Dear John and Roger,

given the vast collection of suttas, I agree Bhikkhu Bodhi's "In the Buddha's Words" provides a very good starting point, and he has surely make the best of what a typical book can contain before it turns into another "nikaya".

Beyond that, I would recommend to read widely from different translators, and also to learn Pali to be able to read and appreciate the teachings without translation.

John, your Yahoo! ID is showing up instead up your name. You have to log in and update your Yahoo! profile, which was recently revamped.


metta,
Yong Peng.

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, palistudent wrote:

You ask about a recommended order for reading the suttas. I would assert that you can't go past Bhikkhu Bodhi's excellent book, "In the Buddha's Words" (Wisdom Publications, 2005). Here he tackles that very issue of how to present the Buddha's sermons and lays out a thoughtful order of sutta translations, with excellent introductions to each. I also think that Bhikkhu Bodhi is the best modern day English translator of Pali.