Dear Nina, Tenphel, Eskay, Branko and friends,

thank you. I had a quick look again through the discussion, I have a copy of The First Discourse of the Buddha by Ven. Dr. Rewata Dhamma, it is available from Wisdom Pubs website: http://www.wisdompubs.org/Pages/c_theravadan_buddhism.lasso (Again, my copy is in Singapore)

I do not recall the late Ven. Narada having a book of the same title. A web search informs that it refers to a 27-page booklet published by the late Venerable in 1972. http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/156457

I believe this is now part of a popular book The Buddha and His Teachings, a compilation by Ven. Narada for beginners to learn the Buddha's teachings. If that is the case, this text is available here: http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/budtch/budteach06.htm This book is also available in hardcopy from BPS http://www.bps.lk and other distributors, including Amazon.

Unlike, say Bhikkhu Bodhi, Ven. Narada's writings, as far as I understand, is not owned by any individual or organisation. In such a case, according to the Buddhist tradition, it is considered to be in the public domain. However, we should always be mindful about putting materials in the Files section. One good practice is for the person who puts up the material to include the author, publisher (even if it is a cooperative), and date of publication, and inform if the material is copyrighted and should be used only for the purpose of study. This can be easily done in PDF nowadays.

This sutta, together with any two from the Samyutta, forms the three cardinal discourses of the Buddha. I support Nina's idea to go through the Pali text and its commentaries here. Ven. ~Nanamoli's translations are available here: http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/nanamoli/wheel017.html


metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, Nina van Gorkom wrote:

> Beautiful idea Nina! Much easier!
> I would love to study the book with the sangha group.

N: We better ask our moderator first whether it is O.K. to have the book on the files. Actually, the Pali text and its commentary in Pali could be added.