Buddha
The Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama. His father was the chief of the Shakya tribe, was one of the tribes of the region of Kosala, (the state of Bihar, near Nepal). Siddhartha Gautamma was borm 480 years before the birth of Lord Jesus Christ. He renounced the life of a prince, took his enlightenment or became the Buddha which means ‘to know’, similar to the Hindus Brahmin, he is the one who ‘knows God’
The departure.
At the age of 29, Siddhartha left his palace in order to meet his subjects. Despite his father’s effort to remove the sick, aged and suffering from the public view, Siddhartha was said to have seen an old man. Disturbed by this, when told that all people would eventually grow old by his charioteer Channa, the prince went on further trips where he encountered, variously, a diseased man, a decaying corpse, and an ascetic. Deeply depressed by these sights, he sought to overcome old age, illness, and death by living the life of an ascetic. Siddhartha escaped his palace, accompanied by Channa aboard his horse Kanthaka, leaving behind this royal life to become a monk. It is said that, “the horse’s hooves were muffled by the gods.”
Believe nothing,
no matter where you read it,
or who said it,
no matter if I have said it,
unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.
Hatred does not cease by hatred,
but only by love;
this is the eternal rule.
Have compassion for all beings,
rich and poor alike;
each has their suffering.
Some suffer too much,
others too little.
It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles.
Then the victory is yours.
It cannot be taken from you,
not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
No one saves us but ourselves.
No one can and no one may.
We ourselves must walk the path.
On life’s journey faith is nourishment,
virtuous deeds are a shelter,
wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night.
If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him.
Peace comes from within.
Do not seek it without.
Teach this triple truth to all:
A generous heart,
kind speech,
and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.
The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows.
The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past,
nor to worry about the future,
but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.
The tongue like a sharp knife… Kills without drawing blood.
The virtues,
like the Muses,
are always seen in groups.
A good principle was never found solitary in any breast.
The way is not in the sky.
The way is in the heart.
The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought,
sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.
The world, indeed,
is like a dream and the treasures of the world are an alluring mirage!
Like the apparent distances in a picture,
things have no reality in themselves,
but they are like heat haze.
There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth;
not going all the way, and not starting.
There has to be evil so that good can prove its purity above it.