The Life of the Buddha: According to the Pali CanonAmong the numerous lives of the Buddha, this volume may well claim a place of its own. Composed entirely from texts of the Pali Canon, the oldest authentic record, it portrays an image of the Buddha which is vivid, warm, and moving. Chapters on the Buddha's personality and doctrine are especially illuminating, and the translation is marked by lucidity and dignity throughout. |
Common terms and phrases
accomplished and fully addressed the bhikkhus affected by clinging aggregates affected Ajātasattu alms almsfood Anathapindika Angulimāla Anuruddha Arahant arising asked attain final Nibbāna bhikkhu abides contemplating bhikkhunis Bimbisāra birth Bodhisatta bowl and outer Brahmā Buddha cessation of suffering consciousness craving deities Devadatta Dhamma and Discipline direct knowledge disciples dwelling Elder enlightenment factor feeling five aggregates four Four Noble Truths fully enlightened gone heard impermanent Jeta's Grove Kassapa King Pasenadi Kosala Kusinārā let the Blessed Licchavis living Lord lust Mallians Māra Master Gotama meditation mental objects milk-rice Moggallāna monk Gotama monk or brahman monks and brahmans name-and-form NARRATOR Noble Eightfold Path noble truth outer robe pain Pasenadi paying homage Perfect One's Rāhula rains Rājagaha right view Sakyan Sangha of bhikkhus Sāriputta Sāvatthi sensual desires Sutta taints things thought Tipitaka told understanding venerable Sariputta Vesālī wanderer Wheel of Righteousness Yasa
Popular passages
Page 42 - Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.
Page 53 - I go for refuge to the Buddha. " ' I go for refuge to the Law. " ' I go for refuge to the Order.
Page 343 - Dhamma that is good in the beginning, good in the middle and good in the end with (the right) meaning and phrasing, he affirms a life divine that is utterly perfect and pure.
Page 27 - Now this, O monks, is the noble truth of the way that leads to the cessation of pain : this is the noble Eightfold Path, namely, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, "This is the noble truth of pain.
Page 41 - Ones have only pointed the way. Give ear, then, for the Immortal is found. I reveal, I set forth the Truth. As I reveal it to you, so act. And that Supreme Goal of the holy life, for the sake of which sons of good families rightly go forth from home to the homeless state: this you will in no long time, in this very life, make known to yourself, realize, and make your own.
Page 213 - Now this, bhikkhus, is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and relinquishing of it, freedom from it, nonreliance on it.
Page 14 - I know the Dhamma that you know. As I am, so are you; as you are, so am I. Come, friend, let us now lead this community together.
Page 26 - ... as condition, contact; with contact as condition, feeling; with feeling as condition, craving; with craving as condition, clinging; with clinging as condition, existence; with existence as condition, birth; with birth as condition, aging-and-death, sorrow, lamentation, pain, dejection, and despair come to be. Such is the origin of this whole mass of suffering.
Page 305 - You also, monks, being released from all ties both divine and human, go journeying for the profit of many, for the happiness of many, out of compassion for the world, for the good, profit, and happiness of gods and men.
Page 25 - Monks, before my enlightenment, while I was still only an unenlightened bodhisatta, I too, being myself subject to birth...