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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 Three Characteristics and the Uncreate

    When the Buddha was staying at the Veluvana,
    the bamboo grove at Rajagaha,
    he addressed the brethren thus: [1]

    "Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not arise,
    it remains a fact and the fixed and necessary constitution of being
    that all conformations are transitory.
    This fact a Buddha discovers and masters,
    and when he has discovered and mastered it,
    he announces, teaches, publishes,
    proclaims, discloses, minutely explains
    and makes it clear that all conformations are transitory.
    [2]

    "Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not arise,
    it remains a fact and a fixed and necessary constitution of being,
    that all conformations are suffering.
    This fact a Buddha discovers and masters,
    and when he has discovered and mastered it,
    he announces, teaches, publishes,
    proclaims, discloses, minutely explains
    and makes it clear that all conformations are suffering.
    [3]

    "Whether Buddhas arise, O priests, or whether Buddhas do not arise,
    it remains a fact and a fixed and necessary constitution of being,
    that all conformations are lacking a self.
    This fact a Buddha discovers and masters,
    and when he has discovered and mastered it,
    he announces, teaches, publishes,
    proclaims, discloses, minutely explains and makes it clear that all conformations are lacking a self."
    [4]

    And on another occasion the Blessed One dwelt at Savatthi
    in the Jetavana, the garden of Anathapindika. [5]

    At that time the Blessed One edified,
    aroused, quickened and gladdened the monks
    with a religious discourse on the subject of Nirvana.
    And these monks grasping the meaning, thinking it out,
    and accepting with their hearts the whole doctrine, listened attentively.
    But there was one brother who had some doubt left in his heart.
    He arose and clasping his hands made the request:
    "May I be permitted to ask a question?"
    When permission was granted he spoke as follows: [6]

    "The Buddha teaches that all conformations are transient,
    that all conformations are subject to sorrow,
    that all conformations and lacking a self.
    How then can there be Nirvana, a state of eternal bliss?"
    [7]

    And the Blessed One, in this connection, on that occasion,
    breathed forth this solemn utterance: [8]

    "There is, O monks, a state where there is neither earth,
    nor water, nor heat, nor air;
    neither infinity of space nor infinity of consciousness,
    nor nothingness, nor perception nor non-perception;
    neither this world nor that world, neither sun nor moon.
    It is the uncreate.
    [9]

    "That, O monks, I term
    neither coming nor going nor standing;
    neither death nor birth.
    It is without stability, without change;
    it is the eternal which never originates
    and never passes away.
    There is the end of sorrow.
    [10]

    "It is hard to realize the essential,
    the truth is not easily perceived;
    desire is mastered by him who knows,
    and to him who sees aright all things are naught.
    [11]

    "There is, O monks,
    an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed.
    Were there not, O monks,
    this unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, unformed,
    there would be no escape from the world of the born, originated, created, formed.
    [12]

    "Since, O monks,
    there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, and unformed,
    therefore is there an escape from the born, originated, created, formed." [13]

    End Chapter 26


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

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