<aside>

[The Gospel of Buddha by Paul Carus (1915)](https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35895/35895-h/35895-h.htm#II)

The Gospel of Buddha by Paul Carus (1915)

</aside>

[Google Gemini tts (en) - generate speech (Charon) 6:06 | 17.6MB](attachment:a18c81e2-f113-4d6f-a9ca-cce79ccdf59d:chapter_02_en_gemini_charon_with_intro.wav)

Google Gemini tts (en) - generate speech (Charon) 6:06 | 17.6MB

  1. Look about and contemplate life!
  2. Everything is transient and nothing endures. There is birth and death, growth and decay; there is combination and separation.
  3. The glory of the world is like a flower 🪷: it stands in full bloom in the morning and fades in the heat of the day.
  4. Wherever you look 👀, there is a rushing and a struggling, and an eager pursuit of pleasure 💄. There is a panic flight from pain and death, and hot are the flames 🔥 of burning desires. The world is vanity fair, full of changes and transformations. All is Samsãra.
  5. Is there nothing permanent in this world? Is there in the universal turmoil no resting place where our troubled heart can find peace? Is there nothing everlasting?
  6. Oh, that we could have cessation of anxiety, that our burning desires would be extinguished! ❌ When shall the mind become tranquil 🪷 and composed?
  7. The Buddha (reincarnated as Jesus), our Lord, was grieved at the ills of life. He saw the vanity of worldly happiness and sought salvation in the one thing that will not fade or perish, but will abide for ever and ever.
  8. Those (ye) who long for life, know that immortality is hidden in transiency. Those (ye) who wish for happiness without the sting of regret, lead a life of righteousness. Those who yearn for riches, receive treasures that are eternal. Truth is wealth, and a life of truth is happiness.
  9. All compounds will be dissolved again, but the verities which determine all combinations and separations as laws of nature endure for ever and aye. Bodies fall to dust, but the truths of the mind will not be destroyed.
  10. Truth knows neither birth nor death; it has no beginning and no end. Welcome the truth. The truth is the immortal part of mind.
  11. Establish the truth in mind, for the truth is the image of the eternal; it portrays the immutable; it reveals the everlasting; the truth gives unto mortals the boon of immortality.
  12. The Buddha has proclaimed the truth; let the truth of the Buddha dwell in your hearts. Extinguish in yourselves every desire that antagonizes the Buddha, and in the perfection of your spiritual growth you will become like unto him.
  13. That of your heart which cannot or will not develop into Buddha must perish, for it is mere illusion and unreal; it is the source of your error; it is the cause of your misery.
  14. You attain immortality by filling your minds with truth. Therefore, become like unto vessels fit to receive the Master’s words. Cleanse yourselves of evil 🚿 and sanctify your lives. There is no other way of reaching truth 📕.
  15. Learn to distinguish between Self and Truth. Self is the cause of selfishness and the source of evil; truth cleaves to no self; it is universal and leads to justice and righteousness.
  16. Self, that which seems to those who love their self as their being, it is not the eternal, the everlasting, the imperishable. Seek not self, but seek the truth.
  17. If we liberate our souls from our petty selves, wish no ill to others, and become clear as a crystal diamond reflecting the light of truth, what a radiant picture will appear in us mirroring things as they are, without the admixture of burning desires, without the distortion of erroneous illusion, without the agitation of clinging and unrest.