Customer Reviews

The Gospel of Buddha

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This is a nice book for Christians who wish to grasp the message and principle beliefs of Buddhism. Carus presents the Buddha's life in a collection of stories from his birth, attainment of enlightenment, teaching, to his death. Well written, it emulates the biblical style of the King Jame's Bible, occasionally puncuated with Ye, Thou, Thy, and so on. The stories are enjoyable but short and somewhat numerous. Also included is a glossary of terms and a concordance with passages in the New Testament. This edition has been reset and lacks the original intricate illustrations by Olga Kopetzky. The pages of the book were also stragely scented. I bought this to have a hardcover version but prefer the Open Court copy made from the original plates.

Although this is a really old and linguistically dated, for a variety of reasons this is the simplest place for a person familiar with the Gospels to begin an inquiry into the life of the Buddha (as opposed to Buddhism as a religion generally-- which is much to broad for this book to cover in its just over three hundred pages....) For a book that is almost one hundred years old, its author did a remarkable job of summarizing the sutras that detail the life of the Buddha and in providing charts, etc. such that Christians would grasp that yes, this man was teaching many of the same things as was the man who taught in their Bible.....

This is a good place to learn about the Buddha's life. However, a person versed only in this book would not be familiar with most of the forms of Buddhism as they were actually practiced-- it would be difficult to identify HOW Zen of Pure Land or Vajrayana Buddhism came to be having just this little book much in the same wasy it would be impossible to determine how Christianity had changed and developed throughout time having only the record provided in the New Testament, or Judaism having only the Pentatuch.....

For those acquainted with Buddhist literature, this book is vaguely similar in content to the Digha Nikaya ("The Long Discourses of the Buddha") in that both are trying to portray how Buddhism, or the thought and teachings of the Buddha were portrayed at the time of his life as opposed to any kind of philosophy, etc. which developed later (the Mahayana stuff). For those interested in this stuff, I would advise books by Robert Thurman (there are a number) and D.T. Suzuki (again, the same) as the easiest to understand in regards to Indian and Tibetan forms and East Asian and Zen forms respectively.

I highly recommend this book....

311 pages, illustrated. This is a nice book for Christians who wish to grasp the message and principle beliefs of Buddhism. Carus presents the Buddha's life in a collection of stories from his birth, attainment of enlightenment, teaching, to his death. Well written, it emulates the biblical style of the King Jame's Bible, occasionally puncuated with Ye, Thou, Thy, and so on. The stories are enjoyable but short and somewhat numerous. This edition appears to be made from the original plates, with original intricate illustrations made for the work by Olga Kopetzky. Also included is a glossary of terms and a concordance with passages in the New Testament. This book convinced me that Christianity is historically the child of both Judaism and Buddhism.

I have read a lot of books of buddhism, but this book impress me a lot because it is written clearly with lucid english with a clear and authorative records on early buddhism based on historical facts, I feel happy and hope it can one day be appreciated by chinese readers and perhaps such classical book be translated to other languages and I hope great publicity be given to this book to create a greater awareness of the noble teachings of buddha and to remove common misconceptions about buddhism. Please declare it to the public for anyone who may wish to publish it or duplicate it for further circulation and distribution free of charge to the thirsty world is quest of noble truth. I hope to see more of such books with such fluent and beautiful language and pray for its greater success asoka lai singapore feb 98 i

Carus was an interesting figure in Anglo-American philosophy and we owe him much. He was a friend to and publisher of the great Charles Peirce, when he was universally condemned and shunted by the academic community, and a champion of many other philosophies, which were most definitely not mainstream in 19th century America, through his Open Court Press. He promoted Eastern philosophies which were a novelty at the time (circa 1890s)and translated Buddhist and Taoist texts.
The Dhammapada is an exquisite and essential collection of the basic philosophy of Buddhism, in what we would call blank verse, a pocket-size distillation of the huge Tripitaka (the general collection of the original discourses of the Buddha) made by monks about 700 years after his death in the early 5th century B.C.
This particular translation is, in my opinion, somewhat antiquated, has been superceded by many others, which are more contemporary, poetic, accurate, and/or informative. I like the diminuative volume available from Auroville Press, with commentaries of the Mother, recorded in the late 1950's.

Paul Carus (1852-1919) was a German-American author, editor, and professor of philosophy, who referred to himself as "an atheist who loved God." He was also a key figure in the introduction of Buddhism to the West (e.g., sponsoring translations of Buddhist scriptures by D.T. Suzuki).

He wrote in the Preface to this 1894 book, "The best evidence that this book characterizes the spirit of Buddhism correctly can be found in the welcome it has received throughout the entire Buddhist world... Buddhism, like Christianity, is split up into innumerable sections... 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... 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."

Here are some additional quotations from the book (NOTE: page numbers are for the 311-page 1990 Open Court edition):

"Women are competent, Ananda, if they retire from household life to the homeless state, under the doctrine and discipline announced by the Tathagata, to attain to the fruit of conversion, to attain to a release from wearisome repetition of rebirths, to attain to saintship." (Pg. 92)
"There is no material that exists for the production of Name and Form; and when Name and Form cease, they do not go anywhither in space. After Name and Form have ceased, they do not exist anywhere in the shape of heaped-up music material. Thus when a lute is played upon, there is no previous store of sound; and when the music ceases it does not go anywhither in space. When it has ceased, it exists nowhere in a stored-up state. Having previously been non-existent, it came into existence on account of the structure and stem of the lute and the exertions of the performer; as as it came into existence so it passes away." (Pg. 114)
"I forbid you, O bhikkhus, to employ any spells or supplications, for they are useless, since the law of karma governs all things. He who attempts to perform miracles has not understood the doctrine of the Tathagata." (Pg. 121)
"There is rebirth of character, but no transmigration of a self. Thy thought-forms reappear, but there is no ego-entity transferred. The stanza uttered by a teacher is reborn in the scholar who repeats the words." (Pg. 153)
"'Where is thy self?' asked the Buddha... 'Thy self to which thou cleavest is a constant change. Years ago thou was a small babe; then, thou wast a boy; then a youth, and now, thou art a man. Is there any identity of the babe and the man?" (Pg. 158)
"Star-gazing and astrology, forecasting lucky or unfortunate events by signs, prognosticating good or evil, all these are things forbidden." (Pg. 236)

Here is a quaint, lovely volume of Buddhist wisdom. I would not say it's the best place for the non-buddhist layman to start because it has a certain religious undertone that some people could find off-putting, but for the Buddhist person this could prove to be an invaluable tool to deepen their knowledge of the Buddha and his teachings. It reminds me of Goddard's "A buddhist bible," though it is not a literal transcription of sacred texts as Goddard's and makes easier reading.
Encompassed in less than three hundred pages you will find a good description of the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the most relevant sacred texts (from both Pali and Chinese sources)and parables of the Buddha.
The language is rather dated but taking into account that the book is over hundred years old (I have the 1904 version and the original was written in 1894), the effort is noteworthy.
Paul Carus is well-versed in his subject and his work transpires love and respect for Buddhism. Nowadays we have Walpola Rahula, Thich Nhat Hanh and Jack Kornfield to render Buddhism more accesible to the Western mind, but this volume will make a nice addition to your buddhist library.
It is a constant in my handbag and makes enlightening reading in bus rides, waiting rooms, long queues and over a cup of coffee (sorry, green tea) when I can carve some time to myself.

Interesting book. Really like it and I received it very quickly and in the condition that was stated. Thanks for you quick service.

are well examined and put forward in this work by Carus. This copy, printed in 1915 I recently found in a used bookshop in Cambridge, MA. I knew immediately there was something special about the book when I picked it up.

Carus presents the teachings and discourse of Siddhartha Gautama in an historical, as well as spiritual manner. It reads rather like a bible would, and I am interested to learn if he set it up in this manner.

The story of the Buddha's early life of luxury, which he forsook to discover himself, as well as the source of the suffering in this world is something that many of other faiths will find remarkable. What is remarkable, and what I have known as a Buddhist, is that many of the parables and stories heard across all faiths are essentially the same stories, with different names. Carus also presents an appendix, noting the many intriguing paralells between the Bible and Buddha's recorded history.

The main point to be found in all this is that our many faiths really come from much the same source, and that which is postulated in each is saying much the same thing. Love thy neighbor, respect others, help to relieve suffering, and so on. Within this book, is an example of putting that into practice.