SuttaCentral

SuttaCentral

SuttaCentral.net is my favorite portal for Sutta study and research. It’s simply as good a starting point as any and better than most.

SuttaCentral is specially focused on the scriptures of the earliest period, and hosts texts in over thirty languages. We believe this is the largest collection of early Buddhist texts ever made. We have also built a forum dedicated to the discussion of the early Buddhist texts, where you can join the discussion, ask questions, and discover resources.

For an excellent introduction (placing the Buddhist Suttas in the context of modern Buddhist studies), be sure to check out their Discourses section (see below). Ajahn Sujato’s A Reader’s Guide to the Pāḷi Suttas provides a contemporary Sutta-translator’s perspective on effective Sutta study. Note that SuttaCentral’s Index of Subjects has the added benefit of providing proper Pāḷi diacritical markings (useful when using some search engines). 

Here’s an outline of what’s on offer at SuttaCentral:

• Introduction
• Getting Started
  • Good Habits
    • How to Read the Suttas (Bhante Sujato)
    • Befriending the Suttas (Access to Insight)
    • Reading Faithfully
    • Guidelines for Sutta Reading (Sacred Mountain Sangha and Peter Woods)
  • Structured courses and guides
    • Buddhist Life/Buddhist Path (Bhikkhu Cintita)
    • Guide to Tipitaka (Sayagyi U Kao Lay’s survey of entire Pāḷi canon).
    • The Sutta Discovery Series (Piya Tan)
  • Listen to the Suttas
    • 5 Funny Buddhist Suttas that Have a Great Message (Mindha-Lee Kumar
    • Buddhist Society of Western Australia (BSWA) Sutta classes
    • SuttaCentral forum
• Discourses
• The Monastic Law
• Abhidhamma
• A Reader’s Guide to the Pali Suttas
• Index of Subjects

For offline study, one can download the entire site.