Sacred Books of the East: Comprising Vedic Hymns, Zend-Avesta, Dhamapada, Upanishads, the Koran, and the Life of BuddhaCosimo, Inc., 2007 M04 1 - 480 pages Collected in 1899 by Epiphanius Wilson, the works in this text are words of praise to the one unknown God, illustrating the spiritual connection between peoples spanning across continents and centuries. This volume includes hymns from the Hindu Vedas, thought to be the oldest sacred texts in the world; the Avesta of the Zoroastrians, from pre-Christian Middle East; the Dhammapada, transcribed words of the Buddha given to provide guidance to men; excerpts from the Upanishads, Indian scriptures meditating on the philosophy and nature of God; selections from the Koran, the words God spoke to the prophet Mohammed that formed the foundation of Islamic faith; and the poetic story of the life of Buddha. Seen together in one place, these holy writing beautifully illustrate the passion of the rich, worshipful tradition of the lands of the East. |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 30 | |
| 36 | |
| 51 | |
| 67 | |
| 76 | |
| 83 | |
Funerals and Purification | 91 |
Happiness | 132 |
Pleasure | 133 |
Anger | 134 |
XVIIIImpurity | 135 |
The Just | 137 |
The Way | 138 |
Miscellaneous | 140 |
The Downward Course | 141 |
Spells Recited During the Cleansing | 102 |
Praise of the Holy Bull | 108 |
To Rain as a Healing Power | 109 |
To the Waters and Light of the Moon IIO To the Waters and Light of the Stars | 110 |
THE DHAMMAPADA | 112 |
Introduction | 113 |
CHAPTER | 114 |
The TwinVerses | 115 |
On Earnestness | 117 |
Thought | 118 |
Flowers | 119 |
The Fool | 120 |
The Wise Man | 121 |
The Venerable | 123 |
The Thousands | 124 |
Evil | 125 |
Punishment | 126 |
Old Age | 128 |
Self | 129 |
The World | 130 |
The BuddhaThe Awakened | 131 |
The Elephant | 142 |
Thirst | 144 |
The Bhikshu | 146 |
The Brahmana | 148 |
THE UPANISHADS | 153 |
Introduction | 155 |
KAUSHITAKIUPANISHAD | 156 |
The Couch of Brahman | 157 |
Knowledge of the Living Spirit | 161 |
Life and Consciousness | 168 |
Introduction | 175 |
Chapter IEntitled the Preface | 211 |
Entitled the Family of Imran | 241 |
Entitled Women | 258 |
Entitled the Table | 276 |
LIFE OF BUDDHA | 292 |
CHAPTER II | 325 |
CHAPTER III | 351 |
CHAPTER IV | 386 |
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Common terms and phrases
Agni Ahura Mazda answered Angra Mainyu apostle Aspahê Aspahê-astra Avesta beauty Bhikshu birth and death Bodhisattva body born Brahman Brâhmana Buddha cause chariots cleanse clouds corpse Dakhma dead deeds defiled delights desire Devas Drug Nasu rushes dwell earth evil eyes faithful father fear fire give gods grief Hara Berezaiti hast hath hearing heart heaven heavenly heroes hither horses hundred stripes Indra king Koran living lord lust Maker Mâra Maruts material world mighty mind Mohammed mountains Nirvâna offer pain Parsis penalty perish Persia Peshôtanu praise prâna prayer prince rejoiced religion religious reverence righteous Rishi Rudra sacrifice Sanscrit Soma sorrow soul Spenta Armaiti Spitama Zarathustra splendor Sraoshô-karana strength strong things thou Holy Thou shalt sprinkle thought true believers truth Verily wealth whilst wisdom wise words worship worshippers of Mazda Yima Zend Zoroaster
Popular passages
Page 116 - If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage. All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts.
Page 116 - For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by love, this is an old rule.
Page 184 - David's life and history, as written for us in those Psalms of his, I consider to be the truest emblem ever given of a man's moral progress and warfare here below. All earnest souls will ever discern in it the faithful struggle of an earnest human soul towards what is good and best. Struggle often baffled, sore baffled, down as into entire wreck; yet a struggle never ended; ever, with tears, repentance, true unconquerable purpose, begun anew.
Page 246 - The apostles answered, We will be the helpers of God; we believe in God, and do thou bear witness that we are true believers. O Lord, we believe in that which thou hast sent down, and we have followed thy apostle; write us down therefore with those who bear witness of him. And the Jews devised a stratagem against him; but God devised a stratagem against them; and God is the best deviser of stratagems.
Page 239 - ... know them by this mark, they ask not men with importunity ; and what good ye shall give in alms, verily GOD knoweth it.
Page 135 - Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good; let him overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth!
Page 137 - The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of one's self is difficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbour's faults like chaff, but his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the player.
Page 199 - I must say, it is as toilsome reading as I ever undertook. A wearisome confused jumble, crude, incondite; endless iterations, longwindedness, entanglement ; most crude, incondite; — insupportable stupidity, in short! Nothing but a sense of duty could carry any European through the Koran.
Page 182 - A greater number of God's creatures believe in Mohammed's word at this hour than in any other word whatever. Are we to suppose that it was a miserable piece of spiritual legerdemain, this which so many creatures of the Almighty have lived by and died by ? I, for my part, cannot form any such supposition. I will believe most things sooner than that. One would be entirely at a loss what to think of this world at all, if quackery so grew and were sanctioned here.
Page 74 - Zarathustra ! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him thus says the Earth :