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[This version: 20 July 1994]
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THE GOSPEL OF BUDDHA - BY PAUL CARUS
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The following information was supplied on 25 Jun 94 to the
Coombspapers Social Sciences Data Archive by Cris A. Fugate
<[e-mail]>

Book details
============
"The Gospel of Buddha, Compiled from Ancient Records"
Author - Paul Carus
Publisher - The Open Court Publishing Company, Chicago and London, 1915
Copyright by The Open Court Publishing Co.,
1894 in United States, 1915 in Great Britain
These copyrights have since expired

Transcriber details
===================
Cris A. Fugate currently residing at 115C
University Village, Fargo, North Dakota 50102 USA.  email:
[e-mail] at North Dakota State University

Date of transcription: May 1994
No copyright for transcription has been claimed by Cris A.Fugate at the time
of lodgement of this electronic text with the Coombspapers Archive.

Changes made in transcription
=============================
The transcription does not include a pronunciation chart
The transcription does not include table of reference
The transcription does not include "Remarks on the
Illustrations of the Gospel of Buddha"
Page numbers in glossary and index are converted to chapter numbers.

Transcription should otherwise be very close to the original
since the text has been proofread several times.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------                                 PREFACE
This book is published here in form of 13 files:
gospel-buddha-01-preface.txt, gospel-buddha-02-contents.txt,
gospel-buddha-03-introdu.txt, gospel-buddha-04-enlight.txt,
gospel-buddha-05-foundat.txt, gospel-buddha-06-consolid.txt,
gospel-buddha-07-teacher.txt, gospel-buddha-08-stories.txt,
gospel-buddha-09-lastdays.txt, gospel-buddha-10-conclus.txt,
gospel-buddha-11-bibliog.txt, gospel-buddha-12-glossary.txt,
gospel-buddha-13-index.txt
-----------------------------------------------------------------------                                 PREFACE

                PREFACE


   This booklet needs no preface for those who are familiar with  the
sacred  books  of Buddhism,  which have been made  accessible  to  the
Western world by the indefatigable zeal and industry of scholars  like
Beal,  Bigandet,  Buehler,  Burnouf,  Childers,  Alexander Csoma, Rhys
Davids,  Dutoit,  Eitel,  Fausboell,  Foucaux,  Francke, Edmund Hardy,
Spence Hardy,  Hodgson, Charles R. Lanmann, F. Max Mueller, Karl Eugen
Neumann,   Oldenberg,   Pischel,  Schiefner,  Senart,  Seidenstuecker,
Bhikkhu Nyanatiloka,  D.  M.  Strong, Henry Clarke Warren, Wasselijew,
Weber,  Windisch,  Winternitz  & c.   To those not familiar  with  the
subject it may be stated that the bulk of its contents is  derivedfrom
the old Buddhist canon.   Many passages, and indeed the most important
ones,  are  literally copied in translations from the original  texts.
Some are rendered rather freely in order to make them intelligible  to
the present generation;  others have been rearranged; and still others
are  abbreviated.   Besides  the  three  introductory  and  the  three
concluding  chapters there are only a few purely  original  additions,
which,   however,   are  neither  mere  literary  embellishments   nor
deviations  from  Buddhist  doctrines.    Wherever  the  compiler  has
admitted  modernization  he  has done so with  due  consideration  and
always  in  the spirit of a  legitimate  development.   Additions  and
modifications  contain nothing but ideas for which prototypes  can  be
found  somewhere  among  the traditions of  Buddhism,  and  have  been
introduced as elucidations of its main principles.
   The  best  evidence that this book  characterizes  the  spirit  of
Buddhism  coorectly  can  be  found in the  welcome  it  has  received
throughout  the entire Buddhist world.   It has even  been  officially
introduced in Buddhist schools and temples of Japan and Ceylon.   Soon
after the appearance of the first edition of 1894 the Right Rev. Shaku
Soyen,  a prominent Buddhist abbot of Kamakura,  Japan, had a Japanese
translation  made  by Teitaro Suzuki,  and soon afterwards  a  Chinese
version  was  made by Mr.  O'Hara of Otzu,  the talented editor  of  a
Buddhist periodical,  who in the meantime has unfortunately met with a
premature  death.   In 1895 the Open Court Publishing Company  brought
out a German edition by E.  F.  L.  Gauss,  and Dr. L. de Milloue, the
curator  of  the  Musee Guimet,  of  Paris,  followed  with  a  French
translation.   Dr.  Federigo  Rodriguez has translated the  book  into
Spanish and Felix Orth into Dutch.   The privilege of translating  the
book  into Russian,  Czechic,  Italian,  also into Siamese  and  other
Oriental tongues has been granted,  but of these latter the publishers
have  received  only  a version in the Urdu  language,  a  dialect  of
eastern India.

   Buddhism,  like Christianity,  is split up into innumerable  sects,
and  these sects not infrequently cling to their sectarian  tenets  as
being  the  main and tmost indispensable features of  their  religion.
The present book follows none of the sectarian doctrines, but takes an
ideal position upon which all true Buddhists may stand as upon  common
ground.  Thus the arrangement into a harmonious and systematic form is
the main original feature of this Gospel of Buddha.   Considering  tje
bulk of the various details of the Buddhist canon, however, it must be
regarded as a mere compilation,  and the aim of the compiler has  been
to  treat  his material in about the same way as he  thinks  that  the
author of the Fourth Gospel of the New Testament utilized the accounts
of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  He has ventured to present the data
of  the  Buddha's  life in the light  of  their  religio-philosophical
importance;  he  has  cut  out most of  their  apocryphal  adornments,
especially  those in which the Northern traditions aboud,  yet he  did
not deem it wise to shrink form preserving the marvellous that appears
in the old records,  whenever its moral seemed to justify its mention;
he  only  pruned  away  the exuberance of  wonder  which  delights  in
relating  the  most incredible things,  apparently put on  to  impress
while  in  fact  they can only tire.   Miracles have ceased  to  be  a
religious test;  yet the belief in the miraculous powers of the Master
still  bears  witness  to  the holy awe of  the  first  disciples  and
reflects their religious enthusiasm.
   Lest   the  fundamental  idea  of  the  Buddha's   doctrines   be
misunderstood,  the  reader is warned to take the term "self"  in  the
sense in which the Buddha uses it.   The "self" of man translates  the
word  atman which can be and has been understood,  even  the  Buddhist
canon,  in  a  sense  to which the Buddha would never  have  made  any
objection.   The  Buddha  denies the existence of a "self" as  it  was
commonly understood in his time; he does not deny man's mentality, his
spritiual constitution,  the importance of his personality, in a word,
his soul.   But he does deny the mysterious ego-entity,  the atman, in
the  sense of a kind of soul-nomad which by some schools was  supposed
to  reside behind or within man's bodily and psychical activity  as  a
distinct being,  a kind of thing-in-itself,  and a metaphysical  agent
assumed to be the soul.
   Buddhism is monistic.   It claims that man's soul dies not  consist
of two things,  of an atman (self) and of a manas (mind or  thoughts),
but that there is one reality,  our thoughts,  our mind or manas,  and
this manas constitutes the soul.  Man's thoughts, if anything, are his
self,  and  these  is  no atman,  no additional  and  separate  "self"
besides.  Accordingly, the translation of atman by "soul", which would
imply that the Buddha denied the exitstence of the soul,  is extremely
misleading.
   Representative  Buddhists,  of different schools  and  of  various
countries,  acknoledge the correctness of the view here taken,  and we
emphasize  especially  the assent of Southern Buddhists  because  they
have preserved the tradition most faithfully and are very  punctilious
in the statement of doctrinal points.
   "The  Buddhist,  the Organ of the Southern  Church  of  Buddhism,"
writes in a review of The Gospel of Buddha:
   "The  eminent feature of the work is its grasp  of  the  difficult
subject and the clear enunciation of the doctrine of the most puzzling
problem of atman,  as taught in Buddhism.   So far as we have examined
the question of atman ourselves from the works of the Southern  canon,
the view taken by Dr.  Paul Carus is accurate, and we venture to think
that it is not opposed to the doctrine of Northern Buddhism."
   This atman-superstitiion, so common not only in India, but all over
the  world,  corresponds to man's habitual egotism in practical  life.
Both are illusions growing out of the same root,  which is the  vanity
of worldliness,  inducing man to beleive that the purpose of his  life
lies  in  his  self.   The Buddha puroposes to cut  off  entirely  all
thought of self,  so that it will no longer bear fruit.   Thus Nirvana
is an ideal state, in which man's soul, after being cleasnsed from all
selfishness,  hatred and lust,  has become a habitation of the  truth,
teaching  him to distrust the allurements of pleasure and  to  confine
all his energies to attending to the duties of life.
   The Buddha's doctrine is not negativism.   An investigation of  the
nature  of  man's soul shows that,  whicle there is no atman  or  ego-
entity,  the very being of man consists in his karma,  his deeds,  and
his karma remains untouched by death and continues to live.   Thus, by
denying the existence of that which appears to be our soul and for the
destruction  of which in death we tremble,  the Buddha actually  opens
(as he expresses it himself) the door of immortality to  mankind;  and
here  lies the corner-stone of his ehtics and also of the  comfort  as
well as the enthusiasm which his religion imparts.   Any one who  does
not see the positive aspect of Buddhism,  will be unable to understand
how  it  could exercise such a powerful influence  upon  millions  and
millions of people.
   The present volume is not design to contribute to the solution  of
historical problems.   The compiler has studied his subject as well as
he could under the circumstances, but he dies not intend here to offer
a scientific production.   Nor it this book an attempt at popularizing
the  Buddhist religious writings,  nor at presenting them in a  poetic
shape.   If this Gospel of Buddha helps people to comprehend  Buddhism
better,  and  if in its simple style it impresses the reader with  the
poetic  grandeur of the Buddha's personality,  these effects  must  be
counted  as  incidental;  its main purpose  lies  deeper  still.   The
present  book  has  been written to set the  reader  thinking  on  the
religious problems of to-day.   It sketches the picture of a religious
leader  of  the remote past with the view of making it bear  upon  the
living present and become a factor in the formation of the future.

   It  is a remarkable fact that the two greatest  religions  of  the
world,   Christianity   and  Buddhism,   present  so   many   striking
coincidences  in  the philosophical basis as well as  in  the  ethical
applications of their faith,  while their modes of systematizing  them
in dogmas are radically different;  and it is difficult to  understand
why  these  agreements  should  have  caused  animostity,  instead  of
creating  sentiments  of friendship and  good-will.   Why  should  not
Christians say with Prof.  F.  Max Mueller:  "If I do find in  certain
Buddhist works doctrines identically the same as in  Christianity,  so
far from being frightened,  I feel delighted,  for surely truth is not
the  less  true because it is believed by the majority  of  the  human
race."
   The main trouble arises from a wrong conception  of  Christianity.
There  are  many Christians who assume that Christianity alone  is  in
possession of truth and that men could not,  in the natural way of his
moral  evolution,  have obtained that nobler conception of life  which
enjoins the practice of a universal good-will towards both friends and
enemies.   This  narrow  view of Christianity is refuted by  the  mere
existence of Buddhism.
   Must  we add that the lamentable exclusivesness that  prevails  in
many Christian churches,  is not based upon Scriptural teachings,  but
upon a wrong metaphysics?
   All  the essential moral truths of  Christianity,  especially  the
principle of a universal love,  of the eradication of hatred,  are  in
our opinion deeply rooted in the nature of things,  and do not,  as is
often  assumed,  stand  in contradiction to the cosmic  order  of  the
world.   Further, some doctrines of the constitution of existence have
been  formulated  by the church in certain symbols,  and  since  these
symbols contain contradictions and come in conflict with science,  the
educated  classes are estranged from religion.   Now,  Buddhism  is  a
religion  which  knows of no supernatural  revelation,  and  proclaims
doctrines that require no other argument that the "come and see."  The
Buddha bases his religion solely upon man's knowledge of the nature of
things,  upon  provable truth.  Thus,  we trust that a  comparison  of
Christianity with Buddhism will be a great help to distinguish in both
religions  the  essential from the accidental,  the eternal  from  the
transient,  the  truth  fromt he allegory in which it  has  found  its
symbolic  expression.   We  are  anxious to  press  the  necessity  of
discriminating between the symbol and its meaning,  between dogma  and
religion,  between  metaphysical  theories  and  statements  of  fact,
between man-made formulas and eternal truth.   And this is the  spirit
in  which we offer this book to the public,  cherishing the hope  that
its will help to develop in Christianity not less than in Buddhism the
cosmic religion of truth.
   The strength as well as the weakness of original Buddhism lies  in
its  philosophical character,  which enabled a thinker,  but  not  the
masses,  to understand the dispensation of the moral law that pervades
the  world.   As  such,  the  original Buddhism  has  been  called  by
Buddhists  the  little vessel of salvation,  or Hinayana;  for  it  is
comparable  to  a small boat on which a man may cross  the  stream  of
worldliness,  so  as  to reach the shore of  Nirvana.   Following  the
spirit of a missionary propaganda, so naturla to religious men who are
earnest in their convictions, later Buddhists popularized the Buddha's
doctrines and made them accessible to the multitudes.  It is true that
they  admitted  many mythical and even  fantastic  notions,  but  they
succeeded nevertheless in bringing its moral truths home to the people
who  could  but incompletely grasp the philosophical  meaning  of  the
Buddha's  religion.   They constructed,  as they called  it,  a  large
vessel of salvation,  the Mahayana, in which the multitudes would find
room  and  could  be  safely  carried  over.   Although  the  Mahayana
unquestionably has its shortcomings, it must not be condemned offhand,
for it serves its purpose.  Without regarding it as the final stage of
the religious development of the nations among which it  prevails,  we
must  concede that it resulted from an adaptation to  their  condition
and  has accomplished much to educate them.   The Mahayana is  a  step
forward  in  so far as it changes a philosophy into  a  religion,  and
attempts  to  preach  doctrines that  were  negatively  expressed,  in
positive propositions.
   Far  from  rejecting the religious zeal which  gave  rise  to  the
Mahayana  in  Buddhism,  we  can still less join  those  who  denounce
Christianity   on   account  of  its  dogmatology   and   mythological
ingredients.   Christianity  has certainly had and still has  a  great
mission in the evolution of mankind.  It has succeeded in imbuing with
the  religion  of charity and mercy the most powerful nations  of  the
world,  to whose spiritual needs it is especially adapted.  It extends
the blessings of universal good-will with the least possible amount of
antagonism to the natural selfishness that is no stronly developed  in
the  Western races.   Christianity is the religion of love made  easy.
This is its advantage.  which,  however, is not without its drawbacks.
Christianity teaches charity without dispelling the ego-illusion;  and
in this sense it surpasses even the Mahayana; it is still more adapted
to  the needs of multitudes than a large vessel fitted to  carry  over
those  who  embark  on it;  it is comparable  to  a  grand  bridge,  a
Mahasetu,  on  which  a child who has no comprehension as yet  of  the
nature of self can cross the stream of self-hood and worldly vanity.
   A comparison of the many striking agreements between  christianity
and  Buddhism  may  prove fatal to  sectarian  conceptions  of  either
religion, but will in the end help to mature our insight into the true
significance of both.   It will bring out a nobler faith which aspires
to be the cosmic religion of universal truth.
   Let us hope that this Gospel of Buddha will serve  both  Buddhists
and Christians as a help to penetrate further into the spirit of their
faith, so as to see its full height, length and breadth.
   Above  any Hinayana,  Mahayana,  and Mahasetu is the  Religion  of
Truth.

                                                            PAUL CARUS
-----------------------------------------------------------------------                                 PREFACE
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