The Gospel of Buddha
Paul Carus · 1894
5.0 · 6 ratings
About the book
The Buddha's life and teaching arranged from the ancient records into one continuous narrative — birth, awakening, sermons, parables, death — by a philosopher-editor writing for readers raised on another gospel. For decades this was the book from which the West learned Buddhism.
Try the short course
Part 1 · Good news, told in a borrowed voice. The first six slides, free.
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The first words of the book are “Rejoice at the glad tidings!” Anyone raised in an English-speaking church in 1894 knew that phrase long before they knew anything about India. Glad tidings is how the old English Bible says gospel - and so, of course, is the title.
Carus was not being careless. He was a German-born philosopher in Illinois, writing for readers who had met the Buddha, if at all, through scholars’ translations. He chose to tell the story in the cadence of the Gospels: short numbered verses, “ye that suffer”, a Lord who brings comfort to the weary.
The effect is immediate. Before you have learned a single doctrine, the book has already told you what kind of book it is. Not a report on a foreign religion. Scripture.
Inside the course
15 parts- Rejoice: the prologue in Carus's scriptural keyFree above
- Samsara and nirvana defined; truth the saviour
- The Bodhisattva's birth and the ties of life
- The three woes, and the renunciation
Questions
Is The Gospel of Buddha free to read in Astra Trainer?
Yes. The full book opens free in the app’s reader, in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Russian.
What is the short course?
15 short parts that walk through the book’s key ideas in slides, each with a quick quiz. The first six slides are free to try on this page.
Where do I get the app?
Astra Trainer is free on the App Store and Google Play. The Gospel of Buddha is waiting in the app’s library.
