Excerpts from Smith, Huston. The World’s Religions, Revised and Updated (PP.105-113). HarperOne. Kindle-Version.
Covered here in 7:16 minutes:
In this episode, I cover the four passing sights, his search, leaving the palace, the forest, Raja Yoga, Hindu philosophy, asceticism, the middle way, the immovable spot, his enlightenment, 45 years of ministry, his death, his simplicity, the constant pressure in his lifetime to make him a god, his confessions about his difficulties to attain enlightenment, and how he made an outcast one of his disciples.
“Buddhism begins with a man. In his later years, when India was afire with his message and kings themselves were bowing before him, people came to him even as they were to come to Jesus asking what he was.1 How many people have provoked this question—not “Who are you?” with respect to name, origin, or ancestry, but “What are you? What order of being do you belong to? What species do you represent?” Not Caesar, certainly. Not Napoleon, or even Socrates. Only two: Jesus and Buddha. When the people carried their puzzlement to the Buddha himself, the answer he gave provided an identity for his entire message.
“Are you a god?” they asked. “No.” “An angel?”
“No.” “A saint?” “No.” “Then what are you?”
Buddha answered, “I am awake.”
Brought to you by OM By The Beach (https://ombythebeach.com), Josef Schinwald, MDiv
