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The Chan ahan jingis a translation of the Dirgha Agama done in the fifth century, and was intended to bridge the early Buddhist teachings with the Mahayana Buddhist teachings and scriptures. This is the first in a series of volumes translating The Canonical Book of the Buddha's Lengthy Discourses (Taisho 1). Volume 1 contains sutras 1-10 (of 30). Translations of the remaining sutras will be published in two subsequent volumes.

This is the third and concluding volume in this translation of The Canonical Book of the Buddha's Lengthy Discourses (Taisho 1). Volume 3 contains sutras 21-30 and was preceded by Volumes 1 (sutras 1-10) and 2 (sutras 11-20). The importance of the work may be signified by its position as the first work to lead off the Taisho edition of the canon. The BDK English Tripitaka Series is an ongoing project to translate the complete Taisho edition of the Chinese Mahayana canon. The work is translated by Shohei Ichimura from the Chinese Chang ahan jing. The Chang ahan jing was translated into Chinese from the Sanskrit Dirgha Agama in the fifth century by the monks Buddha yasas and Zhu Fonian. One of the four Agamas upheld by the orthodox Dharmagup-taka school, the Dirgha Agama has many parallels with the Pali Digha Nikaya preserved in the Theravada tradition, but it is unique in two ways. First, the Agama editors organized the sutras in four major sections, reflecting their major concerns: (1) the centrality of Shakyamuni Buddha as the primary subject, (2) the importance of the Dharma and doctrine, (3) the resultant practice, discipline, and advanced spiritual states, and (4) a record of the cosmological origins of the world. Second, the "Sutra of Cosmology," which is not found in the Pali Digha Nikaya, was added as the last text in the collection in order to present the Buddha's teaching more effectively and attractively to a non-Buddhist audience. Some scholars suggest that the underlying principle of the Chang ahan jing reflects a conciliatory impulse intended to bridge the early Buddhist teachings with Mahayana Buddhist teaching and scriptures.

This book offers a complete translation of the Digha Nikaya, the long discourses of the Buddha, one of the major collections of texts in the Pali Canon, the authorized scriptures of Theravada Buddhism. This collection--among the oldest records of the historical Buddha's original teachings, given in India two and a half thousand years ago--consists of thirty-four longer-length suttas, or discourses, distinguished as such from the middle-length and shorter suttas of the other collections. These suttas reveal the gentleness, compassion, power, and penetrating wisdom of the Buddha. Included are teachings on mindfulness (Mahasatipatthana Sutta); on morality, concentration, and wisdom (Subha Sutta); on dependent origination (Mahanidrana Sutta); on the roots and causes of wrong views (Brahmajala Sutta); and a long description of the Buddha's last days and passing away (Mahaparinibbana Sutta); along with a wealth of practical advice and insight for all those travelling along the spiritual path. Venerable Sumedho Thera writes in his foreword: "[These suttas] are not meant to be 'sacred scriptures' that tell us what to believe. One should read them, listen to them, think about them, contemplate them, and investigate the present reality, the present experience, with them. Then, and only then, can one insightfully know the truth beyond words." Introduced with a vivid account of the Buddha's life and times and a short survey of his teachings, The Long Discourses of the Buddha brings us closer in every way to the wise and compassionate presence of Gotama Buddha and his path of truth.

The Pali scriptures here translated are from the 'Triple Basket' (Tipitaka), a collection of the Buddha's teachings regarded as canonical by the Theravada school of Buddhism, which is found today in Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand. The translator is a devout Buddhist whose Pali scholarship is backed up by personal practice of meditation.