An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon (The Teachings of the Buddha)

Buddha's words make you self-aware and enable you to break away from human condition. Once you are no longer chasing your tail, you can devote your mental energies to better things in life and Buddha also shows you how to do that perfectly. You will also take better care of your physical health. Overall, a must read for mental and physical well-being. I loved Bhikkhu Bodhi neat introductions in the beginning of the chapters that excellently summarized meanings of the suttas.

Beautiful collection of sutras -- a valuable overview of Buddha's teachings from the Pail perspective. Bhikkhu Bodhi's commentary is brilliant and crystal clear, bringing these teachings to life for right now.

An essential for beginners (like myself)who are new to the teachings of the Buddha and the underlying philosophy of Buddhism. Bhikkhu Bodhi, gradually introduces the Buddha, his quest and his enlightment. In addition, the book allows the reader to appreciate the history of buddhism demonstrating no bias towards any school of practice. Being able to read the teachings as they were recorded, rather than an interpretation of them, allows the student or the general reader to develop their personal appreciation.

Buddhism encourages seekers to validate the path towards the cessation of all sorrows and lamentations by their own experience. Reading the translations of the surviving Buddhist texts is helpful in understanding the "messages" for our own selves.

I am still reading ( studying) it, but I love it. It is my first book about Buddhism. I have never studied Buddhism before and this book is easy to understand and does a great job of teaching someone who is new to the religion. It would be a "must" read for someone that is already knowledgeable in Buddhism too. Bhikkhu Bodhi does a great job of bringing the suttas ( sutras) to life and making them easy to understand . I hope to one day go to the Monastery where he teaches and meet him.

This wasn't bad, but the selections of the scriptures presented seem a bit haphazard. If I wasn't already deeply familiar with Buddhist thought and practice, this anthology would go right over my head as random stories of nonsense. However, for someone familiar with Buddhism who would just want a quick reference guide of a few popular scriptures, this could work.

I have been reading books on Buddhism for more than forty years--I started with Walpola Rahula's "What the Buddha Taught" and Edward Conze's "Buddhism: Its Essence and Development" for a university class on Buddhism in 1970--and I bought "In the Buddha's Words" several months ago in order to review it and decide if it warrants a place on the Spiritual Reading List that I include in the books I write. And it does.

It is an outstanding and voluminous collection of the Buddha's words, gleaned directly from the Pali Canon, and definitely "must" reading for anyone deeply and seriously into original Buddhism--but it is not without flaws. First, it is tethered to political correctness. Anybody who journeys deeply into the Buddha'a teachings knows that the Buddha denigrated women, labeling them stupid and full of passion and envy. But Bhikku Bodhi makes sure not to include the Buddha's disparaging words on women, lest he offend a goodly portion of his readers. Second, I found nothing in the text on the Heart-release, which Gautama spoke of and equated with the attainment of Nirvana. This is a serious omission, because the severing of the Heart-knot in Hindu yoga is concomitant with Self-realization; and astute metaphysicians would realize that the Heart-release that accompanies Buddhist Nirvana (the end of becoming) is no different than the Heart-cutting associated with Hindu Self-realization (permanent abidance in Being).

For sheer quantity of the Buddha's words, this volume cannot be beat, but in terms of quality, I rate it behind F.L Woodward's "Some Sayings of the Buddha According to the Pali Canon," easily my favorite original Buddhism text. Bhikku Bodhi is a good writer, but in my estimation, Woodward is better. His prose soars, and you almost feel as if you're sitting in the Jeta Grove, listening to the Buddha discourse on the Dharma. But if you're a serious student of Buddhism, you won't have to choose between these two texts; you'll get both of them.

It great to keep in touch with timeless ancient wisdom in this convenient way. But I still prefer to read the book in repetitive nature of all old Buddhist translations. Helping us to memorize in a better way.

This is the foundational text for Buddhist studies and for those who practice Buddhism. It is the most important Buddhist text to read for any school of Buddhism because it is the original Pali Canon, the actual discourses of the historical Buddha. This book gives you an insight to early Buddhism and the Theravada school of Buddhism. Most people will likely not start with this book when they begin their Buddhist studies, but in an ideal world this book would be the first book you should read on Buddhism and the Buddha. This book will give you a taste of what it is like to read the ancient suttas (sutras) with their unique repetitive style. And Bhikkhu Bodhi has done a tremendous job with the translation and commentary which makes for an enjoyable and enlightening read. All of his translations sparkle with clarity and wisdom, but none so more than this amazing book. So if you are interested in the wisdom of the Buddha then begin here to build a solid foundation for your future studies.

For those familiar with the comprehensive commentaries of, say, a Thomas Cleary with Shambhala Publishing, rest assured about this purchase: you won't be sorry. Bhikkhu Bodhi's introductions to each chapter alone are worth the cover price of this book. To clarify things, though: the Dalai Lama adds only a forward (which should be enlightening for any "sectarians" out there), while it is Bhikkhu Bodhi who translates and writes the commentaries in this volume.

If you're familiar with accesstoinsight.com, then you're familiar with whatever of the free translations from the Tipitaka you've had occassion to read. The translations are as exacting as those by Thanissaro and Nyanaponika or Soma - that is, Bhikkhu Bodhi takes very little liberty with the words of the Tathagata, knowing the Tathagata's words are liberty enough. Meanwhile, the concept of the book, far from being something "less" than Wisdom Publishing's four Sutta Pitaka volumes, is actually maybe one of the best companions volumes you could find to accompany your reading of those other texts.

Bhikkhu Bodhi attempts here to bring some sense of structure to what amounts to the skein of the Suttas' interrelated subject matter. It's a very lucid, well though out study guide - and don't let this term "study guide" bring with it the connotations we bibliophiles usually assign to it: his commentaries are intelligent, insightful, inspiring. You're guaranteed to get more than you imagined for your money with this purchase, so you will NOT be sorry. By the second of his introductions, I just put the book down and pondered his words for awhile, you know? The way you ponder a sutta - because the nature of his commentary is so relevant to the whole of the Dhamma. He's a bhikkhu whose talents serve the Dhamma excellently, that's for sure. I hope this book reaches someone who's never heard of this stuff, you know? Because it's an excellent introduction. It's also pretty fun reading for Dhamma Nerds who delight in reading stuff about, um, Dhamma - because it brings fresh insights, I think, just by its clarifying organization and clear commentary. In the back and all throughout, of course, there are references to the relevant Suttas, etc.

Metta metta metta!

The need for a larger anthology of the earliest extant texts attributed to the Buddha has been met by this compilation. Bhikkhu Bodhi is a Brooklyn-born monk in the Theravada tradition who has translated the Nikaya suttas. These "longer," "medium-length," "grouped" and "numbered" collections in the Pali dialect closer to what the Buddha had used when he orally transmitted the dharma are as far back as we can go when trying to find the "original" sayings that summed up and expanded the many teachings of the founder over four decades of preaching.

These can be famously repetitive, astringent. This comes from their oral nature, as this aids memory and invokes its own state of reception. These formulae for repetition and recursion remain here, but modified in the middle of repeated paragraphs so the first and the last are kept full but not the intervening. It's a fair compromise for the reader, and it allows more selections to be included in this generous, sober, stolid, if sometimes daunting, collection.

Bodhi here compiles highlights from the Nikayas. He tends towards conservative interpretations, as a monk himself seeking the early texts to put in Theravada context. He orders them into what makes sense for a student needing a way in to the vast corpus of suttas. It starts with the human condition before the teaching is heard, then moves step-by-step along as the Buddha arrives, so to speak, and the dharma unfolds and grows in complexity as the hearer advances along the path to awakening. Bodhi arranges substantial sections of the suttas so a reader can get a sense of the core teachings. He prefaces each thematic or cognitively arranged chapter with a detailed introduction and follows with endnotes. This leaves the texts themselves to be faced apart from an orientation or commentary.

Now, unlike the shorter collections of equal value, Rupert Gethin's "Sayings of the Buddha" let alone Glenn Wallis' "Basic Teachings of the Buddha," (both reviewed by me before I read this anthology--I'd sample these before taking on Bodhi's bigger book), Bodhi does adhere to a conventional, more obedient stance regarding the dharma. That is, as a monk, he's grounded in elucidating this dharma as not a scholarly enterprise or a linguistic exercise or a philosophical confrontation. Rather, he mixes a more devotional approach that assumes the dharma's truth-claims while inviting a reader to understand the original suttas in light of later monastic commentaries and interpretations. Wallis eschews this approach and Gethin minimizes it; Bodhi as a monk embraces the suttas within a larger framework of those Theravadin monks who have pored over the Pali texts and come to their own conclusions, as his predecessors and masters within the South Asian community. I admit I lean more towards those who challenge the texts rather than bow to them, but that may be my nature! One can't fault Bodhi for a more "literal' stance towards the canon, but this needs mention. He does peer beyond from the Pali to later commentaries to tackle textual cruxes and obscure passages.

Wallis and Gethin have based some of their work on Bodhi's even if they differ from some of his choices for translation; Bodhi has pioneered anthologies aimed at a wider Western audience than professors or linguists, and for this, the affordable and handsomely designed book (as with many from Wisdom Publications) fills a space on a short shelf. Endnotes, a brief glossary, charts of where the texts fit into the canon, and a full index with italicized Pali and Sanskrit terms enhance its use. As I consult this more as a researcher than an insider, my judgment of it is aimed at a similar reader. (Many of the previous reviewers have reacted to this book with bursts of heartfelt praise; I wanted to provide rather a sense of how it compares and contrasts with other popular press Nikaya collections.)

The index in this Kindle book has neither page numbers nor is activated to take one to the topics, making it utterly useless for searching. A glaring oversight by the publishers. The table of contents also has no page numbers, tho' it is clickable.

Thank you to Bhikku Bodhi for his tremendous effort. If you are a serious practitioner, especially a lone practitioner as I am, this book is invaluable for making available the undiluted teachings of the Buddha himself. Most of the books in my Buddhist library have been helpful to some extent or other but most are explanations of the teachings, i.e. the Buddha's words once-removed. I rank very highly What the Buddha Taught, by Walpola Rahula. This book is much more extensive. It is also more accessible than The Middle Length Discourses (trans. Bhiddhu Nanamoli and Bhiddhu Bodhi) because it is organized into general topics, such as "The Human Condition" and "Mastering the Mind." Highly recommended as a life reference.

The actual book itself is beautifully bound and very usable as a daily spiritual reading. Of course the content has historical and spiritual significance for scholars, practitioners, and anyone interested in expanding their spiritual quest. Bhikku Bodhi's immense work gives Buddha to English-speaking readers. The themes form an organizational structure that enhances the experience. Readers unfamiliar with the foundations of Buddhism would still benefit from the spirit of the teachings and may be inspired to learn more. H.H. the Dalai Lama's introduction helps readers understand the basis for the work. Even after 2500 years, the words still apply.

The Pali canon is enormous, heterogenous, and alien-sounding. This book is a wonderful introduction to the general themes and ideas in that canon. It includes bits of texts (as well as many complete suttas) from all five Nikayas, along with helpful introductory essays and valuable notes. This book is a wonderful introduction to "Hinayana" Buddhism, which is all too often portrayed as an obsolete, simple-minded form of Buddhism best ignored in favor of Mahayana or Vajrayana systems. This book shows, for example, that the idea of the Bodhisattva was not an invention of Mahayanins and that lovingkindness is at least as important in Hinayana as in Mahayana (see, e.g., the "cow's udder" reading from the Anguttara Nikaya on pp. 178-79). I cannot think of a better entree into Buddhism than the Buddha's own words, and with Bhikkhu Bodhi's layout of and commentary on these texts, those words really have a chance to shine.

I bought this book after watching a history TV show about Buddhism not knowing that much about it other than what other non-Buddhist people understood. I was looking for the most direct teachings from Buddha as I could get and not someones translation of his teachings. What I found was everything I have always been looking for but did not know it. The book was the catalyst to my beginning and understanding of how to be happy in most every facet of my life. This book is great because it groups the Buddha's teachings from several scriptures into focused subjects and helps to summarize them when they become repetitive for the purpose of the oral transmission in which they were first passed down.

This book was a fist step to changing my life forever and I hope you find within it the joy that I have. I am forever grateful.

I have checked out English translations by Bhikku Bodhi and, while I am impressed with his Pali proficiency and think these are very accessible translations for English readers, I do think a lot is lost in the English translations. I generally read the Thai translation of Pali Canon (of course that's my language) and will probably stick with that. One of the reasons is that English is not a language of Buddhism and most Pali terms had to be translated to make a translation make sense. English readers should be aware of this difference. The Pali Canon in Thai leaves very many Pali terms untranslated and still sounds natural because Thai language, through centuries of being associated with Buddhism, assimilates thousands of Pali words into it. Even my name (Siri-Chitta) is in Pali. So it is a language that tends to express Buddhist's ideas more naturally. That being said, I think English translations tend to "over translate" the key terms -- thereby obscuring a large number of concepts and doctrines that need exposure in Pali. So when I read from the English translation and found some important key concepts translated into English, I feel more confused than clarified. It's like reading Aristotle in a language that has only a few loan words from Greek - an unthinkable way of studying Greek philosophy to say the least.

How to make an English translation of Pali Canon better? I don't really know. Perhaps a serious layman will have to know some Pali and rely on other sources. In any case, I think Bhikku Bodhi's works are very welcomed because they make the core Theravada's teachings accessible as never before in the Anglophone world. They are really a great service to the Theravada tradition.

Anybody interested in pursuing an understanding of Buddhism and Buddhist teachings can tell you how overwhelming it can be to try to sift through the religious texts. First of all, the Pali canon is quite huge, such that it would take a lifetime to read and absorb it all, and the printed versions of it (in Pali, there is still no complete English translation) are anywhere from 35 to 58 volumes. From this vast ocean of scripture Bhikkhu Bodhi effectively organizes it into chapters based on major points of doctrine. Each chapter has a few pages of Bhikkhu Bodhi's own interpretation and explanation, but the bulk of the book is devoted to the scripture. I highly recommend it to anybody who wants to better understand Buddhism (including Mahayana Buddhism). As for those who are as intensely interested in Theravada Buddhism as I am, I would say that this book, along with a good translation of the Dhammapada, is essential.

This is probably one of the most important books in my Theravada Buddhist book collection; I read from it almost everyday. The translation is accessible and easy to read, and presented an order that provides a structure and continuity not found in the complete translations of the nikayas. With this book, and a handbook on meditation, you'll likely have everything you need to get started on the path. I highly recommend this book to those who already have some understanding of Theravada Buddhism. If you're completely new to Theravada Buddhism, I recommend What The Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula before this book.