A collection of nine short passages that may have been designed as a primer for novice monks and nuns. It includes several essential texts that to this day are regularly chanted by laypeople and monastics around the world of Theravada Buddhism. These passages include: the formula for taking refuge; the ten precepts; and the Metta, Mangala, and Ratana suttas.
|
|
|
('The Path of Dhamma') -- This much-beloved collection of 423 short verses has been studied and learned by heart over the centuries by millions of Buddhists around the world.
|
|
A rich collection of short suttas, each of which culminates in a short verse uttered by the Buddha. Here you will find the parable of the blind men and the elephant ( Ud VI.4); the story of Nanda and the 'dove-footed nymphs' ( Ud III.2); and many memorable similes (e.g., 'Just as the ocean has one taste -- the taste of salt -- so this Dhamma-Vinaya has one taste, the taste of release.' ( Ud V.5)). Many gems here!
|
|
|
A collection of 112 short suttas, in mixed prose and verse form, each of which addresses a single well-focused topic of Dhamma. The Itivuttaka takes its name from the Pali phrase that introduces each sutta: iti vuttam Bhagavata, 'Thus was said by the Buddha.'
|
|
|
|
85 poems, each explaining how wholesome deeds led to a particular deity's rebirth in one of the heavenly realms. [ ??]
|
|
51 poems, each explaining how unwholesome deeds led to the rebirth of a being into the miserable realm of the 'Hungry Ghosts' (peta). [ ??]
|
|
The Theragatha, the eighth book of the Khuddaka Nikaya, consists of 264 poems — 1,291 stanzas in all — in which the early monks (bhikkhus) recount their struggles and accomplishments along the road to arahantship. Their stories are told with often heart-breaking honesty and beauty, revealing the deeply human side of these extraordinary men, and thus serve as inspiring reminders of our own potential to follow in their footsteps.
|
|
|
These two books offer exquisitely beautiful personal accounts, in verse form, of the lives of the early monks and nuns, often culminating in a lovely simile to describe their experience of Awakening. These verses depict -- in often heart-breaking detail -- the many hardships these men and women endured and overcame during their quest for Awakening, and offer deep inspiration and encouragement to the rest of us.
|
|
|
547 tales that recount some of the Buddha's former lives during his long journey as a Bodhisatta aspiring to Awakening.
|
|
'a commentary to a part of the Sutta Nipata traditionally ascribed to Sariputta' {PLL p.22}. [ ??]
|
|
An analysis of certain Abhidhamma concepts. [ ??]
|
|
Biographies, in verse, of the Buddha, 41 Paccekabuddhas ('silent' Buddhas), 549 arahant bhikkhus and 40 arahant bhikkhunis. Many of these stories are characterized by flowery paeans celebrating the glory, wonder, magnificence, etc. of the Buddha. The Apadana is believed to be a late addition to the Canon, added at the Second and Third Buddhist Councils.
|
|
Biographical accounts of Gotama Buddha and of the 24 Buddhas who preceded him. [ ??]
|
|
Stories, in verse, of 35 of the Buddha's previous lives. These stories, purportedly retold by the Buddha at Ven. Sariputta's request, illustrate the Bodhisatta's practice of seven of the ten paramis (perfections). [??]
|
|
|
|
These two short books are 'different from the other books of the Tipitaka because they are exegetical and methodological in nature' {GT p.138}. The Nettippakarana is 'considered an important text that explains the doctrinal points of Buddhism' {HPL p.100}. [??]
|
|
|
This collection of sutta-like passages recounts a dialogue concerning profound points of Dhamma between the arahant Ven. Nagasena and the Bactrian Greek king Milinda (Menander). The king, a philosopher and skilled debater, poses to Ven. Nagasena one question after another concerning the Dhamma, each of which Ven. Nagasena masterfully answers. Like so many stories from the Pali Canon, this one has a happy ending: the king is so deeply inspired by Ven. Nagasena's wisdom that he converts to Buddhism, hands over his kingdom to his son, joins the Sangha, and eventually becomes an arahant himself.
|
|
