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The Gospel of Buddha

Preface

  • Preface:
    by Paul Carus


    Introduction
  • Chapter 01:
    Rejoice
  • Chapter 02:
    Samsara and Nirvana
  • Chapter 03:
    Truth the Saviour


    Prince Siddhattha becomes Buddha
  • Chapter 04:
    The Bodhisatta's Birth
  • Chapter 05:
    The Ties of Life
  • Chapter 06:
    The Three Woes
  • Chapter 07:
    The Bodhisatta's Renunciation
  • Chapter 08:
    King Bimbisara
  • Chapter 09:
    The Bodhisatta's Search
  • Chapter 10:
    Uruvela, the Place of Mortification
  • Chapter 11:
    Mara, the Evil One
  • Chapter 12:
    Enlightenment
  • Chapter 13:
    The First Converts
  • Chapter 14:
    Brahma's Request


    The Foundation of the Kingdom of Righteousness
  • Chapter 15:
    Upaka
  • Chapter 16:
    The Sermon at Benares
  • Chapter 17:
    The Sangha
  • Chapter 18:
    Yasa, the Youth of Benares
  • Chapter 19:
    Kassapa
  • Chapter 20:
    The Sermon at Rajagaha
  • Chapter 21:
    The King's Gift
  • Chapter 22:
    Sariputta and Moggallana
  • Chapter 23:
    Anathapindika
  • Chapter 24:
    The Sermon on Charity
  • Chapter 25:
    Jetavana
  • Chapter 26:
    The Three Characteristics and the Uncreate
  • Chapter 27:
    The Buddha's Father
  • Chapter 28:
    Yasodhara
  • Chapter 29:
    Rahula


    Consolidation of the Buddha's religion
  • Chapter 30:
    Jivaka, the Physician
  • Chapter 31:
    The Buddha's Parents Attain Nirvana
  • Chapter 32:
    Women Admitted to the Sangha
  • Chapter 33:
    The Bhikkhus' Conduct Toward Women
  • Chapter 34:
    Visakha
  • Chapter 35:
    The Uposatha and Patimokkha
  • Chapter 36:
    The Schism
  • Chapter 37:
    The Re-establishment of Concord
  • Chapter 38:
    The Bhikkhus Rebuked
  • Chapter 39:
    Devadatta
  • Chapter 40:
    Name and Form
  • Chapter 41:
    The Goal
  • Chapter 42:
    Miracles Forbidden
  • Chapter 43:
    The Vanity of Worldliness
  • Chapter 44:
    Secrecy and Publicity
  • Chapter 45:
    The Annihilation of Suffering
  • Chapter 46:
    Avoiding the Ten Evils
  • Chapter 47:
    The Preacher's Mission


    The Teacher
  • Chapter 48:
    The Dhammapada
  • Chapter 49:
    The Two Brahmans
  • Chapter 50:
    Guard the Six Quarters
  • Chapter 51:
    Simha's Question Concerning Annihilation
  • Chapter 52:
    All Existence is Spiritual
  • Chapter 53:
    Identity and Non-Identity
  • Chapter 54:
    The Buddha Omnipresent
  • Chapter 55:
    One Essence, One Law, One Aim
  • Chapter 56:
    The Lesson Given to Rahula
  • Chapter 57:
    The Sermon on Abuse
  • Chapter 58:
    The Buddha Replies to the Deva
  • Chapter 59:
    Words of Instruction
  • Chapter 60:
    Amitabha
  • Chapter 61:
    The Teacher Unknown


    Parables and Stories
  • Chapter 62:
    Parables
  • Chapter 63:
    The Widow's Two Mites and the Parable of the Three Merchants
  • Chapter 64:
    The Man Born Blind
  • Chapter 65:
    The Lost Son
  • Chapter 66:
    The Giddy Fish
  • Chapter 67:
    The Cruel Crane Outwitted
  • Chapter 68:
    Four Kinds of Merit
  • Chapter 69:
    The Light of the World
  • Chapter 70:
    Luxurious Living
  • Chapter 71:
    The Communication of Bliss
  • Chapter 72:
    The Listless Fool
  • Chapter 73:
    Rescue in the Desert
  • Chapter 74:
    The Sower
  • Chapter 75:
    The Outcast
  • Chapter 76:
    The Woman at the Well
  • Chapter 77:
    The Peacemaker
  • Chapter 78:
    The Hungry Dog
  • Chapter 79:
    The Despot
  • Chapter 80:
    Vasavadatta
  • Chapter 81:
    The Marriage-Feast in Jambunada
  • Chapter 82:
    A Party in Search of a Thief
  • Chapter 83:
    In the Realm of Yamaraja
  • Chapter 84:
    The Mustard Seed
  • Chapter 85:
    Following the Master Over the Stream
  • Chapter 86:
    The Sick Bhikkhu
  • Chapter 87:
    The Patient Elephant


    The Last Days
  • Chapter 88:
    The Conditions of Welfare
  • Chapter 89:
    Sariputta's Faith
  • Chapter 90:
    Pataliputta
  • Chapter 91:
    The Mirror of Truth
  • Chapter 92:
    Ambapali
  • Chapter 93:
    The Buddha's Farewell Address
  • Chapter 94:
    The Buddha Announces His Death
  • Chapter 95:
    Chunda, the Smith
  • Chapter 96:
    Metteyya
  • Chapter 97:
    The Buddha's Final Entering into Nirvana


    Conclusion
  • Chapter 98:
    The Three Personalities of the Buddha
  • Chapter 99:
    The Purpose of Being
  • Chapter 100:
    The Praise of All the Buddhas


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    The Gospel of Buddha

    Samsara and Nirvana

    Look about and contemplate life! [1]

    Everything is transient and nothing endures.
    There is birth and death, growth and decay;
    there is combination and separation. [2]

    The glory of the world is like a flower:
    it stands in full bloom in the morning and fades in the heat of the day. [3]

    Wherever you look, there is a rushing and struggling, and an eager pursuit of pleasure.
    There is a panic flight from pain and death, and hot are the flames of burning desires.
    The world is vanity fair, full of changes and transformations.
    All is Samsara. [4]

    Is there nothing permanent in the world?
    Is there in the universal turmoil no resting-place where our troubled heart can find peace?
    Is there nothing everlasting? [5]

    Oh, that we could have cessation of anxiety,
    that our burning desires would be extinguished!
    When shall the mind become tranquil and composed? [6]

    The Buddha, our Lord, was grieved at the ills of life.
    He saw the vanity of worldly happiness
    and sought salvation in the one thing that will not fade or perish,
    but will abide for ever and ever. [7]

    Ye who long for life, know that immortality is hidden intransiency.
    Ye who wish for happiness without the sting of regret,
    lead a life of righteousness.
    Ye who yearn for riches, receive treasures that are eternal.
    Truth is wealth, and a life of truth is happiness. [8]

    All compounds will be dissolved again,
    but the verities which determine all combination and separations
    as laws of nature endure forever and aye.
    Bodies fall to dust, but the truths of the mind will not be destroyed. [9]

    Truth knows neither birth nor death;
    it has no beginning and no end.
    Welcome the truth. The truth is the immortal part of mind. [10]

    Establish the truth in your mind,
    for the truth is the image of the eternal;
    it portrays the immutable;
    it reveals the everlasting;
    the truth gives unto mortals the boon of immortality. [11]

    The Buddha has proclaimed the truth;
    let the truth of the Buddha dwell in your hearts.
    Extinguish in your selves every desire that antagonizes the Buddha,
    and in the perfection of your spiritual growth you will become like unto him. [12]

    That of your heart that cannot or will not develop into Buddha must perish;
    for it is mere illusion and unreal;
    it is the source of your error;
    it is the cause of your misery. [13]

    You attain to immortality by filling your minds with truth.
    Therefore, become like unto vessles fit to receive the Master's words.
    Cleanse yourselves of evil and sanctify your lives.
    There is no other way of reaching truth. [14]

    Learn to distinguish between Self and Truth.
    Self is the cause of selfishness and the source of evil;
    truth cleaves to no self;
    it is universal and leads to justice and righteousness. [15]

    Self, that which seems to those who love their selves as their being,
    is not the eternal, the everlasting, the imperishable.
    Seek not self,
    but seek the truth. [16]

    If we liberate our souls from our petty selves, wish no ill toothers,
    and become clear as a crystal diamond reflecting the light of truth,
    what a radiant picture will appear in us mirroring things as they are,
    without the admixture of burning desires,
    without the distortion of erroneous illusion,
    without the agitation of clinging and unrest. [17]

    Yet ye love self and will not abandon self-love.
    So be it, but then, verily,
    ye should learn to distinguish between the false self and the true self.
    The ego with all its egotism is the false self.
    It is an unreal illusion and a perishable combination.
    He only who identifies his self with the truth will atain Nirvana;
    and he who has entered Nirvana has attained Buddhahood;
    he has acquired the highest good;
    he has become eternal and immortal. [18]

    All compound things shall be dissolved again,
    worlds will break to pieces and our individualities will be scattered;
    but the words of theBuddha will remain for ever. [19]

    The extinction of self is salvation;
    the annihilation of self is the condition of enlightenment;
    the blotting out of self is Nirvana.
    Happy is he who has ceased to live for pleasure and rests in the truth.
    Verily his composure and tranquillity of mind are the highest bliss. [20]

    Let us take our refuge in the Buddha,
    for he has found the everlasting in the transient.
    Let us take refuge in that which is the immutable in the changes of existence.
    Let us take our refuge in the truth that is established through the enlightenment of the Buddha.
    Let us take our refuge in the community of those who seek the truth and endeavour to live in the truth. [21]

    End Chapter 2


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    The Gospel of Buddha
    The Gospel of Buddha
    Compiled from ancient records by Paul Carus, 1894

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