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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 Cruel Crane Outwitted

    A tailor who used to make robes for the brotherhood was wont to cheat his customers,
    and thus prided himself on being smarter than other men.
    But once, on entering upon an important business transaction with a stranger,
    he found his master in fraudulent practices, and suffered a heavy loss. [1]

    And the Blessed One said:
    "This is not an isolated incident in the greedy tailor's gate;
    in other incarnations he suffered similar losses,
    and by trying to dupe others ultimately ruined himself.
    [2]

    "This same greedy character lived many generations ago as a crane near a pond,
    and when the dry season set in he said to the fishes with a bland voice:
    'Are you not anxious for your future welfare?
    There is at present very little water and still less food in this pond.
    What will you do should the whole pond become dry, in this drought."
    [3]

    "'Yes, indeed' said the fishes, 'what should we do?' [4]

    "Replied the crane:
    'I know a fine, large lake, which never becomes dry.
    Would you not like me to carry you there in my beak?'
    When the fishes began to distrust the honesty of the crane,
    he proposed to have one of them sent over to the lake to see it;
    and a big carp at last decided to take the risk for the sake of the others,
    and the crane carried him to a beautiful lake and brought him back in safety.
    Then all doubt vanished, and the fishes gained confidence in the crane,
    and now the crane took them one by one out of the pond
    and devoured them on a big varana-tree. [5]

    "There was also a lobster in the pond,
    and when it listed the crane to eat him too, he said:
    'I have taken all the fishes away and put them in a fine, large lake.
    Come along. I shall take thee, too!' [6]

    "'But how wilt thou hold me to carry me along?' asked the lobster. [7]

    "'I shall take hold of thee with my beak,' said the crane. [8]

    "'Thou wilt let me fall if thou carry me like that.
    I will not go with thee!' replied the lobster. [9]

    "'Thou needest not fear,' rejoined the crane;
    'I shall hold thee quite tight all the way.' [10]

    "Then the lobster said to himself:
    'If this crane once gets hold of a fish, he will certainly never let him go in a lake!
    Now if he should really put me into the lake it would be splendid;
    but if he does not, then I will cut his throat and kill him!'
    So he said to the crane: 'Look here, friend,
    thou wilt not be able to hold me tight enough;
    but we lobsters have a famous grip.
    If thou wilt let me catch hold of thee round the neck with my claws,
    I shall be glad to go with thee.' [11]

    "The crane did not see that the lobster was trying to outwit him, and agreed.
    So the lobster caught hold of his neck with his claws as securely
    as with a pair of blacksmith's pincers, and called out:
    'Ready, ready, go!' [12]

    "The crane took him and showed him the lake,
    and then turned off toward the varana-tree.
    'My dear uncle!' cried the lobster, 'The lake lies that way,
    but thou art taking me this other way.' [13]

    "Answered the crane: 'Thinkest thou so? Am I thy dear uncle?
    Thou meanest me to understand, I suppose, that I am thy slave,
    who has to lift thee up and carry thee about with him, where thou pleasest!
    Now cast thine eye upon that heap of fish-bones at the root of yonder varana-tree.
    Just as I have eaten those fish, every one of them, just so will I devour thee also!' [14]

    "Ah! those fishes get eaten through their own stupidity,' answered the lobster,
    'but I am not going to let thee kill me.
    On the contrary, it is thou that I am going to destroy.
    For thou, in thy folly, hast not seen that I have outwitted thee.
    If we die, we both die together;
    for I will but off this head of thine and cast it to the ground!'
    So saying, he gave the crane's neck a pinch with his claws as with a vise. [15]

    "Then gasping, and with tears trickling from his eyes,
    and trembling with the fear of death,
    the crane besought the lobster, saying:
    'O, my Lord! indeed I did not intend to eat thee.
    Grant me my life!' [16]

    "Very well! fly down and put me into the lake,' replied the lobster. [17]

    "And the crane turned round and stepped down into the lake,
    to place the lobster on the mud at its edge.
    Then the lobster cut the crane's neck through as clean
    as one would cut a lotus-stalk with a hunting-knife,
    and then entered the water!" [18]

    When the Teacher had finished this discourse, he added:
    "Not now only was this man outwitted in this way,
    but in other existences, too, by his own intrigues."
    [19]

    End Chapter 67


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

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