My reading of the translation I made of the Udāna, entitled Exalted Utterances, has just been published on mp3 CD in Singapore. This is a complete reading of the 80 discourses that make up the collection.
Most of the discourses run for around 5-10 minutes (though some are substantially longer) so they make for a good short contemplation of the teaching of the Buddha.
The collection is quite varied in scope, and covers some of the most memorable moments of the Buddha’s life from just after the Awakening to just before the Parinibbāna.
There are also discourses featuring some of his main disciples, like Vens. Sāriputta, Mahāmoggallāna and Ānanda; and also some of the lesser known ones like Bhaddiya, Meghiya and Soṇa.
There are also the four profound short discourses on Nibbāna; the famous instruction to Bāhiya; and many others which are truly memorable.
The publication was made possible by Prof. Ban Kah Choon, and was organised and was sponsored by his ex-student Andrea Teo Yun Ai who went to a lot of trouble to get the design right. I am very grateful to them both.
Here is a reading of one of the discourses about nibbāna to whet your appetite.
For further texts and readings in English please follow up from THE SOURCE.
For the interleaved text and translation and similar works please see THIS PAGE
If you are unable to get hold of a copy of the CD, you can right-click and download a 300MB ZIPFILE containing all the readings organised by chapter.
1: The First Discourse about Nibbāna
Thus I heard: at one time the Gracious One was dwelling near Sāvatthī, in Jeta’s Wood, at Anāthapiṇḍika’s monastery.
Then at that time the Gracious One was instructing, rousing, enthusing, and cheering the monks with a Dhamma talk connected with Emancipation. Those monks, after making it their goal, applying their minds, considering it with all their mind, were listening to Dhamma with an attentive ear.
Then the Gracious One, having understood the significance of it, on that occasion uttered this exalted utterance:
“There is that sphere, monks,
where there is no earth, no water, no fire, no air,
no sphere of infinite space, no sphere of infinite consciousness,
no sphere of nothingness, no sphere of neither perception nor non-perception,
no this world, no world beyond, neither Moon nor Sun.
There, monks, I say there is surely no coming,
no going, no persisting, no passing away, no rebirth.
It is quite without support, unmoving, without an object,
– just this is the end of suffering.”