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 The Light of Asia
Buddha was an embodiment of the
Upanishads, the Christ of the Orient. So great was he that Christ himself
might be called the Buddha of the West.
Buddha gave up everything for the
Truth. He lived for it: as Christ died for it. If we give up everything,
we think we will have nothing left―nothing
except ... immortality!
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Far more than his philosophy, what
immortalized Buddha was his life of purity and love, which exemplified renunciation, self-sacrifice and
service in his quest for Truth and the end of all suffering.
- excerpt from
BUDDHA: the
Compassionate
one
THE BODHISATTVA
Buddha
has given us the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, but the most
valuable legacy he has left us is himself—his incomparable personality:
his profound,
unique
compassion for humanity. He is the
personification of the Bodhisattva1, Buddhism’s great gift to
religious tradition.
Other prophets and sages have served a nation, a people, a race, or a
class. Humanity itself was
Buddha’s
passion:
nay, human nature itself....
The heart of his message: be perfectly, utterly unselfish. From this flows
the practice of charity, compassion and service. His great contribution
was
as
an embodiment of this message and exemplar of moral purity, and ethical
idealism.
Read the article.
1.
In Mahayana Buddhism, a deity or being that has attained nirvana but
remains in the human world to help others.
See also:
BUDDHA: the
Compassionate
one,
Questions Arising on
the Path
and
TRUTH: THE HIGHEST PRINCIPLE
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Note: All "Words of Wisdom" are quotations from Paul Hourihan, unless otherwise noted.
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