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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

    Jivaka, the Physician

    Long before the Blessed One had attained enlightenment,
    self-mortification had been the custom among those who earnestly sought for salvation.
    Deliverance of the soul from all the necessities of life
    and finally from the body itself,
    they regarded as the aim of religion.
    Thus, they avoided everything that might be a luxury
    in food, shelter, and clothing, and lived like the beasts in the wood.
    Some went naked, while others wore the rags cast away upon cemeteries or dung-heaps. [1]

    When the Blessed One retired from the world,
    he recognized at once the error of the naked ascets,
    and, considering the indecency of their habit,
    clad himself in cast-off rags. [2]

    Having attained enlightenment and rejected all unnecessary self-mortifications,
    the Blessed One and his bhikkhus continued for a long time
    to wear the cast-off rags of cemeteries and dung-heaps. [3]

    Then it happened that the bhikkhus were visited with diseases of all kinds,
    and the Blessed One permitted and explicitly ordered the use of medicines,
    and among them he even enjoined, whenever needed, the use of unguents. [4]

    One of the brethren suffered from a sore on his foot,
    and the Blessed One enjoined the bhikkhus to wear foot-coverings. [5]

    Now it happened that a disease befell the body of the Blessed One himself,
    and Ananda went to Jivaka, physician to Bimbisara, the king. [6]

    And Jivaka, a faithful believer in the Holy One,
    ministered unto the Blessed One with medicines and baths
    until the body of the Blessed One was completely restored. [7]

    At that time, Pajjota, king of Ujjeni, was suffering from jaundice,
    and Jivaka, the physician to king Bimbisara, was consulted.
    When king Pajjota had been restored to health,
    he sent to Jivaka a suit of the most excellent cloth.
    And Jivaka said to himself:
    "This suit is made of the best cloth,
    and nobody is worthy to receive it but the Blessed One,
    the perfect and holy Buddha, or the Magadha king, Senija Bimbisara."
    [8]

    Then Jivaka took that suit and went to the place where the Blessed One was;
    having approached him, and having respectfully saluted the Blessed One,
    he sat down near him and said:
    "Lord, I have a boon to ask of the Blessed One." [9]

    The Buddha replied:
    "The Tathagatas, Jivaka, do not grant boons
    before they know what they are."
    [10]

    Jivaka said: "Lord, it is a proper and unobjectionable request." [11]

    "Speak, Jivaka," said the Blessed One. [12]

    "Lord of the world,
    the Blessed One wears only robes made of rags
    taken from a dung-heap or a cemetery,
    and so also does the brotherhood of bhikkhus.
    Now, Lord, this suit has been sent to me King Pajjota,
    wich is the best and most excellent,
    and the finest and the most precious,
    and the noblest that can be found.
    Lord of the world, may the Blessed One accept from me this suit,
    and may he allow the brotherhood of bhikkhus to wear lay robes."
    [13]

    The Blessed One accepted the suit,
    and after having delivered a religious discourse,
    he addressed the bhikkhus thus: [14]

    "Henceforth ye shall be at liberty to wear either cast-off rags or lay robes.
    Whether ye are pleased with the one or with the other, I will approve of it."
    [15]

    When the people at Rajagaha heard,
    "The Blessed One has allowed the bhikkhus to wear lay robes,"
    those who were willing to bestow gifts became glad.
    And in one day many thousands of robes were presented at Rajagaha to the bhikkhus. [16]

    End Chapter 30


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

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