Return to Index

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


  • Click for The Reluctant Messenger (Host Site)
    Click here to go The Reluctant Messenger (Host Site)

    The Gospel of Buddha

    Brahma's Request

    The Blessed One having attained Buddhahood while resting under the shepherd's Nigrodha tree
    on the banks of the river Neranyjara, pronounced this solemn utterance: [1]

      "How blest in happy solitude
      Is he who hears of truth the call!
      How blest to be both kind and good,
      To practice self-restraint to all!
      How blest from passion to be free,
      All sensuous joys to let pass by!
      Yet highest bliss enjoyeth he
      Who quits the pride of 'I am I.'
      [2]

    "I have recognized the deepest truth,
    which is sublime and peace-giving,
    but difficult to understand;
    for most men move in a sphere of worldly interests
    and find their delights in worldly desires.
    [3]

    "The worldling will not understand the doctrine,
    for to him there is happiness in selfhood only,
    and the bliss that lies in a complete surrender to truth
    is unintelligible to him.
    [4]

    "He will call resignation what to the enlightened mind is the purest joy.
    He will see annihilation where the perfected one finds immortality.
    He will regard as death what the conqueror of self knows to be life everlasting.
    [5]

    "The truth remains hidden from him who is in the bondage of hate and desire.
    Nirvana remains incomprehensible and mysterious
    to the vulgar whose minds are beclouded with worldly interests.
    Should I preach the doctrine and mankind not comprehend it,
    it would bring me only fatigue and trouble."
    [6]

    Mara, the Evil One, on hearing the words of the Blessed Buddha,
    approached and said: "Be greeted, thou Holy One.
    Thou hast attained the highest bliss
    and it is time for thee to enter into the final Nirvana."
    [7]

    Then Brahma Sahampati descended from the heavens
    and, having worshipped the Blessed One, said: [8]

    "Alas! the world must perish,
    should the Holy One, the Tathagata, decide not to teach the Dharma.
    [9]

    "Be merciful to those that struggle;
    have compassion upon the sufferers;
    pity the creatures who are hopelessly entangled in the snares of sorrow.
    [10]

    "There are some beings that are almost free from the dust of worldliness.
    If they hear not the doctrine preached, they will be lost.
    But if they hear it, they will believe and be saved."
    [11]

    The Blessed One, full of compassion,
    looked with the eye of a Buddha upon all sentient creatures,
    and he saw among them beings whose minds were but scarcely covered by the dust of worldliness,
    who were of good disposition and easy to instruct.
    He saw some who were conscious of the dangers of lust and wrong doing. [12]

    And the Blessed One said to Brahma Sahampati:
    "Wide open be the door of immortality to all who have ears to hear.
    May they receive the Dharma with faith."
    [13]

    And the Blessed One turned to Mara, saying:
    "I shall not pass into the final Nirvana, O Evil One,
    until there be not only brethren and sisters of an Order,
    but also lay-disciples of both sexes,
    who shall have become true hearers, wise, well-trained, ready and learned,
    versed in the scriptures, fulfilling all the greater and lesser duties,
    correct in life, walking according to the precepts -
    until they, having thus themselves learned the doctrine,
    shall be able to give information to others concerning it,
    preach it, make it known, establish it,
    open it, minutely explain it, and make it clear -
    until they, when others start vain doctrines,
    shall be able to vanquish and refute them,
    and so to spread the wonder-working truth abroad.
    I shall not die until the pure religion of truth shall have become successful,
    prosperous, wide-spread and popular in all its full extent -
    until, in a word, it shall have been well proclaimed among men!"
    [14]

    Then Brahma Sahampati understood that the Blessed One had granted his request
    and would preach the doctrine. [15]

    End Chapter 14


    [Previous] [Next]


    01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | Preface



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

    $3.99 Kindle eBook
    The Reluctant 
Messenger of Science and Religion Book Cover
    Buy from Amazon.com




    The Reluctant Messenger's Recommended Books and CDs

    Book of Chester (sacred scripture)