Saṃyutta Nikāya — Selected Discourses

The Saṃyutta Nikāya organizes the Buddha's teaching by theme — one "connection" (saṃyutta) for discourses on dependent origination, one for the five aggregates, one for the six sense fields, one for the noble eightfold path, and dozens more, gathered into five books. Depending on how the many short, thematically-clustered entries are counted, the whole collection runs to well over 2,900 individual suttas — by far the largest of the four main Nikāyas after the Aṅguttara, and the least practical to work through one full study page at a time.

This collection began as a curated selection of twenty widely quoted discourses spanning all five books, chosen because they contain some of the most famous and doctrinally central teachings in the entire Pāli Canon — including the Buddha's first sermon, the second sermon on non-self, and the Fire Sermon. It is now being extended toward complete coverage, working in order from Book I forward. Each entry, old or new, has the same reading guide, full Sujato translation, and self-check quiz as our other series.

The selection

Linked rows have a published reading guide. Unlinked rows are listed for context and may be added later.

I. Sagāthāvagga — The Book with Verses

II. Nidānavagga — The Book of Causation

III. Khandhavagga — The Book of the Aggregates

IV. Saḷāyatanavagga — The Book of the Six Sense Fields

V. Mahāvagga — The Great Book