The Buddha's dialogues, in plain English.
The discourses of the Buddha (suttas), preserved for two and a half millennia in the Pāli Canon — explained for the English-speaking practitioner, without hiding behind jargon.
Choose a discourse to enter.
We are working through the Pāli Canon one collection at a time. The Majjhima Nikāya and the Dīgha Nikāya are both live below.
Majjhima Nikāya
152 dialogues, parables, and meditation instructions from the Pāli Canon. Each entry has a reading guide written for English speakers, the full Sujato translation, and a self-check quiz.
Dīgha Nikāya
34 of the longest, most sweeping discourses in the Pāli Canon — debates with rival teachers, the Buddha's final months, and the fullest account of mindfulness meditation in the canon. Reading guide, full Sujato translation, and a self-check quiz for each.
Aṅguttara Nikāya
The largest collection in the Pāli Canon — teachings organized entirely by number, one book for each count from the Ones through the Elevens. All 1,408 discourses available in Bhikkhu Sujato's CC0 translation are now live, each with a reading guide, full Sujato translation, and self-check quiz.
Saṃyutta Nikāya
Organized by theme across five books — dependent origination, the aggregates, the six sense fields, and more — this collection runs to thousands of suttas. This is a curated selection of twenty, including the Buddha's first and second sermons and the Fire Sermon, each with a reading guide, full Sujato translation, and self-check quiz.
Dhammapada
The most widely read text in the whole Pāli Canon — 423 verses in 26 chapters, part of the Khuddaka Nikāya. No narrative, no dialogue, just concentrated, quotable verse. Reading guide, full Sujato translation, and a self-check quiz for every chapter.
Sutta Nipāta
Part of the Khuddaka Nikāya, widely regarded by scholars as containing some of the oldest material in the entire Pāli Canon — largely verse, often strikingly direct. All 73 discourses across five chapters, including the Discourse on Love and the Buddha's own pre-awakening story, each with a reading guide, full Sujato translation, and self-check quiz.
Udāna
Part of the Khuddaka Nikāya, this collection gathers eighty short episodes from the Buddha's life, each closing with a spontaneous "heartfelt saying." Includes the story of Bāhiya's instant awakening and four profound, closely-guarded statements on Nibbāna itself. Reading guide, full Sujato translation, and self-check quiz for every discourse.
Itivuttaka
Part of the Khuddaka Nikāya, this collection gathers 112 short teachings, each following the same spare form: a prose statement opening "This was said by the Buddha," followed by a verse restating the same point. Arranged into four books by factor count — Ones, Twos, Threes, and Fours. Reading guide, full Sujato translation, and self-check quiz for every discourse.
Khuddakapatha
Part of the Khuddaka Nikāya, the shortest and, traditionally, the first collection in it — nine short texts opening with the three refuges and closing with five full verse suttas, including the well-known Discourse on Blessings and Discourse on Loving-Kindness.
Cariyapitaka
Part of the Khuddaka Nikāya, thirty-five verse stories of the Buddha-to-be's past lives, spoken in the first person, practicing seven of the ten perfections — among them the famous stories of King Sivi's eyes and Prince Vessantara's total generosity.
Theragatha
Part of the Khuddaka Nikāya, 264 poems attributed to individual named monks of the earliest Saṅgha — the companion collection to the Therigatha, and one of the few places in the early canon offering sustained first-person spiritual autobiography. Organized by how many verses are attributed to each elder, across twenty-one books. Closes with the Great Book, Vaṅgīsa's single poem gathering nearly the whole spontaneous-eulogy repertoire already told at greater length in this site's own Vaṅgīsasaṃyutta (SN 8).
Therigatha
Part of the Khuddaka Nikāya, seventy-three poems attributed to individual named nuns of the earliest Saṅgha, and one of the oldest surviving bodies of literature attributed to women anywhere in the world. Companion collection to the Theragatha. Closes with the Great Book, Sumedhā's long declaration tracing her attainment back through a distant past life.
Jataka
Part of the Khuddaka Nikāya, traditionally 547 stories of the Buddha-to-be's past lives, though only the verse portions are canonical CC0 text — the prose narratives are later commentary. This selection is complete at its own maximum (82 of 547 numbers have a CC0 verse translation), honestly labeled as a partial selection and never presented as covering the full traditional collection.