Library
Library: Texts, Books and Trusted Sources
A short, carefully chosen list. We distinguish primary texts, commentaries, teachings of contemporary teachers, and academic scholarship. Our full library — with transcripts, audio and parallel translations — will grow as permissions are secured.
Primary texts (Pali canon)
Commentary
Contemporary teachers
Scholarship
Primary texts (Pali canon)
SN 16.5 Jiṇṇa Sutta — Old (opens an external site)
Mahākassapa explains why he keeps the ascetic practices.
AN 5.181 Āraññaka Sutta — Forest Dwellers (opens an external site)
Five motives for forest dwelling.
AN 1.188–197 — The foremost disciples (opens an external site)
Mahākassapa named foremost in the ascetic practices.
Commentary
The Path of Purification (Visuddhimagga) (opens an external site)
Buddhaghosa, tr. Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli
Chapter II is the classic description of the thirteen observances. Free PDF from the Buddhist Publication Society via Access to Insight.
The Questions of King Milinda (Milindapañha)
Includes a discussion of the benefits of the ascetic practices.
Contemporary teachers
Food for the Heart
Ajahn Chah (Wisdom Publications, 2002)
Collected teachings of a leading Thai forest teacher.
Venerable Ajaan Mun Bhūridatta Thera: A Spiritual Biography
Ajaan Mahā Boowa Ñāṇasampanno
Biography of the teacher at the heart of the Thai forest revival.
Forest Sangha (opens an external site)
Monasteries in the lineage of Ajahn Chah worldwide.
Dhammatalks.org (opens an external site)
Free teachings and translations by Thanissaro Bhikkhu.
Scholarship
Forest Recollections: Wandering Monks in Twentieth-Century Thailand
Kamala Tiyavanich (University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1997)
Buddhist Saints in India
Reginald A. Ray (Oxford University Press, 1994)