During its long centuries of quiet pilgrimage by land and sea, much of Buddhism’s powerful influence may have had its source in the deliberate avoidance of claims to exclusive Truth, adherence to inflexible dogma, or the authority of any final, sacrosanct, theocratic hierarchy. The “Come and see for yourself” attitude of the original Great Teacher, Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha, the Enlightened One, his pragmatic insistence on “Don’t take my word for it. Try it yourself!” the unswerving challenge of his famous aphorism, “Look within, thou art the Buddha” — all this served to lower the resistance that so often attends the arrival of a new and unfamiliar faith.
