84000 is a global non-profit initiative to translate all of the Buddha’s words into modern languages and provide free and open access to over 230,000 pages. Emphasizing engaging and interactive comprehension tools, and through collaborating with like-minded organizations and institutions, 84000 is creating an essential new resource for primary-source scholarship, independent study, and personal practice.
With the support of donors like you, we have rendered tens of thousands of pages of the Buddha’s words into English and made them available to readers online for free. Your gift now will help us preserve this vast collection in its entirety and ensure this cultural and spiritual legacy lives on for future generations. Donate now and help us keep the “door of Dharma” open.
Want to get involved? Translation grants offer a valuable opportunity to work on translating the Tibetan canonical literature. Our Opportunities page has up-to-date information on volunteer and job openings. Finally, subscribe to our quarterly newsletter to learn about new publications, newly translated sūtras and upcoming events.
The Questions of the Nāga King Anavatapta is a discourse that provides guidance on core features of the bodhisattva path, including the perfections, mindfulness, and meditation, with a strong orientation toward emptiness as the inexpressible ultimate nature. As the Buddha is teaching at Vulture Peak Mountain near Rājagṛha, a nāga king named Anavatapta approaches, questions him on these topics, and receives instruction on them.
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The Four Boys’ Absorption narrates the Buddha Śākyamuni’s passing away (or parinirvāṇa) in the Yamakaśāla Grove near Kuśinagara. Ānanda has a portentous dream that is confirmed by the Buddha to be an indication that he will soon die. Widespread panic spreads through the various realms of this world system, and as gods and other beings converge on the forest grove near Kuśinagara, tragic scenes of mourning ensue.
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While the Buddha Śākyamuni is residing at Vulture Peak Mountain, in the nearby city of Rājagṛha the accomplished illusionist Bhadra hatches a scheme to humiliate the Buddha and disprove his omniscience in order to win over the people of Magadha. The failure of Bhadra’s plan, in which he conjures the illusion of a resplendent courtyard that, to his dismay, cannot be undone, culminates in a series of surreal and magnificent visions that convince Bhadra of the superiority of the Buddha’s powers.
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When Śāriputra voices amazement at how the Buddha uses words to point out the inexpressible ways in which nothing has true existence, the Buddha responds with an uncompromising teaching on how the lack of true existence and the absence of a self are indeed not simply philosophical views but the very cornerstone of the Dharma.
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In the first of the two parts of The Benefits of the Five Precepts, a man and woman who have been married since they were very young and have never been unfaithful to each other ask the Buddha how they can remain together in future lives. The Buddha replies that this is possible for couples such as them who are equal in faith, ethical discipline, generosity, and wisdom, and who practice the Dharma together.
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In The Questions of Gaṅgottarā, a laywoman named Gaṅgottarā leaves her home in the city of Śrāvastī and visits the Buddha Śākyamuni in Anāthapiṇḍada’s Park. The Buddha asks her from where she has come, sparking a dialogue on the true nature of things.
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84000’s primary mission is to translate the Buddhist canon for diverse audiences–monastics and scholars as well as practitioners and general readers–while taking great care to make those translations accurate, available, and accessible. At the same time, 84000 strives to create a seamless and user-friendly reading experience that enhances the reader’s understanding.
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Manipulated into a murderous rage by the jealous Queen Anupamā, King Udayana launches a barrage of arrows at Queen Śyāmāvatī. King Udayana is terrified when Queen Śyāmāvatī pays homage to the Buddha, cultivates loving kindness, and the arrows are repelled. Awestruck by such a spectacle and inspired by Queen Śyāmāvatī’s words of praise for the Buddha, King Udayana approaches the Buddha and requests a teaching on the inadequacies of women.
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The Prediction for Brahmaśrī features a brief encounter between the Buddha, out on his daily alms round, and a group of children playing on the outskirts of Śrāvastī. A boy named Brahmaśrī offers the Buddha the pavilion he has made of sand or dirt. The Blessed One accepts it and transforms it into one made of precious metals and jewels.
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Film producer Nanette Nelms became a student of Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in 2004, nearly a decade before he summoned her to produce Vara: A Blessing in 2013. She first heard about 84000 during one of Rinpoche’s teaching events when 84000 …
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This text consists of a short dhāraṇī followed by its application, a food offering made to the pretas (hungry spirits). The text says that by the power of the spell, the offering will be made manifold and there will be many future benefits for the person performing the rite.
