ISBN-13: 9780872432178

This selection of fundamental Buddhist texts translated and edited by Henry Clarke Warren will give the reader a basic understanding of the doctrine of more than 250,000,000 believers. Siddhartha Gautama, known as Buddha, the "Awakened," was the son of the ruler of a region in northern India. Born about 557 B.C. a warrior prince, he concluded that he must seek a wisdom beyond that of the material world and, sitting under the sacred fig-tree in Bodhi Gaya, he became illumined and saw the Great Truths. Henceforth he was "Buddha." Beginning his ministry at Benares, he first converted five monks who had been his fellows in asceticism, then many of the noble youths of the city, then a thousand Brahman priests. His creed has subsequently spread throughout the world and his followers constitute one of the largest religious groups in the world.