Collections of 'linked' or 'connected' discourses and other related texts.
01
DEVATĀSAMYUTTA
SN 1
Linked Discourses With Deities
The "Linked Discourses on Deities" contains 81 discourses, each one of which depicts the Buddha in conversation with a deity. Typically a deity approaches the Buddha in the monastery at Sāvatthi, illuminating the night with their glory. The deity addresses the...
02
DEVAPUTTASAMYUTTA
SN 2
Linked Discourses on Godlings
The "Linked Discourses on Gods" contains 30 discourses, each one of which depicts the Buddha in conversation with a god. Here the term devaputta is used, rather than devatā in the previous samyutta. The difference is purely nominal and there is no difference in the...
03
KOSALASAMYUTTA
SN 3
Linked Discourses With King Pasenadi of Kosala
The "Linked Discourses with the Kosalan" contains 25 discourses featuring King Pasenadi of Kosala. Pasenadi shines through in the early texts as a complex human figure, one with foibles and foolishness, but with a great devotion and capacity to grow. He appears...
04
MĀRASAMYUTTA
SN 4
Linked Discourses With Māra
The "Linked Discourses with Māra" contains 25 discourses featuring Māra, the god of temptation, deceit, and death. In these discourses, Māra typically appears in some terrifying or beguiling form, hoping to disturb the Buddha, or else he challenges the Buddha with a...
05
BHIKKHUNĪSAMYUTTA
SN 5
Linked Discourses With Nuns
The "Linked Discourses with Nuns" contains 10 discourses describing occasions when various nuns retreat to a forest for meditation, only to be challenged by Māra. The verses here partly overlap with the Therīgāthā, though there are some that are unique to this...
06
BRAHMASAMYUTTA
SN 6
Linked Discourses With Divinities
The "Linked Discourses with Brahmās" contains 15 discourses featuring high brahmanical deities. Most commonly we meet the "Great Brahmā", regarded as the creator God, but he is merely one of a class of deities, and here we meet several others. Brahmā is depicted here...
07
BRĀHMAŅASAMYUTTA
SN 7
Linked Discourses with Brahmins
The "Linked Discourses with Brahmins" contains 22 discourses featuring the Buddha interacting with various members of the brahmanical caste. The brahmins were the custodians of the brahmanical scriptures and traditions, and saw themselves as the spiritu...
08
VANGĪSASAMYUTTA
SN 8
Linked Discourses With Vangīsa
The "Linked Discourses with Vangīsa" contains 12 discourses with verses spoken by Vangīsa, the most renowned poet of early Buddhism. His verses have a sophistication and personal vulnerability that stamp them as perhaps the most distinctive literary voice of the early...
09
VANASAMYUTTA
SN 9
Linked Discourses in the Woods
The "Linked Discourses in the Woods" contains 14 discourses with verses telling the experiences of certain monks living the woods. Typically the monk is slack or negligent in some way, and a deity appears to call them out and...
10
YAKKHASAMYUTTA
SN 10
Linked Discourses with Spirits
The "Linked Discourses with Spirits" contains 12 discourses with verses telling the encounters between the Buddha—or in one case the monk Anuruddha—and various spirits (yakkha). The spirits were local deities worshiped in ancient India, of a lower order than th...
11
SAKKASAMYUTTA
SN 11
Linked Discourses with Sakka
The "Linked Discourses with Sakka" contains 25 discourses with verses telling stories involving Sakka, the Lord of the Thirty-Three gods. Many of these discourses are relatively lengthy, featuring substantive prose and extended dialogues in verse. Sakka is shown...
