A Sketch of the Buddha's Life
Readings from the Pali Canon
13,055 words
This modest selection of excerpts from the Pali Canon provides a rough sketch of the life of the Buddha. I hope you will find enough in this rather sparse selection to gain at least an inkling both of the range of the Buddhas teachings and of the sweeping trajectory of his extraordinary life....
The Buddha Recommends Four Pilgrimage Sites
"There are four places, Ananda, that a pious person should visit and look upon with feelings of reverence. What are the four?
"Here the Tathagata was born! This, Ananda, is a place that a pious person should visit and look upon with feelings of reverence.
"Here the Tathagata became fully enlightened in unsurpassed, supreme Enlightenment! This, Ananda, is a place that a pious person should visit and look upon with feelings of reverence.
"Here the Tathagata set rolling the unexcelled Wheel of the Dhamma! This, Ananda, is a place that a pious person should visit and look upon with feelings of reverence.
"Here the Tathagata passed away into the state of Nibbana in which no element of clinging remains! This, Ananda, is a place that a pious person should visit and look upon with feelings of reverence."
[DN 16]