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....
What Sets The Buddha Apart
As he was sitting there, Moggallana the Guardsman said to Ven. Ananda: "Master Ananda, is there any one monk endowed in each and every way with the qualities with which Master Gotama -- worthy and rightly self awakened -- was endowed?"
"No, Brahmin, there isnt any one monk endowed in each and every way with the qualities with which the Blessed One -- worthy and rightly self awakened -- was endowed. For the Blessed One was the arouser of the un arisen path, the begetter of the un begotten path, the expounder of the un expounded path, the knower of the path, the expert with regard to the path, adept at the path. And now his disciples follow the path and become endowed with it after him."
[MN 108]