Dhamma-Dana Archive
A collection of free Buddhist books

There's a lot of Buddhist books given away freely online, so called Dhammadāna. But where to find them, and which one to read? Here's a selection for you with more than 250 books in total, gathered from different online sources. Download or read directly by clicking in the window below!

The books are either from modern meditation teachers and scholars, or translations of the Buddhist canon and its commentaries. The main language in the archive is English, but there's also a Swedish and German folder. Later on, more languages might also be added with the help of others.

"Dhammadāna is the noblest among practices of gifts, as it lies in offering the knowledge of the dhamma to sentient beings. Gift (dāna) of the teaching on reality (dhamma)." 
– Pali English Glossary

Blessings to all the contributors to the archive!

This collection of books wouldn’t, of course, have been possible without so many Buddhist websites and writers offering their work freely here online, to be read by anyone that’s interested. So lots of thanks and gratitude to everyone that’s been included here – sādhu sādhu sādhu! (Well done!) May all your work inspire new generations to walk the path.

Special acknowledgements to the top contributors (please click to visit their websites for even more books, sometimes also available in different formats and languages):

Ānandajoti Bhikkhu
Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu
Amaravati Publications
Forest Dhamma
Buddhist Publication Society
Buddha Dharma Education Association
Reading Faithfully
Sutta Central
Pariyatti.org
Ajahn Buddhadasa
Sayadaw U Tejaniya
Kerstin Jönhagen


A quick walkthrough of the archive

 

All the books by modern writers are put in the folder Various Authors, which is sorted by the name of the author and then the title of the book. Books in the rest of the folders are sorted by the title or topic of the book. In Buddhist Canon & Tipitaka you find translations of old scriptures that all Buddhists consider sacred and important, plus some commentaries. In the folder Chanting Books you find different compilations of holy texts meant to be used for chanting aloud and to do ceremonial practice. In Dictionaries, Guides etc. you find helpful books about the Pali language or books that tries to explain a certain topic. In Swedish Dhamma Writings you find books and translations in the Swedish language, sorted by its original author.  Same with German Dhamma Writings. In the Upload folder you can add your own books of choice!

 

The books included in the Dhamma-Dana Archive are either in the standard formats PDF or EPUB. The PDF's you can read on your computer or tablet, or print easily. The format EPUB are made especially with the intention to be read on an e-book reader, but can also be read on any other device. If you have a Kindle e-book reader, you can easily convert the EPUB files to its format MOBI with the application Calibre, if needed.


New to e-books?

 

If you’re looking for an easy way to read books offline on your Android smartphone or tablet, you might want to download the free app ReadEra. With this app you can read almost any book or document, and easily manage and sort your books. Here’s also ten more apps you can download and use, covering all formats.

 

If you want to have the best possible experience reading these digital books, then invest in buying a proper e-book reader. Read about e-book readers here. To arrange a digital library on your computer, you can use a free application called Calibre. With this you can sort and get an overview of your books, and then easily send or convert them to the file-format you need for your e-book reader or Kindle. Calibre also has a built-in e-book viewer so you can read the books directly on the computer, and works with Mac OS, Windows and Linux.



Any good book missing?


New books to the archive are most appreciated! You can put your favourites in the upload folder, or send them with an e-mail. (If you by any chance would like any book deleted from the archive, use the same e-mail.)