The Buddha (The Awakened)
Buddhism — the Buddha’s Path of Verses · text: Translated by F. Max Müller (Sacred Books of the East, 1881) — Project Gutenberg eBook #2017 (public domain). Highlighted passages are answered beneath the text.
179He whose conquest is not conquered again, into whose conquest no one in this world enters, by what track can you lead him, the Awakened, the Omniscient, the trackless?
180He whom no desire with its snares and poisons can lead astray, by what track can you lead him, the Awakened, the Omniscient, the trackless?
181Even the gods envy those who are awakened and not forgetful, who are given to meditation, who are wise, and who delight in the repose of retirement (from the world).
182Difficult (to obtain) is the conception of men, difficult is the life of mortals, difficult is the hearing of the True Law, difficult is the birth of the Awakened (the attainment of Buddhahood).
183Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one's mind, that is the teaching of (all) the Awakened.
184The Awakened call patience the highest penance, long-suffering the highest Nirvana; for he is not an anchorite (pravragita) who strikes others, he is not an ascetic (sramana) who insults others.
185Not to blame, not to strike, to live restrained under the law, to be moderate in eating, to sleep and sit alone, and to dwell on the highest thoughts,--this is the teaching of the Awakened.
186There is no satisfying lusts, even by a shower of gold pieces; he who knows that lusts have a short taste and cause pain, he is wise;
187Even in heavenly pleasures he finds no satisfaction, the disciple who is fully awakened delights only in the destruction of all desires.
188Men, driven by fear, go to many a refuge, to mountains and forests, to groves and sacred trees. ★ REFUTED
Frightened men flee to mountains, forests, groves, and sacred trees — and the Buddha rightly says these are no safe refuge. But his own refuge is the 'three jewels': Buddha, the doctrine, the order — teachers and teachings, all dead or dying. The Bible offers a refuge with a name and a cross: 'God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble' (Psalm 46:1) — a living Saviour who says, 'him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.'
189But that is not a safe refuge, that is not the best refuge; a man is not delivered from all pains after having gone to that refuge.
190He who takes refuge with Buddha, the Law, and the Church; he who, with clear understanding, sees the four holy truths:--
191Viz. pain, the origin of pain, the destruction of pain, and the eightfold holy way that leads to the quieting of pain;-- ★ REFUTED
The 'four truths' and the eightfold way are Buddhism's gospel: pain, its origin in desire, its destruction, and the path a man walks himself. Note what is missing — God, grace, forgiveness, a saviour. The Christian answer is not a better path but a Person and a finished work: 'I am the way, the truth, and the life' (John 14:6); 'by grace are ye saved through faith... not of works.' A path you must walk perfectly is a treadmill; the gospel is a gift.
192That is the safe refuge, that is the best refuge; having gone to that refuge, a man is delivered from all pain.
193A supernatural person (a Buddha) is not easily found, he is not born everywhere. Wherever such a sage is born, that race prospers.
194Happy is the arising of the awakened, happy is the teaching of the True Law, happy is peace in the church, happy is the devotion of those who are at peace.
195–196He who pays homage to those who deserve homage, whether the awakened (Buddha) or their disciples, those who have overcome the host (of evils), and crossed the flood of sorrow, he who pays homage to such as have found deliverance and know no fear, his merit can never be measured by anybody.