DhammaPada verses 60-75 describe the traits and consequences for an immature person. They suffer from delusion, cling to false views of self and possessions, perform harmful actions, seek status without wisdom, and long for recognition. In contrast, the wise avoid their company and pursue seclusion and true understanding of the Dhamma.

DhammaPada verses 209–220 explore the danger of attachment to what is pleasing, how sorrow and fear arise from the beloved, fondness, delight, sensual pleasures, and craving, who is dear to the people, who flows upstream, and on the importance of merit.

Dhammapada verses 256-272 emphasize the qualities that define true wisdom, nobility, and spiritual attainment. These verses critique superficial markers such as age, outward appearance, or rituals. The chapter underscores the importance of avoiding harm, evaluating actions with discernment, and not resting content until there is the complete elimination of mental defilements.

Dhammapada verses 273–289 emphasize the eightfold path as the foremost way to liberation, seeing the impermanent, unsatisfactory, and not-self nature of all things. Further, the verses mention the relation of meditation and wisdom, They mention restraint, how wisdom through meditation, on cutting off the forest as well as the undergrowth, and making swift effort to purify by the way of practice leading to Nibbāna.

Dhammapada verses 334–359 depict craving as a binding force, likening it to a creeping vine, a trapped hare, and a spider’s web. The wise cut these bonds, free from passion, aversion, illusion, and longing, crossing beyond birth and aging. The highest gift is the Dhamma, surpassing all wealth and pleasures, and the destruction of craving is the greatest victory. Offerings to those free from defilements bear the greatest fruit.

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.

The Buddha describes the fetter of craving as the most significant bond, bound by which, beings continue wandering on in cyclic existence.

Ignorance is the forerunner in the arising of unwholesome qualities, and wisdom is the forerunner in the arising of wholesome qualities.

The Buddha describes the three kinds of craving - 1) craving for sensual pleasures, 2) craving for becoming, and 3) craving for non-becoming.

Beings come together and associate with other beings according to their disposition. Therefore, one should avoid associating with those that are lazy and keep company with the wise.

The Buddha explains how the livelihood of subsisting on alms, although an extreme of livelihoods, is a sensible choice for those who hope to discern a complete end to the entire mass of suffering.

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 describes the four uprisings of craving that can arise in a bhikkhu - 1) for a robe, 2) alms food, 3) lodging, and 4) for this or that state of existence.

The Buddha uses the simile of a person being carried down by a lovely and alluring river current to illustrate the painful results of craving and indulgence in the internal sense bases.

The Buddha explains to the brahmin Jāṇussoṇi how he overcame fright and dread while practicing seclusion in remote lodgings in the forests and woodlands, leading to the three true knowledges and full awakening.

The Buddha uses the simile of a defiled cloth to explain how the mind can be similarly defiled by various impurities, and how it can be purified by abandoning them. And it is through this very practice that one arrives at unshakeable faith in the Buddha, the Dhamma, and the Saṅgha. The Buddha also addresses a brahmin in verses who believes in purification by bathing in river.

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.

The Buddha outlines an approach to cross-examine other sects and their doctrines, and how to distinguish between the true Dhamma and the false Dhamma through the comprehension of the four kinds of clinging.

A lay disciple asks the Buddha why greed, aversion, and delusion still occupy and remain in his mind. The Buddha explains the importance of cultivating discernment of the gratification, drawback, and escape in the case of sensual pleasures along with cultivating the joy and happiness apart from sensual pleasures. He then recounts a conversation with the Nigaṇṭhas on this topic.

The Buddha explains the difference between cultivation and lack of cultivation with regard to body and mind, and recounts his own journey to full awakening.

The Buddha explains to the brahmin householders of Sālā the causes of rebirth in states of loss or in good destinations, emphasizing the importance of ethical and wholesome conduct. He outlines ten kinds of misconduct and ten kinds of wholesome conduct, illustrating how these actions lead to different outcomes after death.

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 feeling, felt experience, underlying tendencies and various counterparts.

Prompted by a misquotation of the Buddha regarding mental versus physical and verbal actions, the Buddha clarifies the nature of kamma and its results. He explains, through a framework of four paradoxical cases, how actions may lead to unexpected outcomes based on prior deeds or conditions at death.

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 affirms the Four Noble Truths as the core of his teaching and praises venerable Sāriputta’s deep understanding of them, who then expounds the truths, detailing suffering in all its forms, the arising of suffering rooted in craving, the end of suffering, and the Noble Eightfold Path as the way of practice leading to the end suffering.

The Buddha recounts his striving and meditation under the Nerañjarā river, where he was approached by Māra. The Buddha rejects Māra's temptations and describes the qualities of a true practitioner who conquers Māra's army.

In this teaching, the Buddha succinctly shares the allure and the drawbacks of desiring sensual pleasures.

The Buddha answers step-by-step to a series of questions starting with the source of quarrels and disputes, followed by the arising of various things such as hopes, aims, desires, possessions; leading all the way to the description of the ultimate purity of the spirit.

Among those entrenched in views, arguing “This alone is truth,” the Buddha calls praise won by such to be a small matter. Seeing safety in the ground of non-dispute, the wise do not seek purity by precepts and vows or by what is seen, heard, or sensed. The sage ends craving for various states of existence and stands equanimous.

Ajita asks the Buddha a series of questions about the nature of the world, the currents of defilements, how to overcome name and form and the conduct of those who have comprehended the Dhamma.

A deity asks the Buddha how the complexion of those dwelling in the wilderness and living the spiritual life becomes serene.

A deity asks the Buddha what gives rise to a person, what does he have that wanders about, what experiences cyclic existence, and what is this person‘s great fear.

A deity asks the Buddha what gives rise to a person, what does he have that wanders about, what experiences cyclic existence, and from what is this person not yet freed.

A deity asks the Buddha what gives rise to a person, what does he have that wanders about, what experiences cyclic existence, and what determines this person‘s destiny.

A young deity asks how to escape the body, described as a defiled form with “nine openings” bound by greed. The Buddha explains that escape requires severing specific mental bonds - one must cut the “strap” of grudge and the “harness” of craving, and uproot all harmful desires.

The Buddha, after walking back and forth in the open air for much of the night, lies down in the lion's posture. Māra approaches him and taunts him for sleeping.

A brahmin asks the Buddha whether the one who acts is the same as the one who experiences the result. The Buddha points these as two extreme views, and without approaching either, explains the arising of suffering and its ending through the principle of dependent co-arising.

The Buddha uses the simile of a bonfire to explain how perceiving gratification in objects that can be grasped at leads to clinging, to suffering, and how perceiving drawbacks in objects that can be grasped at leads to the cessation of clinging, to the end of suffering.

Using the simile of a great tree nourished by sap, the Buddha explains that perceiving gratification in graspable objects fuels craving and perpetuates suffering, whereas seeing their drawbacks leads to the cessation of craving and the end of suffering.

The Buddha uses a simile of a bronze cup of beverage mixed with poison to illustrate how craving for agreeable and pleasant sense experiences leads to acquisition and suffering, while wisely seeing their impermanent nature leads to the end of suffering through the abandoning of craving.

The Buddha explains to a brahmin that the cycle of existence is without a discoverable beginning, and that it is not easy to calculate the number of aeons that have passed by and gone.

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

The four knots of 1) craving, 2) ill will, 3) clinging to rules and observances, and 4) clinging to the idea that ‘This is the truth’ are described in brief. The Noble Eightfold Path is the way for direct knowledge, full understanding, complete exhaustion, and giving up of these knots.

The four knots of craving, ill will, clinging to rules and observances, and clinging to the idea that ‘This is the truth’ are described. The four establishments of mindfulness should be cultivated for directly knowing, full understanding, complete exhaustion, and giving up of these knots.

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

A number of elder bhikkhus are discussing the meaning of the Buddha's words from the verse on ‘Metteyya’s Questions’ in the Sutta Nipāta. They each share a well-spoken explanation and then present it to the Buddha, who presents his intended meaning when he spoke those words.

On seeing the people of Sāvatthi clinging to sensual pleasures, the Buddha expresses an inspired utterance on harm that comes from sensual desire.