The Four Divine Abidings
จตฺตาโร พฺรหฺมวิหาราFour attitudes of a mature heart — kindness, compassion, gladness and equanimity — and a quick way to know whi…
4 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.
Everyday life
The Four Bases of Social Harmony
จตฺตาริ สงฺคหวตฺถูนิFour ways of holding people together — giving, kind speech, being useful, and being consistent. Works at home …
4 points
The Six Channels of Ruin
ฉ อปายมุขานิSix roads to decline the Buddha warned householders about — worth knowing so you don't lose money, time and pe…
6 points
The Six Directions
ฉ ทิสาDuties towards the six groups around you — parents, teachers, partner, friends, those you lead, and those who …
6 points
The Four Virtues of Household Life
จตฺตาโร ฆราวาสธมฺมาFour qualities for people living at home — truth, self-training, patience and generosity. The Buddha's answer …
4 points
The Six Principles of Cordiality
ฉ สาราณียธมฺมาSix things that keep a group affectionate and free of quarrels — kindness in act, speech and thought, sharing,…
6 points
True Friends and False Friends
สุหทมิตฺต–มิตฺตปฏิรูปกA way to read the people around you, from the Siṅgālaka Sutta — four kinds of false friend to keep at a distan…
8 points
The Thirty-Eight Blessings
อฏฺฐตึส มงฺคลานิThirty-eight things that make a life prosper, running from the nearest matters out to an unshakeable mind — bl…
38 points
The Eight Worldly Conditions
อฏฺฐ โลกธมฺมาEight things that come round to everyone — gain and loss, status and disgrace, praise and blame, pleasure and …
8 points
The Five Uses of Wealth
ปญฺจ โภคาทิยาFive worthwhile uses for wealth honestly earned — from supporting yourself to supporting what is good, so ther…
5 points
The Seven Conditions of No Decline
สตฺต อปริหานิยธมฺมาSeven things that keep a community growing rather than declining — the Buddha's answer when a king was plannin…
7 points
The Four Wheels
จตฺตาริ จกฺกานิFour wheels that carry a life forward — a suitable place, good company, setting yourself rightly, and merit al…
4 points
The Four Places That Stir the Heart
จตฺตาริ สํเวชนียานิ ฐานานิFour places the Buddha said are worth seeing — birth, awakening, first teaching and final passing — to see tha…
4 points
Five Ways to Remove Resentment
ปญฺจ อาฆาตปฏิวินยาSāriputta's five ways of dissolving resentment toward five kinds of people — choose to attend to what is good …
5 points
Three Fires to Abandon and Three Fires to Honour
ตโย อคฺคี ปหาตพฺพา · ตโย อคฺคี สกฺกตฺวาThree destructive fires that burn the mind, and three "fires" to tend with care — parents, family and dependan…
6 points
Four Benefits Here and Now, Four Benefits Hereafter
ทิฏฺฐธมฺมิกตฺถสํวตฺตนิกา · สมฺปรายิกตฺถสํวตฺตนิกาThe Buddha's answer for working people with families — work hard, protect what you earn, keep good friends, li…
8 points
Five Marks of Well-Spoken Words
ปญฺจหงฺเคหิ สมนฺนาคตา วาจา สุภาสิตาFive qualities that make speech good — timely, true, gentle, beneficial and spoken with kindness. Useful both …
5 points
Four Qualities of Well-Matched Partners
สมชีวิธมฺมาFour things that let life partners go the long way together — equal faith, virtue, generosity and wisdom — fro…
4 points
Twelve Causes of Downfall
ปราภวสุตฺตํTwelve causes that make a life decline, from the Parābhava Sutta — a deity asks "what is the cause of downfall…
12 points
Five Wrong Trades
ปญฺจ วณิชฺชา อุปาสเกน อกรณียาFive kinds of trade a lay follower should not engage in — weapons, human beings, meat, intoxicants and poison …
5 points
The Ten Royal Virtues
ทส ราชธมฺมาTen virtues of a ruler — generosity, virtue, self-sacrifice, honesty, gentleness, austerity, non-anger, non-vi…
10 points
The Five Divine Messengers
ปญฺจ เทวทูตาMessengers life sends us every day — a newborn, an old person, a sick person, a punished wrongdoer and a corps…
5 points
The Nakulapitā Discourse: Sick in Body, Not in Mind
นกุลปิตุสุตฺตํThe Buddha's teaching to an aged, ailing householder — "Though my body is afflicted, my mind will not be affli…
5 points
Ten Topics Worth Discussing
ทส กถาวตฺถูนิTen subjects the Buddha recommended talking about instead of the trivia that eats up the day — few wishes, con…
10 points
Hatred Ends Through Non-Hatred: Four Victories
น หิ เวเรน เวรานิ"Hatred is never appeased by hatred" and the four victories of the Dhammapada — conquer anger with non-anger, …
5 points
The Advice to Puṇṇa: Puṇṇa's Patience
ปุณฺโณวาทสุตฺตํPuṇṇa was about to live among a fierce people. The Buddha asked what he would think if they abused him, struck…
5 points
The Piyajātika Discourse: Sorrow Born of What Is Dear
ปิยชาติกสุตฺตํA man who lost his only son refused to believe love brings suffering, until Queen Mallikā questioned King Pase…
4 points
The Advice to Anāthapiṇḍika: Dhamma for the Gravely Ill
อนาถปิณฺฑิโกวาทสุตฺตํWhat Sāriputta told Anāthapiṇḍika as he lay gravely ill near death — cling to nothing in the world as one's ow…
5 points
The Dhānañjāni Discourse: No Wrongdoing for Family's Sake
ธนญฺชานิสุตฺตํCan someone who cheats to support their family plead that excuse before the wardens of hell? Sāriputta goes th…
5 points
The Discourse to Prince Abhaya: Six Kinds of Speech
อภยราชกุมารสุตฺตํDoes the Buddha say things people don't want to hear? He speaks only what is true and beneficial, and knows th…
6 points
Four Kinds of People: Clouds, Pots, Pools and Mangoes
วลาหกวคฺโคSome people talk but don't act; some look fine but are empty inside — a set of similes from the Book of Fours …
4 points
The Sāmagāma Discourse: Six Roots of Dispute
ฉ วิวาทมูลานิSix traits that split groups apart — from communities of practitioners to families and workplaces — and the te…
6 points
The Kūṭadanta Discourse: Peace Through Livelihood
กูฏทนฺตสุตฺตํInstead of suppressing bandits by punishment, the chaplain advised the king to give seed to farmers, capital t…
5 points
The Easy Patient, the Good Nurse, and Causes of Long Life
คิลานวคฺโคThree sets of five from the Gilāna Vagga — qualities of a patient who is easy to care for, qualities of a good…
3 points
The Good Morning Discourse: The Auspicious Time Is When You Do Good
สุปุพฺพณฺหสุตฺตํWhenever beings conduct themselves well in body, speech and mind, that time is a good morning, a lucky star, a…
5 points
Paṭācārā and Kisāgotamī: When Loss Arrives
ปฏาจารา กิสาโคตมีTwo nuns who went through devastating loss of loved ones. The Buddha did not tell them to stop grieving, but g…
5 points
The Simile of the Mountains: Rolling In from Four Directions
ปพฺพโตปมสุตฺตํIf four great mountains were rolling in from four directions crushing all beings, what could one do but live b…
5 points
Piṅgiya: Learning the Dhamma in Old Age
ปิงฺคิยมาณวปุจฺฉาAn old man with dim eyes and poor hearing asks for a Dhamma he can understand before he dies. The Buddha answe…
5 points
The Pāyāsi Discourse: The Man Who Wouldn't Put Down His Hemp
ปายาสิราชญฺญสุตฺตํPrince Pāyāsi held that there is no world beyond. Kumāra Kassapa answered with simile after simile. Pāyāsi adm…
5 points
The Exposition of Offerings: Pure Giving
ทกฺขิณาวิภงฺคสุตฺตํMahāpajāpatī wishes to give the Buddha cloth she wove herself, but he suggests giving it to the Saṅgha — then …
5 points
The Ghaṭīkāra Discourse: The Potter Who Cared for His Blind Parents
ฆฏิการสุตฺตํThe potter Ghaṭīkāra did not go forth because he had to support his aged, blind parents, yet he kept pure virt…
5 points
The Discourse on Jungle Thickets: Stay or Go
วนปตฺถสุตฺตํA way of deciding whether to stay in or leave a forest, village, town or person, by looking at two things: whe…
7 points
The Shorter Discourse in Gosiṅga: Different in Body, One in Mind
นานา หิ โข โน ภนฺเต กายา เอกญฺจ ปน มญฺเญ จิตฺตํAnuruddha, Nandiya and Kimbila live together like milk and water, because their acts of body, speech and mind …
8 points
The Discourses on Ways of Undertaking Things: Pleasant Now, Painful Later, or the Reverse
จตฺตาริมานิ ภิกฺขเว ธมฺมสมาทานานิThere are four ways of undertaking things, according to whether they are pleasant or painful now and what resu…
7 points
The Discourse to Potaliya: Truly Leaving Worldly Affairs
โปตลิยสุตฺตํPotaliya the householder has handed his wealth to his sons and believes he has cut off all affairs. The Buddha…
8 points
The Raṭṭhapāla Discourse: The World Is Ever Lacking
รฏฺฐปาลสุตฺตํThe only son of a wealthy family goes forth, returns home and refuses a heap of gold, then tells King Koravya …
7 points
The Discourse on the Cloak: Conduct the Wise Censure
พาหิติกสุตฺตํKing Pasenadi asks Ānanda what kind of bodily, verbal and mental conduct the wise would censure. The answer: c…
7 points
The Discourse to Jīvaka: Meat a Monk Should Not Accept, and a Mind Not Bound to Food
ชีวกสุตฺตํJīvaka asks about the report that the Buddha knowingly eats meat from animals killed for him. The Buddha says …
8 points
The Discourse to Ghoṭamukha: Changing a View Through Dialogue
โฆฏมุขสุตฺตํThe brahmin Ghoṭamukha holds that there is no righteous going forth. Venerable Udena doesn't argue back direct…
6 points
The Discourse on Reappearance by Aspiration: Intention Backed by Virtue
สงฺขารุปปตฺติสุตฺตํOne who has faith, virtue, learning, generosity and wisdom sets their mind on a destination, then fixes and de…
6 points
The Discourse to Assalāyana: Reasoning Away Prejudice of Birth
อสฺสลายนสุตฺตํA young brahmin is sent to argue that brahmins are the highest caste. The Buddha doesn't answer with emotion b…
7 points
The Discourse to Vāseṭṭha: We Are What We Do
วาเสฏฺฐสุตฺตํPlants and animals differ in marks according to species, but humans have no such marks. A person is a farmer, …
8 points
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