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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

    Devadatta

    When Devadatta, the son of Suprabuddha and a brother of Yasodhara, became a disciple,
    he cherished the hope of attaining the same distinctions and honours as Gotama Siddhattha.
    Being disappointed in his ambitions, he conceived in his heart a jealous hatred,
    and, attempting to excel the Perfect One in virtue,
    he found fault with his regulations and reproved them as too lenient. [1]

    Devadatta went to Rajagaha and gained the ear of Ajatasattu, the son of King Bimbisara.
    And Ajatasattu built a new vihara for Devadatta,
    and founded a sect whose disciples were pledged to severe rules and self-mortification. [2]

    Soon afterwards the Blessed One himself came to Rajagaha
    and stayed at the Veluvana vihara. [3]

    Devadatta called on the Blessed One,
    requesting him to sanction his rules of greater stringency,
    by which a greater holiness might be procured.
    "The body," he said, "consists of its thirty-two parts
    and has no divine attributes.
    It is conceived in sin and born in corruption.
    Its attributes are liability to pain and dissolution, for it is impermanent.
    It is the receptacle of karma which is the curse of our former existences;
    it is the dwelling-place of sin and deseases
    and its organs constantly discharge disgusting secretions.
    Its end is death and its goal the charnel house.
    Such being the condition of the body
    it behooves us to treat it as a carcass full of abomination
    and to clothe it in such rags only
    as have been gatherd in cemeteries or upon dung-hills."
    [4]

    The Blessed One said:
    "Truly, the body is full of impurity and its end is the charnel house,
    for it is impermanent and destined to be dissolved into its elements.
    But being the receptacle of karma,
    it lies in our power to make it a vessel of truth and not of evil.
    It is not good to indulge in the pleasures of the body,
    but neither is it good to neglect our bodily needs
    and to heap filth upon impurities.
    The lamp that is not cleansed and not filled with oil will be extinguished,
    and a body that is unkept, unwashed, and weakened by penance
    will not be a fit receptacle for the light of truth.
    Attend to your body and its needs as you would treat a wound
    which you care for without loving it.
    Severe rules will not lead the disciples on the middle path which I have taught.
    Certainly, no one can be prevented from keeping more stringent rules,
    if he sees fit to do so, but they should not be imposed upon any one,
    for they are unnecessary."
    [5]

    Thus the Tathagata refused Devadatta's proposal;
    and Devadatta left the Buddha
    and went into the vihara speaking evil of the Lord's path of salvation
    as too lenient and altogether insufficient. [6]

    When the Blessed One heard of Devadatta's intrigues, he said:
    "Among men there is no one who is not blamed.
    People blame him who sits silent and him who speaks,
    they also blame the man who preaches the middle path."
    [7]

    Devadatta instigated Ajatasattu to plot against his father Bimbisara, the king,
    so that the prince would no longer be subject to him;
    Bimbisara was imprisoned by his son in a tower where he died
    leaving the kingdom of Magadha to his son Ajatasattu. [8]

    The new king listened to the evil advice of Devadatta,
    and he gave orders to take the life of the Tathagata.
    However, the murderers sent out to kill the Lord could not perform their wicked deed,
    and became converted as soon as they saw him and listened to his preaching.
    The rock hurled down from a precipice upon the great Master split in twain,
    and the two pieces passed by on either side without doing any harm.
    Nalagiri, the wild elephant let loose to destroy the Lord, became gentle in his presence;
    and Ajatasattu, suffering greatly from the pangs of his conscience,
    went to the Blessed One and sought peace in his distress. [9]

    The Blessed One received Ajatasattu kindly and taught him the way of salvation;
    but Devadatta still tried to become the founder of a religious school of his own. [10]

    Devadatta did not succeed in his plans
    and having been abandoned by many of his disciples, he fell sick, and then repented.
    He entreated those who had remained with him to carry his litter to the Buddha, saying:
    "Take me, children, take me to him;
    though I have done evil to him, I am his brother-in-law.
    For the sake of our relationship the Buddha will save me."

    And they obeyed, although reluctantly. [11]

    And Devadatta in his impatience to see the Blessed One rose from his litter
    while his carriers were washing their hands.
    But his feet burned under him;
    he sank to the ground;
    and, having chanted a hymn on the Buddha, died. [12]

    End Chapter 39


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

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