The Six Sense Bases
ฉ อายตนานิSix doors of experience — eye, ear, nose, tongue, body and mind. Everything that enters your life comes throug…
6 points
Dhamma Principles
Core teachings summarised set by set from the Tipiṭaka, broken into numbered points in plain language, each with a way to apply it in daily life.
Going deeper
The Six Elements
ฉ ธาตุโยTaking "me" apart into six elements — earth, water, fire, air, space and consciousness. The analysis the Buddh…
6 points
The Four Foundations to Be Established
จตฺตาโร อธิฏฺฐานาFour things to set firmly in the mind — wisdom, truth, relinquishment and peace. The whole practice condensed …
4 points
The Ten Perceptions
ทส สญฺญาTen ways of seeing that turn the mind around — the set the Buddha sent to Venerable Girimānanda when he was gr…
10 points
The Nine Progressive Abidings
นว อนุปุพฺพวิหาราThe full ladder of calm in nine steps — the four jhānas, then the four formless attainments, ending in the ces…
9 points
The Eighteen Elements
อฏฺฐารส ธาตุโยPerception broken into eighteen elements — six sets of three (sense faculty, object, consciousness) — showing …
6 points
The Four Kinds of Clinging
จตฺตาริ อุปาทานานิFour things the mind grasps — sensual pleasure, views, rules and rituals, and the doctrine of a self.
4 points
The Four Nutriments
จตฺตาโร อาหาราFour things that sustain life — physical food, contact, volition and consciousness. What are you feeding on ea…
4 points
The Six Higher Knowledges
ฉ อภิญฺญาSix kinds of higher knowledge — the first five are side effects of concentration; only the sixth truly ends su…
6 points
The Seven Purifications
สตฺต วิสุทฺธิโยSeven stages of purification handed on like seven relay chariots — each exists for the next, none is the goal …
7 points
The Seven Underlying Tendencies
สตฺต อนุสยาSeven defilements lying dormant in the mind — they stay hidden until something triggers them, like seeds waiti…
7 points
The Three Realms of Existence
ตโย ภวาSensual, form and formless existence — states of being the Buddha taught us to abandon, not to seek better ver…
3 points
The Eight Liberations
อฏฺฐ วิโมกฺขาEight temporary liberations through concentration — from contemplating form up to the cessation of perception …
8 points
The Four Analytical Knowledges
จตสฺโส ปฏิสมฺภิทาFour kinds of discernment — in meaning, in principle, in language and in ready wit — the qualities of one who …
4 points
The Four Floods
จตฺตาโร โอฆาFour floods that sweep beings along in saṁsāra — and the very first answer in the Saṁyutta Nikāya on how to cr…
4 points
The Fire Sermon: All Is Burning
อาทิตฺตปริยายสุตฺตํThe discourse given to a thousand former fire-worshippers, showing that what truly burns is not the ritual fir…
4 points
Nibbāna
นิพฺพานํThe ultimate goal of the teaching, explained directly from the Tipiṭaka — the destruction of lust, hatred and …
4 points
The Rohitassa Discourse: The End of the World Within This Fathom-Long Body
โรหิตสฺสสุตฺตํA deity who once travelled at supernatural speed to find the end of the world died without reaching it. The Bu…
4 points
The Fruits of the Contemplative Life
สามญฺญผลสุตฺตํKing Ajātasattu asks whether going forth yields any fruit visible in this life. The Buddha answers step by ste…
5 points
The Greater Discourse on Emptiness: The Danger of Socialising
มหาสุญฺญตสุตฺตํSeeing many beds laid out in one dwelling, the Buddha taught the danger of delighting in company, dwelling in …
5 points
The Shorter Discourse on Emptiness: Descending into Emptiness Step by Step
จูฬสุญฺญตสุตฺตํEmptiness doesn't mean nothing at all, but being empty of one thing while knowing clearly what remains — setti…
5 points
The Discourse on Right View: Sixteen Ways
สมฺมาทิฏฺฐิสุตฺตํSāriputta explains what "right view" means, repeating one pattern sixteen times: knowing a thing, its origin, …
5 points
The Greater Discourse on the Destruction of Craving: Consciousness Is Not a Traveller
มหาตณฺหาสงฺขยสุตฺตํThe monk Sāti believed the same consciousness wanders on through saṃsāra. The Buddha teaches that consciousnes…
8 points
The Great Forty: Concentration Supported by Seven Path Factors
มหาจตฺตารีสกสุตฺตํNoble right concentration has the other seven path factors as its supports. In every factor right view leads, …
7 points
The Man from Aṭṭhakanagara: Eleven Doors to the Deathless
อฏฺฐกนาครสุตฺตํThe householder Dasama asks Ānanda for one thing that leads to liberation. Ānanda shows eleven: the four jhāna…
7 points
The Discourse on Imperfections: What Makes Concentration Slip
อุปกฺกิเลสสุตฺตํAfter the Kosambī monks refused to stop quarrelling, the Buddha visited Anuruddha and his companions, who perc…
8 points
The Discourse at Kīṭāgiri: Seven Kinds of Persons and Gradual Training
กีฏาคิริสุตฺตํMonks at Kīṭāgiri refuse to give up eating at night; the Buddha teaches that some pleasant feelings should be …
8 points
The Greater Full-Moon Discourse: Questions on the Aggregates
มหาปุณฺณมสุตฺตํOn a full-moon night a monk questions the Buddha step by step: what the five aggregates subject to clinging ar…
8 points
The Sixfold Purity: Examining a Claim of Attainment
ฉพฺพิโสธนสุตฺตํWhen a monk declares final knowledge, one should neither rush to approve nor to reject, but ask about the four…
7 points
One by One As They Occurred: Sāriputta's Insight
อนุปทสุตฺตํThe Buddha praises Sāriputta's wisdom: for half a month he had insight into states one by one as they occurred…
7 points
The Rebuke to Māra: Abuse and Flattery
มารตชฺชนียสุตฺตํMāra enters Mahāmoggallāna's belly. Moggallāna recognises him and tells how, in the time of Kakusandha Buddha,…
7 points
The Discourse on Proximate Causes: Suffering Supports Faith
อุปนิสสุตฺตํA chain of dependent arising that does not end in suffering but continues to liberation: suffering supports fa…
8 points
The Discourse on Contemplating Dyads: Seeing Things in Pairs
ทฺวยตานุปสฺสนาสุตฺตํOn a full-moon night, the Buddha teaches seeing things in pairs: suffering arises because of this, and when th…
8 points
The Discourse on Quarrels and Disputes: Tracing Conflict to Its Source
กุโตปหูตา กลหา วิวาทาA step-by-step question and answer on where quarrels come from: from what is dear; what is dear comes from des…
7 points
The Khemā Therī Discourse: Khemā and the Question That Cannot Be Measured
เขมาเถรีสุตฺตํKing Pasenadi asks the nun Khemā whether the Tathāgata exists after death. She answers with the similes of cou…
7 points
The Seed Discourse: Consciousness Is Like a Seed
พีชสุตฺตํHowever good a seed is, without earth and water it won't grow. The four stations of consciousness are like ear…
7 points
The Discourse on Pañcālacaṇḍa: The Opening in the Confinement
สมฺพาเธ คตํ โอกาสํUdāyī asks Ānanda about the god Pañcālacaṇḍa's verse saying the Buddha found the opening in the confinement. Ā…
6 points
The Discourse on Causes: Dependent Origination Is Not as Easy as It Seems
คมฺภีโร จายํ อานนฺท ปฏิจฺจสมุปฺปาโทĀnanda says dependent origination seems quite clear to him. The Buddha tells him not to say so: because beings…
8 points
The Sarakāni Discourses: Don't Rush to Judge Another's Spiritual State
สรกานิสุตฺตํThe Sakyan Sarakāni, who had been weak in the training to the point of drinking alcohol, dies, and the Buddha …
8 points
The Discourse on Seclusion: Virtue Is the Ground, Seclusion the Direction
วิเวกกถาEvery work requiring strength depends on the earth, and every plant grows on the earth; so developing the path…
8 points
The Discourse on Perversions: Four Distortions at Three Levels of the Mind
วิปลฺลาสกถาSeeing the impermanent as permanent, suffering as happiness, not-self as self, and the unattractive as attract…
8 points
The Discourse on Great Wisdom: Sixteen Kinds of Wisdom and Four Things That Make It Grow
มหาปญฺญากถาSeven contemplations each fulfil a kind of wisdom, and four things, associating with good people, hearing the …
8 points
The Buddha's Apadāna: Perfections and a Palace Built by the Mind
พุทฺธาปทานํVerses in which the Buddha answers Ānanda on how one becomes an omniscient Buddha: his aspiration under countl…
8 points
Dhammasaṅgaṇī: The Mātikā, Matrix of the Abhidhamma
กุสลา ธมฺมา อกุสลา ธมฺมา อพฺยากตา ธมฺมาThe Dhammasaṅgaṇī opens with the mātikā, a list of 22 triads and 142 dyads for classifying phenomena — such as…
7 points
Dhammasaṅgaṇī: The First Wholesome Mind — Many States in One Moment
โสมนสฺสสหคตํ ญาณสมฺปยุตฺตํThe Section on States of Mind begins with the wholesome sense-sphere mind accompanied by joy and associated wi…
7 points
Vibhaṅga: Analysing the Five Aggregates Three Ways
ขนฺธวิภงฺโคThe Vibhaṅga, the second book of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, often analyses a single topic three times: by the Sutt…
6 points
Analysis of Minor Matters: A Catalogue of Small Defilements in Daily Life
ขุทฺทกวตฺถุวิภงฺโคThe seventeenth chapter of the Vibhaṅga gathers minor defilements and failings into groups: intoxication with …
7 points
Dhātukathā: Where Each Phenomenon Fits among Aggregates, Bases and Elements
สงฺคโห อสงฺคโหThe Dhātukathā, the third book of the Abhidhamma Piṭaka, asks again and again how many aggregates, bases and e…
6 points
Kathāvatthu: The Book of Debates and the Question of Whether a Person Really Exists
กถาวตฺถุThe Kathāvatthu records debates that clear up mistaken views one point at a time. Its first debate asks whethe…
6 points
Parihānikathā: Can an Arahant Fall Away from Arahantship?
ปริหานิกถาThe second debate of the Kathāvatthu. One side holds that an arahant can fall away; the other refutes it — wha…
7 points
Yamaka: Asking in Pairs to Make Terms Precise
ยมกํThe Yamaka asks questions in reversed pairs — is form the form aggregate? is the form aggregate form? — to sho…
7 points
Paṭṭhāna: The 24 Conditions and How Things Support One Another
ปฏฺฐานํThe Paṭṭhāna is the last and longest Abhidhamma book. It opens with a list of 24 conditions and explains how s…
7 points
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