Imagery in the EBTs
For a more structured walkthrough of this content, see the course.
The similes, metaphors and diction of the early canon.
Courtesy of Ismoon, CC BY-SA 4.0
Table of Contents
- Articles (6)
- Audio/Video (4)
- Booklets (3)
- Canonical Works (83)
- Essays (1)
- Excerpts (2)
- Monographs (3)
- Papers (1)
- Reference Shelf (1)
Articles (6)
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literalism, if not originating from artistic representations, would certainly have been encouraged by them.
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The narrative of MSud also tells the story of Mahāsudassana’s withdrawal from his city into its inner sanctum, the Palace of Dhamma — a journey from the outer world of the city to the inner world of the Palace of Dhamma
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this similarity is neither accidental, nor caused by the Buddha’s inability to free himself from the mental paradigms of his culture. I would rather argue that he formulated Pratityasamutpada as a polemic against Vedic thought.
Audio/Video (4)
Booklets (3)
Canonical Works (83)
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An ass might follow the cows, but if it can’t moo…
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How does a person both make a hole and live in it?
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[There is] a time for listening to the teaching, a time for discussing the teaching, a time for serenity, and a time for discernment.
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The Buddha explains that ethics is necessary but insufficient for reaching nibbāna with the simile of the boat and the simile of the archer.
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Mendicants, there are these five drawbacks to a charnel ground.
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A group of monks tries to figure out the meaning of a difficult poem uttered by the Buddha. After offering several interpretations, the Buddha gives his answer.
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The Buddha illustrates the seven kinds of practitioners with a simile.
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The Buddha compares samādhi to a fortress that cannot be overwhelmed.
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what is confinement, and what is the opening amid confinement that the Buddha spoke of?
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having seen with wisdom, their defilements come to an end. And they understand that with wisdom. To this extent the Buddha spoke of the one freed by wisdom
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Bhikkhus, there are these ten fetters.
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Though it sprouted and grew in the water, it would rise up above the water and stand with no water clinging to it. In the same way, the Realized One has escaped
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Upāli, it’s not easy to endure isolated wilderness & forest lodgings. It’s not easy to maintain seclusion, not easy to enjoy being alone. The forests, as it were, plunder the mind of a monk who has not gained concentration.
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Their intentions, aims, wishes, and choices all lead to what is likable, desirable, agreeable, beneficial, and pleasant. Why is that? Because their view is good.
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The Buddha illustrates letting go with the simile of a boat in need of bailing out.
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The Buddha explains that only the enlightened can truly teach.
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Venerable Sāriputta gives a detailed explanation of right view in terms of the Four Noble Truths.
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Monk, monk! This ant-hill fumes by night and flames by day. The brahmin said, ‘Take up the sword and dig, O sage!’
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The Buddha compares the five hindrances to debt, a disease, a prison, slavery, and a desert.
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Is it only now that that fire is painful to touch, hot, and scorching, or previously too was that fire painful to touch, hot, and scorching?
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Suppose a man were struck by an arrow thickly smeared with poison.
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suppose an oil-lamp is burning: its oil is impermanent and subject to change
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Have you seen the variegated and different colours of a caraṇa bird?
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What is the one thing, O Gotama, Whose killing you approve?
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The Buddha is confronted by an angry and rude Brahmin.
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who can untangle this tangle?
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The insight that leads to stream entry is the direct knowledge of dependent origination.
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Just as two sheaves of reeds might stand leaning against each other, so too, with name-and-form as condition, consciousness comes to be; with consciousness as condition, name-and-form comes to be.
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Now suppose that in the autumn—when it’s raining in fat, heavy drops—a water bubble were to appear & disappear on the water, and a man with sight were to see it. To him it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance could there be in a bubble? In the same way, a man with wisdom sees a feeling. To him it would appear empty, void, without substance: for what substance could there be in a feeling?
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How is a sentient being defined?
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What are the different types of craving?
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Monks! All is aflame!
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The Buddha says that the real ocean is the eye, full of sights crashing into us.
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If a bhikkhu seeks delight in [the senses], welcomes them, and remains holding to them, he is called a bhikkhu who has swallowed Mara’s hook. He has met with calamity and disaster, and the Evil One can do with him as he wishes.
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Suppose a person was to catch six animals, with diverse territories and feeding grounds, and tie them up with a strong rope.
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One should rein in the mind thus
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Suppose a person was to catch six animals, with diverse territories and feeding grounds, and tie them up with a strong rope.
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This famous simile compares physical pain and mental anguish to two arrows: the second of which is optional.
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Kāmabhū asks Citta the Householder to explain an enigmatic, symbolic poem spoken by the Buddha.
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“Why, exactly, do you teach some people thoroughly and others less thoroughly?”
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The Buddha compares the five hindrances to a bowl of water in various conditions.
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Protecting oneself, bhikkhus, one protects others; protecting others, one protects oneself.
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You must carry around this bowl of oil filled to the brim between the crowd and the most beautiful girl of the land. A man with a drawn sword will be following right behind you, and wherever you spill even a little of it, right there he will fell your head.
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In this famous simile, the Buddha explains how rare it is to receive a human rebirth in the time of a Buddha and encourages us to use the opportunity well.
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Whoso has boys, has sorrow of his boys,
Whoso has kine, by kine come his annoys.
Man’s assets, these of all his woes are chief.
Who has no more, no more has grief. -
Faith is the seed, practice the rain,
And wisdom is my yoke and plow. -
let a mindful one avoid at every turn
these sense-desires,
with them abandoned,
cross the flood -
A monkey went up to the little hut
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A nun overcomes her pride.
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I will not perish
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The famous simile of the blind men and the elephant.
Essays (1)
Excerpts (2)
Monographs (3)
Papers (1)
Reference Shelf (1)
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An incomplete but extensive index of similes in the early Canon, it is useful for both exploring the suttas and finding that sutta you heard about the turtle.