Preface to the Second Edition

In this second edition of The Word of the Buddha, we have amended punctuation and spelling errors present in the first edition, and have extended the usage of terminology from the glossary to support Ajahn’s preferred English rendering of certain Pāli vocabulary.

We have also changed the italicisation of Pāli words so that more commonly understood words are left without italics, and less common words rendered in italics. Capitalisation of key Buddhist doctrines has also been reduced to improve readability.

Some passages from the first edition have been lightly abridged. This is mainly to avoid unnecessary repetition of passages from the original text, in particular similes which can occur multiple times and are better left referenced at the beginning and end of a section.

Upon printing the second addition, a few small errors have been further corrected. These corrections are present in the PDF and EPUB digital editions.

We hope you enjoy this second edition of The Word of the Buddha.

Bhante Kimbila / Bhante Dayālu, 2025