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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

    The Bodhisatta's Birth

    There was in Kapilavatthu a Sakya king,
    strong of purpose and reverenced by all men,
    a descendant of the Okkakas, who call themselves Gotama,
    and his name was Suddhodana or Pure-Rice. [1]

    His wife Maya-devi was beautiful as the water-lily and pure in mind as the lotus.
    As the Queen of Heaven, she lived on earth, untainted by desire, and immaculate. [2]

    The king, her husband, honoured her in her holiness,
    and the spirit of truth, glorious and strong in his wisdom
    like unto a white elephant, descended upon her. [3]

    When she knew that the hour of motherhood was near,
    she asked the king to send her home to her parents;
    and Suddhodana, anxious about his wife and the child she would bear him,
    willingly granted her request. [4]

    At Lumbini there is a beautiful grove,
    and when Maya-devi passed through it the trees were one mass of fragrant flowers
    and many birds were warbling in their branches.
    The Queen, wishing to stroll through the shady walks, left her golden palanquin, and,
    when she reached the giant Sala tree in the midst of the grove,
    felt that her hour had come.
    She took hold of a branch.
    Her attendants hung a curtain about her and retired.
    When the pain of travail came upon her,
    four pure-minded angels of the great Brahma held out a golden net to receive the babe,
    who came forth from her right side like the rising sun bright and perfect. [5]

    The Brahma-angels took the child and placing him before the mother said:
    "Rejoice, O queen, a mighty son has been born unto thee." [6]

    At her couch stood an aged woman imploring the heavens to bless the child. [7]

    All the worlds were flooded with light.
    The blind received their sight by longing to see the coming glory of the Lord;
    the deaf and dumb spoke with one another
    of the good omens indicating the birth of the Buddha to be.
    The crooked became straight; the lame walked.
    All prisoners were freed from their chains
    and the fires of all the hells were extinguished. [8]

    No clouds gathered in the skies and the polluted streams became clear,
    whilst celestial music rang through the air
    and the angels rejoiced with gladness.
    With no selfish or partial joy but for the sake of the law they rejoiced,
    for creation engulfed in the ocean of pain was now to obtain release. [9]

    The cries of beasts were hushed;
    all malevolent beings received a loving heart, and peace reigned on earth.
    Mara, the evil one, alone was grieved and rejoiced not. [10]

    The Naga kings, earnestly desiring to show their reverence for the most excellent law,
    as they had paid honour to former Buddhas, now went to greet the Bodhisatta.
    They scattered before him mandara flowers,
    rejoicing with heartfelt joy to pay their religious homage. [11]

    The royal father, pondering the meaning of these signs,
    was now full of joy and now sore distressed. [12]

    The queen mother, beholding her child and the commotion which his birth created,
    felt in her timorous heart the pangs of doubt. [13]

    Now there was at that time in a grove near Lumbini Asita,
    a rishi, leading the life of a hermit.
    He was a Brahman of dignified mien,
    famed not only for wisdom and scholarship,
    but also for his skill in the interpretation of signs.
    And the king invited him to see the royal babe. [14]

    The seer, beholding the prince, wept and sighed deeply.
    And when the king saw the tears of Asita he became alarmed and asked:
    "Why has the sight of my son caused thee grief and pain?" [15]

    But Asita's heart rejoiced,
    and, knowing the king's mind to be perplexed, he addressed him, saying: [16]

    "The king, like the moon when full, should feel great joy,
    for he has begotten a wondrously noble son. [17]

    "I do not worship Brahma, but I worship this child;
    and the gods in the temples will descend from their places of honour to adore him. [18]

    "Banish all anxiety and doubt.
    The spiritual omens manifested indicate that the child now born
    will bring delliverance to the whole world. [19]

    "Recollecting that I myself am old,
    on that account I could not hold my tears;
    for now my end is coming on and I shall not see the glory of this babe.
    For this son of thine will rule the world. [20]

    "The wheel of empire will come to him.
    He will either be a king of kings to govern all the lands of the earth,
    or verily will become a Buddha.
    He is born for the sake of everything that lives. [21]

    "His pure teaching will be like the shore that receives the ship-wrecked.
    His power of meditation will be like a cool lake;
    and all creatures parched with the drought of lust may freely drink thereof. [22]

    "On the fire of covetousness he will cause the cloud of his mercy to rise,
    so that the rain of the law may extinguish it.
    The heavy gates of despondency will be open,
    and give deliverance to all creatures ensnared in the self-entwined meshes of folly and ignorannce. [23]

    "The king of the law has come forth
    to rescue from bondage all the poor, the miserable, the helpless."
    [24]

    When the royal parents heard Asita's words they rejoiced in their hearts
    and named their new-born infant Siddhattha,
    that is, "he who has accomplished his purpose." [25]

    And the queen said to her sister, Pajapati:
    "A mother who has borne a future Buddha will never give birth to another child.
    I shall soon leave this world, my husband, the king, and Siddhattha, my child.
    When I am gone, be thou a mother to him."
    [26]

    And Pajapati wept and promised. [27]

    When the queen had departed from the living,
    Pajapati took the boy Siddhattha and reared him.
    And as the light of the moon increases little by little,
    so the royal child grew from day to day in mind and in body;
    and truthfulness and love resided in his heart. [28]

    When a year had passed Suddhadana the king made Pajapati his queen
    and there was never a better stepmother than she. [29]

    End Chapter 4


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

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