Buddha
Understand suffering in order to be free of it.
Siddhattha Gotama, called the Buddha or “awakened one”, was a wandering teacher of the Ganges plain whose discourses, memorized and transmitted by his community, stand at the origin of the Buddhist traditions. He taught a middle way between indulgence and self-mortification, an analysis of suffering and its causes, and a training in ethics, meditation and insight; no text written by his own hand survives.
How does suffering arise, and how can it cease?
Biography
Siddhattha Gotama, called the Buddha or “awakened one”, was a wandering teacher of the Ganges plain whose discourses, memorized and transmitted by his community, stand at the origin of the Buddhist traditions. He taught a middle way between indulgence and self-mortification, an analysis of suffering and its causes, and a training in ethics, meditation and insight; no text written by his own hand survives.
02 /Philosophy
Suffering, its arising through craving, its cessation and the path to that cessation are presented as truths to be put into practice: understanding, abandoning, realizing and cultivating rather than simply believing.
03 /Reading guides
Original introductions to enter the works, discover their central questions and take the reflection further.
04 /Bibliography
Works, testimonies and further readings are distinguished. Dates refer to composition or first publication, as specified in each entry.
A first reading.
Verses on the mind
Follow the Dhammapada’s paired verses on mind, hatred and heedfulness, distinguishing each verse from the story its later commentary adds.
DhammapadaThe four truths as tasks
Reconstruct the first discourse: the rejection of two extremes, the four noble truths and the task each truth assigns to the listener.
Setting in Motion the Wheel of DhammaSages of the oldest verses
Explore the old chapters of the Sutta Nipāta on letting go of views, boundless goodwill and the brahmin defined by conduct rather than birth.
Sutta Nipāta