The wisdom of the Buddha has been preserved in a vast ocean of ancient texts.
Many of these scriptures have now been translated into the world’s languages.
SuttaCentral brings these together and makes them freely available.
Setting aside the boundaries of language and tradition, we let the Buddha speak for himself.
The Buddha said to the monks who were quarrelling: “If animals can be courteous to each other, so can you.”
SuttaCentral contains early Buddhist texts, known as the Tipiṭaka or “Three Baskets”. This is a large collection of teachings attributed to the Buddha or his earliest disciples, who were teaching in India around 2500 years ago. They are regarded as sacred canon in all schools of Buddhism. You can find all of our texts through the sidebar menu on the left.
There are thousands of early Buddhist texts, and they’re not organized for easy reading. But here’s the good news: you are not alone. We’ve been down this road ourselves, and have tried to make it a little easier for you. Here are some things you can try.
I read the suttas because they teach how to “read”; how to read oneself, one’s existence, one’s confusions, one’s tragedy. This “whole mass of suffering” becomes readable sentences. The pen that writes these sentences become apparent. And it becomes clear, right then, that with the disappearance of the pen, no more tears are written.
The suttas of the Pali Canon (Tipiṭaka), especially the four main nikāyas, are essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the Buddha and his teaching. Bhikkhu Sujato has prepared an extensive set of reading guides for the serious student. These provide essential background and survey most of the core teachings from the perspective of early Buddhism.
Like any specialized field, Buddhist studies has its own terminology and content. It’s easy to get lost or to miss references, so here we provide indexes of terms in the early texts sorted by subject, name and simile, as well as a glossary of important terms. These hand-curated lists offer another way to find the sutta or passage that you're looking for.