Buddhist websites have expanded significantly in recent years. Long standing websites have updated and expanded the number of discourses of the Buddha in the Pali Canon.
Translators have made significant tweaks to their previous translations to make them closer to the oringal Pali and more readable.
Specialized AI models draw their source data from these platforms.
Dharma practitioners often have questions around the Buddha’s teachings and practices. The 10,000 discourses of the Buddha range in length from several lines to several pages.
In some websites, you can ask a question “What did the Buddha say on….” and receive quotes from the Buddha or full discourses addressing your question.
You can follow up with questions to go deeper into the theme of interest.
Some websites have access to the teachings of contemporary and past Dharma teachers. You can ask a question “What does (name) teach on…” See example lower down the page.
Five Primary Websites, AI including Discourses (Suttas) of the Buddha and more
1. SuttaCentral: Often regarded as the definitive modern archive for early Buddhist texts. It contains all the discourses of the Buddha in modern English translations. Texts include original Pali. www.suttacentral.net
Access to Insight (This website contains an expansive collection of translation of the discourses by Thanissaro Bhikkhu and Bhikkhu Bodhi. Website includes an index of topics. accesstoinsight.org.
NORBU AI: Standing for Neural Omniscient Robotic-Being for Buddhist Understanding, this is a custom-built Buddhist LLM. While it spans across multiple traditions, it is heavily trained on the Tipitaka (Pali Canon) to serve as a conversational Dharma study companion.www.norbu-ai.org
DhammaTalks : You will find recent updated translations of translations by Thanissaro Bhikkhu, plus commentary and audio guides. www.dhammatalks.org
Gotama AI: This is an AI tool specifically grounded in excellent translation of the early verses of the Sutta Nipata (some of the oldest preserved teachings of the Buddha). Select “Ask Gotama about this” to start dialogue about how to apply verse to daily life. Work in progress. gotama.ai
Inspiration and insight from your diving into the discourses of the Buddha reveal in daily life. If you experience no noticeable benefit, it is not an insight but probably an intellectually interesing read.
Please note
General AI’S, such as ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, have access to Buddha’s teachings but sometimes lack precision of the Buddhist websites. Buddhist concepts from Mahayana, Theravada and Zen, Buddhist teachings, East and West, can get muddled up in general AI’s.
Please also note that words of Buddhist teachers may reflect their personal view but be removed from the Buddha’s teachings.
Two Questions to Norbu AI
A Dharma friend entered a question to Norbu AI. I did not expect Norbu AI to respond since I assumed Buddhist monks and scholars were the priority in this AI.
Question to Norbu AI.
What does Christopher Titmuss say about Freedom?
Response from Norbu.
Freedom is inner liberation from psychological conditioning, craving, fear, and the self-centered habits that keep suffering turning.
He often emphasises direct awareness, simplicity, inquiry, and not becomindependent on systems, authorities, or spiritual identity.
He tends to speak of freedom as something to be lived now through insight, ethical clarity, meditation, and compassionate action, not just believed in as a distant goal.
He also often stresses that genuine liberation shows itself in daily life: in relationships, speech, livelihood, and one’s response to injustice and suffering in the world.
A few themes commonly associated with his teaching:
1. Freedom from attachment to views
2. Freedom from the dominance of the ego-self
3. Freedom through mindful observation of experience
4. Freedom expressed as compassion and responsible living
5. Freedom that does not withdraw from the world but meets it consciously.
He also has a strong independent streak, so he sometimes warns against turning Buddhism into dogma or authority-worship. In that sense, he points people back toward direct seeing.
Question:
What does a “strong independent streak” mean?
Response from Norbu:
He often encourages people not to become spiritually submissive, not to cling to authority, and to test teachings in experience. In a healthy form, that independence supports freedom. In Buddhist terms, though, independence alone is not yet liberation. Freedom also needs humility, ethical restraint, and deep seeing, otherwise “independence” can just become a subtler ego-position.
Note to readers.
I read the responses to the two questions. I can state Norbu AI provided a fine summary of my teachings on freedom and the importance of independence.
Really useful. Thanks for the research and the links.