Recommended for experienced students
CŪĻASĪHANĀDASUTTA
The Shorter Discourse on the Lion's Roar
The Buddha proclaims the uniqueness of his teaching, comparing it to a lion's roar.
Translations
Recommended for intermediate students
MAHĀSĪHANĀDASUTTA
The Greater Discourse on the Lion's Roar
The Buddha explains the ten powers of a Realized One and the four kinds of intrepidity.
Translations
Recommended for intermediate students
MAHĀDUKKHAKKHANDHASUTTA
The Greater Discourse on the Mass of Suffering
The Buddha explains the gratification, drawback, and escape from sensual pleasures, forms, and feelings.
Translations
Recommended for intermediate students
CŪĻADUKKHAKKHANDHASUTTA
The Shorter Discourse on the Mass of Suffering
The Buddha explains the dangers of sensual pleasures and the path to their abandonment.
Translations
Recommended for beginner students
ANUMĀNASUTTA
Inference
Moggallāna teaches how to infer one's own faults by observing others and cultivating self-awareness.
Translations
Recommended for beginner students
CETOKHILASUTTA
Emotional Barrenness
The Buddha explains various ways one can become emotionally cut off from one's spiritual community.
Translations
Recommended for beginner students
VANAPATTHASUTTA
Jungle Thickets
While living in the wilderness is great, not everyone is ready for it. The Buddha encourages meditators to reflect on whether one's environment is genuinely supporting their meditation practice, and if not, to leave.
Translations
Recommended for experienced students
MADHUPIŅDIKASUTTA
The Honey-Cake
Challenged by a brahmin, the Buddha gives an enigmatic response on how conflict arises due to proliferation based on perceptions. Venerable Kaccāna draws out the detailed implications of this in one of the most insightful passages in the entire canon.
Translations
Recommended for intermediate students
DVEDHĀVITAKKASUTTA
Two Kinds of Thought
Recounting his own experiences in developing meditation, the Buddha explains how to understand harmful and harmless thoughts, and how to go beyond thought altogether.
Translations
Recommended for intermediate students
VITAKKASANTHANASUTTA
How to Stop Thinking
In a practical meditation teaching, the Buddha describes five different approaches to stopping thoughts.