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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

    Yasodhara

    On the next morning the Buddha took his bowl
    and set out to beg his food. [1]

    And the news spread abroad.
    "Prince Siddhattha is going from house to house
    to receive alms in the city where he used to ride
    in a chariot attended by his retinue.
    His robe is like a red clod,
    and he holds in his hand an earthen bowl."
    [2]

    On hearing the strange rummour,
    the king went forth in great haste
    and when he met his son he exclaimed:
    "Why dost thou thus disgrace me?
    Knowest thou not that I can easily supply
    thee and thy bhikkhus with food?"
    [3]

    And the Buddha replied:
    "It is the custom of my race." [4]

    But the king said: "How can this be?
    Thou art descendant from kings,
    and not one of them ever begged for food."
    [5]

    "O great king," rejoined the Buddha,
    "thou and thy race may claim descent from kings;
    my descent is from the Buddhas of old.
    They, begging their food, lived on alms."
    [6]

    The king made no reply, and the Blessed One continued:
    "It is customary, O king, when one has found a hidden treasure,
    for him to make an offering of the most precious jewel to his father.
    Suffer me, therefore, to open this treasure of mine
    which is the Dharma, and accept from me this gem:"
    [7]

    And the Blessed One recited the following stanza:

      "Rise from dreams and loiter not
      Open to truth thy mind.
      Practise righteousness and thou
      Eternal bliss shalt find."
      [8]

    Then the king conducted the prince into the palace,
    and the ministers and all the members of the royal family greeted him with great reverence,
    but Yasodhara, the mother of Rahula, did not make her appearance.
    The king sent for Yasodhara, but she replied:
    "Surely, if I am deserving of any regard,
    Siddhattha will come and see me."
    [9]

    The Blessed One, having greeted all his relatives and friends, asked:
    "Where is Yasodhara?"
    And on being informed that she had refused to come,
    he rose straightaway and went to her apartment. [10]

    "I am free," the Blessed One said to his disciples, Sariputta and Moggallana,
    whom he had bidden to accompany him to the princess's chamber;
    "the princess, however, is not as yet free.
    Not having seen me for a long time, she is exceedingly sorrowful.
    Unless her grief be allowed its course her heart will cleave.
    Should she touch the Tathagata, the Holy One,
    ye must not prevent her."
    [11]

    Yasodhara sat in her room, dressed in mean garments, and her hair cut.
    When Prince Siddhattha entered, she was, from the abundance of her affection,
    like an overflowing vessel, unable to contain her love. [12]

    Forgetting that the man whom she loved was the Buddha,
    the Lord of the world, the preacher of truth,
    she held him by his feet and wept bitterly. [13]

    Remembering, however, that Suddhodana was present, she felt ashamed,
    and rising, seated herself reverently at a little distance. [14]

    The king apologized for the princess, saying:
    "This arises from her deep affection, and is more than a temporary emotion.
    During the seven years that she has lost her husband,
    when she heard that Siddhattha had shaved his head, she did likewise;
    when she heard that he had left of the use of perfumes and ornaments,
    she also refused their use.
    Like her husband she had eaten at appointed times from an earthen bowl only.
    Like him she had renounced high beds with splendid coverings,
    and when other princes asked her in marriage, she replied that she was still his.
    Therefore, grant her forgiveness."
    [15]

    And the Blessed One spoke kindly to Yasodhara,
    telling of her great merits inherited from former lives.
    She had indeed been again and again of great assistance to him.
    Her purity, her gentleness, her devotion had been invaluable to the Bodhisatta
    when he aspired to attain enlightenment, the highest aim of mankind.
    And so holy had she been that she desired to become the wife of a Buddha.
    This, then, is her karma, and it is the result of great merits.
    Her grief has been unspeakable, but the consciousness of the glory
    that surrounds her spiritual inheritance
    increased by her noble attitude during her life, will be a balm
    that will miraculously transform all sorrows into heavenly joy. [16]

    End Chapter 28


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

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