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IV. BUDDHISM
Buddhahood
BUDDHISM was the only religious and philosophical message of India to spread far beyond the borders of its homeland. Conquering Asia to the north and east, it became in those vast areas the creed of the masses and shaped the civilization for centuries. This tends to conceal the fact that in essence Buddhism is meant only for the happy few. The philosophical doctrine at the root of the numerous fascinating popular features is not the kind of teaching that one would have expected to see made readily accessible to all. In fact, of the numerous answers that have been offered, during the millenniums, in all quarters of the world, as solutions to life's enigmas, this onc must be ranked as the most uncompromising, obscure, and paradoxical.
The Buddhist monks of Ceylon tell us how-according to their tradition-the Order of the Buddha, the “Awakened One," was founded. The great princely yogi, Gautama sākyamuni, departed in secret from the palace and kingdom of his father
1 A convenient rendition of the pertinent texts will be found in Henry Clarke Warren, Buddhism in Translations, Harvard Oriental Series, Vol. III, Cambridge, Mass., 1922.
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