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 venerable Ānanda inquires about the Buddha’s frequent abiding in emptiness, the Blessed One describes a gradual progression of abidings in ever-stiller perceptions, each seen as empty of what is absent while discerning what still remains, culminating in the unsurpassed abiding in emptiness.

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.

The Buddha describes seven kinds of persons and likens them to those in water — from those submerged in unwholesomeness to those who cross over fully. They represent the stages from spiritual stagnation to full awakening, including stream-enterers, once-returners, non-returners, and arahants.

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 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 describes the six releases of mind, through 1) loving-kindness, 2) compassion, 3) appreciative joy, 4) equanimity, 5) the signless, and 6) the uprooting of the conceit “I am" - that assuredly lead to freedom from 1) ill will, 2) cruelty, 3) dissatisfaction, 4) passion, 5) following after signs, and 6) the conceit “I am" when cultivated and frequently practiced to fulfillment.

When the venerable Meghiya seeks solitude for meditation before his mind is mature, unwholesome thoughts arise and disturb him. Returning to the Buddha, he learns of five conditions that lead to the ripening of the undeveloped mind, beginning with good friendship.

The Buddha explains the five lower fetters and the way of practice for abandoning them.

When the venerable Nanda is dissatisfied with the spiritual life due to thoughts of a beautiful woman, the Buddha takes him to the realm of the gods and shows him celestial nymphs far more beautiful. Delighted, Nanda consents to continue leading the spiritual life, but is soon mocked by his companions as a ‘wage labourer’ and a ‘bought man.’ Stung by shame, he turns to earnest practice, and before long realizes the perfection of the spiritual life.

Should one aspire for the higher spiritual attainments, one should practice fully in virtue, be devoted to tranquility of mind, not neglect meditation, be endowed with discernment, and practice in an empty dwelling.

The Buddha distinguishes pleasant abidings in the here and now from the way of effacement leading upwards to complete quenching. Effacement is shown as the gradual chipping away of defilements through restraint, cultivation of the noble eightfold path, and diligent training, culminating in the complete freedom of Nibbāna.

Using the simile of an elephant’s footprint, the Buddha illustrates how confidence in him develops gradually through practice. A noble disciple trains in conduct, sense restraint, contentment, and mindfulness, progressing through the jhānas. Unshakable confidence in the Buddha, Dhamma, and Saṅgha arises through direct knowledge and liberation.

In the Gosiṅga Sal wood park, Sāriputta asks several elder disciples what kind of monk illuminates the place. Each answers based on their personal strength — learning, seclusion, divine eye, asceticism, Dhamma dialogue and mastery over mind. They present their answers to the Buddha, who affirms that all have spoken well and then shares his own answer.

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.

The Buddha uses similes to illustrate the benefits of developing loving-kindess. The liberation of mind by loving-kindness surpasses all other forms of merit-making associated with acquisitions by far.

The Blessed One explains the two principles of explaining the Dhamma - 1) ‘See harm as harm’ and 2) ‘Having seen harm as harm, become disenchanted with it, become detached from it, and be released from it.’

The Buddha describes the distinction between the two Nibbāna elements - 1) one with fuel remaining pertaining to this life, and 2) one without fuel remaining and of relevance to the hereafter.

The Buddha advises to live with training as the benefit, wisdom as the north star, liberation as the essence, ruled by mindfulness.

The Buddha describes the three mental faculties - 1) the faculty that senses ‘I will know the unknown,’ 2) the faculty of awakening, and 3) the faculty of one who is awakened.

The Buddha describes three occasions when divine sounds arise among the gods.

When one knows and sees the four noble truths, there is the wearing away of the taints.

The Buddha describes the benefits of associating with bhikkhus who are accomplished in virtue, collectedness, wisdom, liberation, and the knowledge and vision of liberation.

The Buddha describes how the spiritual life is lived in mutual dependence between monastics and householders for the sake of crossing over the flood and for the complete end of suffering.

The Buddha explains why he is called the Tathāgata, the one who has perfectly understood the world, its arising, cessation, and the way of practice leading to its cessation.

The Buddha reflects on who he should honor and respect after his full awakening. Brahmā Sahampati encourages him to honor and respect the Dhamma.

The Buddha contrasts the body’s visible decay with the mind’s instability, which is clung to as ‘self’, comparing it to a restless monkey jumping between branches. He teaches that wisdom arises from understanding the full twelve-link chain of dependent co-arising, which explains the origin and cessation of all suffering.

The Buddha explains that while one can become detached from the decaying body, it is harder to detach from the mind, which is far more fleeting. He illustrates the principle of dependent co-arising with a specific example—just as fire arises from rubbing two sticks together and ceases when they are separated, so too feeling arises from contact and ceases with the cessation of contact.

Beings are infatuated with the four great elements because of the gratification found in them, become disenchanted with them because of the drawbacks found in them, and escape from them because there is an escape.

The Buddha explains how even for an arahant, acquisitions, respect, and popularity are an obstacle to the attainment of pleasant abidings in this very life.

What is the burden and who bears it, what is the taking up of the burden and the putting down of it.

Only after fully understanding the gratification, drawback, and escape in the case of form, felt experience, perception, intentional constructs, and consciousness, the Buddha declared that he had attained the unsurpassed perfect awakening.

When one practices in accordance with the Dhamma, disenchantment naturally arises toward the five aggregates subject to clinging. Through this disenchantment, one completely comprehends them; through complete comprehension, one is fully liberated from all forms of suffering.

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 examining the impermanence, unsatisfactoriness, and the changing nature of the five aggregates, the Buddha teaches how to see them with proper wisdom, as not being suitable to identify with.

The Buddha explains that those recollecting past lives are merely recalling one or more of the five aggregates. He defines each aggregate and shows how a noble disciple sees them as impermanent, dissatisfactory, and not suitable to identify with, leading to disenchantment, dispassion, and liberation.

When the wanderer Kuṇḍaliya asks the Buddha about the purpose of his living the spiritual life, the Buddha describes a gradual path, beginning with sense restraint and leading to the experience of the fruit of true knowledge and liberation.

Verses depicting the uncertain, brief, and suffering-laden nature of mortal life, emphasizing the inevitability of death for all beings, like ripe fruits fated to fall. The Buddha counsels against futile grief and lamentation over the departed, urging the wise to understand the world’s relentless course of decay and death.

The Buddha explains what causes the hindrances to arise and how to abandon them.

Short teachings on the benefits of cultivating mindfulness of the body.

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

Before his awakening, the Bodhisatta reflected on the gratification in the world, the drawback in the world, and the escape from it.

Beings are infatuated with the world because of the gratification found in it, become disenchanted with it because of the drawback, and escape from it because there is an escape.

The Buddha explains how misunderstanding and not penetrating four principles - 1) ethical conduct, 2) collectedness, 3) wisdom, and 4) liberation - has led to wandering on in cyclic existence for a long time.

The Buddha reflects on who he should honor and respect after his full awakening. Brahmā Sahampati encourages him to honor and respect the Dhamma.

Approaching wrongness leads to failure, not success. Approaching rightness leads to success, not failure.

Upon learning that he was not awakened, Bāhiya travels a great distance to seek the Buddha. Upon arriving, he sees the Buddha on alms round and begs for urgent instruction despite the hour. The Buddha gives him a terse training to see only the seen, heard, sensed, and cognized—without clinging. Bāhiya realizes the Dhamma immediately, only to be killed by a charging cow shortly after. The Buddha declares his attainment and honors him.

After the serpent king Mucalinda stands guard over the Buddha during a rainstorm, the Buddha utters a verse on the happiness found in seclusion, harmlessness toward living beings, the transcendence of sensual desire, and the relinquishment of the conceit ‘I am.’

After his full awakening, the Buddha surveys the world, seeing beings aflame with passion, aversion, and delusion. He reflects on the nature of the world and the suffering inherent in existence. By seeing the world as it truly is, he points to the path of liberation.

The Buddha sits silently among the Saṅgha of bhikkhus on an Uposatha night when the assembly wasn’t pure. Afterwards, the Buddha explains the eight wonderful and marvelous qualities of the Dhamma and Vinaya, likening them to similarly wonderful qualities of the great ocean.

DhammaPada verses 21-32 share the distinct path and outcomes of diligence and negligence. On seeing this clearly, the wise guard diligence like the most important wealth. One devoted to diligence burns away all fetters, is incapable of decline, and is near to Nibbāna.

Dhammapada verses 90-99 describe the qualities and conduct of the Arahant, a fully awakened being who has reached the end of the path. Free from defilements and clinging, their actions leave no trace, like birds in the sky. At peace and delighting in solitude, wherever they dwell becomes a place of beauty.

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.