Sutta Translations
The Sutta Pitaka, the second division of the Tipitaka, consists of over
10,000 suttas, or discourses, delivered by the Buddha and his close disciples
during the Buddha's forty-five year teaching career, as well as many
additional verses by other members of the Sangha. Many of these suttas are
available on-line - particularly at the
Access to Insight
web site - but not all.
This page has three sections:
- English translations for several important suttas
- Bilingual suttas or excerpts (English with Pali "tooltips")
- Lists of suttas on various topics
This section contains English translations for several
important suttas for which I had not found a suitable on-line translation,
but managed to adapt from other English on-line versions.
- Brahmajala Sutta (DN 1) -- The Net of Views
The Buddha describes the 62 possible view of the self - and how all of them are wrong.
- Potthap�da Sutta (DN 9) -- The Potthap�da Sutta
The Buddha discusses states of consciousness and ideas of the self with the wanderer Potthap�da.
- Tevijja Sutta (DN 13) -- The Tevijja Sutta
The Buddha points out that the way to Union with Brahma is via the practice of the Brahma Viharas.
- Alagagaddupama Sutta (MN 22) -- The Simile of the Snake.
The Buddha has a foolish disciple who has developed a pernicious view. The Buddha reprimands him and with the simile of the snake and simile of the the raft stress the dangers of misapplying and misrepresenting the Dhamma. The sutta concludes with a detailed teaching on not-self.
- Mahatanhasankhaya Sutta (MN 38) -- The Longer Discourse on the Destruction of Craving.
The Buddha has a foolish disciple who has developed the pernicious view that consciousness transmigrates from life to life. The Buddha reprimands him and explains Dependent Origination to show that consciousness is dependently arisen.
- Mahaassapura Sutta (MN 39) -- The Longer Discourse in Assapura.
The Buddha explains what it means to be a true recluse by teaching the Training in detail.
This sutta includes the attitude one should have towards eating.
- Angulimala Sutta (MN 86) -- About Angulimala.
The mass murder Angulimala is tamed by the Buddha and becomes as arahant.
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The above suttas were not translated by me. I just edited them. The method
was as follows:
- I found a copy of the sutta at the MettaNet - Lanka
public domain Tipitaka web site.
This is a wonderful resource, but the English translations tend to be rather literal.
That can be very helpful for scholarly work, but makes reading them a bit difficult.
Also, the punctuation has not been fully edited for many of these suttas.
- I then edited the sutta using material from similar suttas
(there's lots of repetition - both within suttas and among suttas) at the
Access to Insight
collection of suttas.
I also consulted other translations by
Bhikkhu Bodhi, Bhikkhu Nanamoli, Maurice Walshe and others.
- And of course I used my limited knowledge of Pali and of the Buddha's
teachings to assist me in the editing.
The suttas on this page are (or will soon be) included in my Sutta Database
for Windows. Feel free to copy and/or distribute these suttas - but this must
be done for free.
This section contains bilingual suttas (or excerpts). If you place you mouse
on the words and phrases on the pages at the following links, a "tooltip" will appear (like an
Alt tag on an image) that contains the Pali [requires Internet Explorer 5.0 or greater,
Netscape 6.0 or greater or Mozilla 1.0 or greater]:
- Dhammacakkappavattana-Sutta (SN 56:11) -- The Turning of the Wheel of Dhamma
The first discourse: the 4 Noble Truths and the 8-Fold Path.
- Magga-vibhanga Sutta (SN 45:8) -- An Analysis of the Path
A detail explanation of the 8-Fold Path.
- Anapanasati Sutta (MN 118) -- Mindfulness of Breathing (excerpt)
The instructions on how to practice Mindfulness of Breathing meditation.
- The Rupa Jhanas - in both Pali and English
This explanation is found in many discourses including
DN 22,
MN 141
and SN 45:8
This section contains lists of suttas on various topics. Please note that the lists are not exhaustive, but simply represent some suttas I have found helpful when studying a topic.
- Dependent Origination
- Right View - Wrong View
- DN 1 (see summary chart in Insight Journal, Fall 2003),
DN 2 (section on the 6 teachers),
DN 9
- MN 9,
MN 22,
MN 38,
MN 72,
MN 74,
MN 117,
MN 141 (short definition of Right View near the end)
- SN 12:15,
44:7-11 (especially 44:10)
- AN I xv 1-3, V 25
- Discourses to Vacchagotta
- SN 44:7, 44:8, 44:9, 44:10, 44:11
- MN 71,72,73
- And finally, someone asked me to list my Top 10 Suttas
- DN 2 - The Fruits of the Spiritual Life
- DN 15 - The Great Discourse on Origination
- DN 22 - The Four Foundations of Mindfulness
- MN 22 - The Simile of the Snake
- MN 38 - The Greater Discourse on the Destruction of Craving
- MN 118 - Mindfulness of Breathing
- SN 12:15 - To Kaccayana Gotta (on Right View)
- SN 12:23 - Transcendental Dependent Origination
- SN 12:65 - The Ancient City
- Sutta Nipata I.8 - Metta Sutta
Access to Insight
MettaNet - Lanka public domain Tipitaka web site
Sutta Database
Sutta Study Guides
This page hosted by
Leigh Brasington
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/ Revised 14 July 09