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....
Lessons In How To Treat One's Parents
Support for ones parents,
assistance to ones wife and children,
consistency in ones work:
This is the highest protection.
[Sn II.4]
Mother and father
compassionate to their family
are called
Brahma,
the first teachers
those worthy of gifts from their children.
So the sage should pay them
homage
honor
with food and drink
clothing and bedding
anointing and bathing
washing their feet.
Performing these services to their parents, the wise
are praised here and now
and after death
rejoice in heaven.
[Iti 106]