Everything we teach comes from the original discourses taught by Gautama Buddha and his enlightened disciples that lived with him. This is because the Theravada Buddhist tradition has preserved them in the Sutta Pitaka.

Shortly after the Buddha passed away, 500 fully enlightened monks gathered at the First Great Council to recite all of the sermons taught by the Buddha and his enlightened disciples. Then they organized them into five collections known as Nikayas. This council assigned groups of monks to memorize these collections and get together frequently to recite them. At the time, India had a strong tradition of memorization like this among members of the Brahmin caste. Eventually, because of dangers such as war and famine, monks were afraid that there would not be enough memorizers alive to keep up this tradition. So they decided to write down the sermons in the original language of Pali. The translations we have today are from these texts.

The Nikayas have a variety of styles of text, which includes stories, regular sermons, highly analytical teachings, and also collections of verses. While some of the Nikayas are categorized by topic, others are organized by length of the text. We are very fortunate that all of them have been translated into clear, modern English.

Below you can see an outline of the books that make up the Sutta Pitaka as well as titles of translations into simple English.
The following are the books that contain the original teachings of the Buddha. These are the translations we recommend.

The First Four Collections

Dīgha Nikāya, Long Discourses (DN): Contains 34 suttas that range in length from 5 to 47 pages.

• The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Dīgha Nikāya by Maurice Walsh, Wisdom Publications.

Majjhima Nikāya, Middle Length Discourses(M or MN): Contains 152 suttas, most from 5 to 10 pages.

• The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: a Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya, translated by Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli, edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi, Wisdom Publications.

Saṁyutta Nikaya, Connected Discourses(SN): Contains thousands of short suttas grouped by topic.

• The Connected Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Saṁyutta Nikāya, by Bhikkhu Bodhi, Wisdom Publications.
• Two sections have bee published individually: Stories of Sakka, Lord of Gods, and Stories of Brahmas, translated by Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero.

Aṅguttara Nikāya, Numerical Discourses(AN): Contains thousands of suttas mostly one or two pages long.

• The Numerical Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Aṅguttara Nikāya, by Bhikkhu Bodhi, Wisdom Publications.

The Fifth Nikaya of Short Collections

Khudhaka Nikāya, Short Books: This nikāya is a group of smaller autonomous books, explained individually below.

Khuddakapāṭha (Khp): This is a collection of 10 suttas.

Dhammapada (Dhp): This is a collection of 423 short verses, grouped into 26 chapters. This is an excellent text for newcomers and experienced practitioners alike. It takes about 4 minutes to read one chapter so it is well suited to someone with a short amount of time available. Even just reading a single verse each day will instill your life with the Blessed One’s wisdom.

• What the Buddha Taught: Dhammapada, translated by Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero. Amazon

Udana (Ud): This collection contains 80 suttas composed of (usually) a story in prose form followed by an inspired verse.

• The Udāna and the Itivuttaka, Two Classics from the Pali Canon, translated by John D. Ireland, Buddhist Publication Society (BPS) Complete text.

Itivuttaka (Itv): This collection contains 112 suttas of prose followed by verse. Most suttas are two pages or less.

• This Was Said by the Buddha: the Itivuttaka, translated by Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero. Amazon.

Sutta Nipāta (Sn or Snp,): Seventy one sets of verses, sometimes preceded by a prose story.

• The Suttanipata, Translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi

Vimānavatthu (Vv) and Petavatthu (Pv): Teachings in verse about the results of good and bad action

• Stories of Heavenly Mansions from the Vimanavatthu, translated by Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero
• Stories of Ghosts from the Petavatthu,translated by Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero

Theragāthā (Thag) and Therīgāthā (Thīg): Verses of Arahant Bhikkhus and Bhikkhuṇis. Two excellent collections for practice. The ultimate source for inspiration and reminder of the goal of the practice.

• Voice of Enlightened Monks: Theragata, translated by Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero
• The Voice of Enlightened Nuns: Therigata, translated by Ven. Kiribathgoda Gnanananda Thero

Jataka (J): The canonical part of this collection are only verses. What are commonly known as the Jataka stories are actually the commentary stories behind them.

• Jataka Tales of the Buddha: An Anthology, Volume 1-3, by Ken Kawasaki and Visakha Kawasaki. This is a selection of the stories.