, resolute, and with continuous effort, they all realize the three true knowledges during that very rainy season.

DhammaPada verses 197-208 describe the happiness of those who live without hatred, affliction, and anxiety. It includes poetic verses on happiness and Nibbāna, and emphasizes seeing, dwelling, and association with the wise, Noble Ones.

Dhammapada verses 290–305 share on the renunciation of lesser happiness for greater joy, mindfulness of the body, and applying effort to overcome defilements. Further, the verses highlight the harm of neglecting what should be done, consequence of imposing suffering on another, while praising recollection of the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha as well as the qualities of mindfulness, non-violence, and cultivation. The verses conclude with the benefits of solitude and the wilderness for those who are energetic and self-restrained.

Dhammapada verses 306–319 warn of the suffering that follows false speech, misconduct, and wrong view. The verses highlight the danger of negligence, hypocrisy, and slack effort in spiritual practice. Those who cultivate right view, ethical conduct, and firm effort attain a good destination, while those who embrace wrong views and harmful actions fall into misery.