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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

    Chunda, the Smith

    And the Blessed One went to Pava. [1]

    When Chunda, the worker in metals,
    heard that the Blessed One had come to Pava
    and was staying in his mango grove,
    he came to the Buddha
    and respectfully invited him and the brethren
    to take their meal at his house.
    And Chunda prepared rice-cakes
    and a dish of dried boar's meat. [2]

    When the Blessed One had eaten the food prepared by Chunda, the worker in metals,
    there fell upon him a dire sickness, and sharp pain came upon him even unto death.
    But the Blessed One, mindful and self-possessed, bore it without complaint. [3]

    And the Blessed One addressed the venerable Ananda, and said:
    "Come, Ananda, let us go on to Kusinara." [4]

    On his way the Blessed One grew tired,
    and he went aside from the road to rest
    at the foot of a tree, and said:
    "Fold the robe, I pray thee, Ananda, and spread it out for me.
    I am weary, Ananda, and must rest awhile!"
    [5]

    "Be it so, Lord!" said the venerable Ananda;
    and he spread out the robe folded fourfold. [6]

    The Blessed One seated himself,
    and when he was seated he addressed the venerable Ananda, and said:
    "Fetch me some water, I pray thee, Ananda,
    I am thirsty, Ananda, and would drink."
    [7]

    When he had thus spoken, the venerable Ananda said to the Blessed One:
    "But just now, Lord,
    five hundred carts have gone across the brook
    and have stirred the water;
    but a river, O Lord, is not far off.
    Its water is clear and pleasant, cool and transparent,
    and it is easy to get down to it.
    There the Blessed One may both drink water and cool his limbs."
    [8]

    A second time the Blessed One addressed the venerable Ananda, saying:
    "Fetch me some water, I pray thee, Ananda,
    I am thirsty, Ananda, and would drink."
    [9]

    And a second time the venerable Ananda said:
    "Let us go to the river." [10]

    Then the third time the Blessed One
    addressed the venerable Ananda, and said:
    "Fetch me some water, I pray thee, Ananda,
    I am thirsty, Ananda, and would drink."
    [11]

    "Be it so, Lord!" said the venerable Ananda
    in assent to the Blessed One;
    and, taking a bowl, he went down to the streamlet.
    And lo! the streamlet, which stirred up by wheels, had become muddy,
    when the venerable Ananda came up to it,
    flowed clear and bright and free from all turbidity.
    And he thought:
    "How wonderful, how marvellous
    is the great might and power of the Tathagata!"
    [12[

    Ananda brought the water in the bowl to the Lord, saying:
    "Let the Blessed One take the bowl.
    Let the Happy One drink the water.
    Let the teacher of men and gods quench his thirst."
    [13]

    Then the Blessed One drank of the water. [14]

    Now, at that time a man of low caste, named Pukkusa,
    a young Malla, a disciple of Alara Kalama,
    was passing along the high road from Kusinara to Pava. [15]

    And Pukkusa, the young Malla, saw the Blessed One seated at the foot of a tree.
    On seeing him, he went up to the place where the Blessed One was,
    and when he had come there, he saluted the Blessed One
    and took his seat respectfully on one side.
    Then the Blessed One instructed, edified,
    and gladdened Pukkusa, the young Malla, with religious discourse. [16]

    Aroused and gladdened by the words of the Blessed One, Pukkusa, the young Malla,
    addressed a certain man who happened to pass by, and said:
    "Fetch me, I pray thee, my good man,
    two robes of cloth of gold,
    burnished and ready for wear."
    [17]

    "Be it so, sir!" said that man in assent to Pukkusa, the young Malla;
    and he brought two robes of cloth of gold, burnished and ready for wear. [18]

    And the Malla Pukkusa presented the two robes of cloth of gold,
    burnished and ready for wear, to the Blessed One, saying:
    "Lord, these two robes of burnished cloth of gold are ready for wear.
    May the Blessed One show me favour and accept them at my hands!"
    [19]

    The Blessed One said:
    "Pukkusa, robe me in one, and Ananda in the other." [20]

    And the Tathagata's body appeared shining like a flame,
    and he was beautiful above all expression. [21]

    And the venerable Ananda said to the Blessed One:
    "How wonderful a thing is it, Lord, and how marvellous,
    that the colour of the skin of the Blessed One
    should be so clear, so exceedingly bright!
    When I placed this robe of burnished cloth of gold
    on the body of the Blessed One, lo! it seemed as if it had lost its splendour!"
    22]

    The Blessed One said:
    "There are two occasions on which a Tathagata's appearance
    becomes clear and exceeding bright.
    In the night, Ananda, in which a Tathagata attains to the supreme and perfect insight,
    and in the night in which he passes finally away
    in that utter passing away which leaves nothing whatever
    of his earthly existence to remain."
    [23]

    And the Blessed One addressed the venerable Ananda, and said:
    "Now it may happen, Ananda,
    that someone should stir up remorse in Chunda, the smith, by saying:
    'It is evil to thee, Chunda, and loss to thee, that the Tathagata died,
    having eaten his last meal from thy provision.'
    Any such remorse, Ananda, in Chunda, the smith, should be checked by saying:
    'It is good to thee, Chunda, and gain to thee, that the Tathagata died,
    having eaten his last meal from thy provision.
    From the very mouth of the Blessed One, O Chunda,
    have I heard, from his own mouth have I received this saying,
    "These two offerings of food are of equal fruit
    and of much greater profit than any other:
    the offerings of food which a Tathagata accepts
    when he has attained perfect enlightenment
    and when he passes away by the utter passing away
    in which nothing whatever of his earthly existence remains behind
    - these two offerings of food are of equal fruit and of equal profit,
    and of much greater fruit and much greater profit than any other.
    There has been laid up by Chunda, the smith,
    a karma redounding to length of life,
    redounding to good birth,
    redounding to good fortune,
    redounding to good fame,
    redounding to the inheritance of heaven and of great power."'
    In this way, Ananda should be checked any remorse in Chunda, the smith."
    [24]

    Then the Blessed One,
    perceiving that death was near,
    uttered these words:
    "He who gives away shall have real gain.
    He who subdues himself shall be free,
    he shall cease to be a slave of passions.
    The righteous man casts off evil;
    and by rooting out lust, bitterness, and illusion,
    do we reach Nirvana."
    [25]

    End Chapter 95


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

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