Plain Dharma

The six foundational teachings of the Buddha, in plain modern English. Free, ad-free, and dedicated to the public domain. Read and listen.

Plain Dharma offers the six foundational teachings of the Buddha in plain modern English — free, and dedicated to the public domain.

These are the discourses at the root of the whole tradition: the first talk in the deer park, the teaching on not-self, the fire sermon, loving-kindness, the foundations of mindfulness, and how to decide what to believe. They're rendered for a first-time reader who'd rather understand than wade through footnotes — the structure, the repetitions, and the key images are kept; the archaic English is stripped away.

• Read all six in about an hour • Listen to the narrated audiobook • Highlight passages and keep private notes — with an optional account to sync across your devices • Also available in Simplified Chinese • No ads, no tracking, nothing to buy

Everything here — the text, the audio, and the art — is CC0 / public domain. Copy it, print it, translate it, remix it, share it freely. A small gift, offered in the spirit of the dharma.