The Word of the Buddha

Shammanusar

jā Nāṇazilokena bhikkh

dimo.

mama sissassa

sissassa

THE WORD

OF THE BUDDHA.

mayā

An outline of the ethico-philosophical
system of the Buddha, in the words of
the Pali Canon, together with Explan-
atory Notes.

BHIKKHU NYANATILOKA.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN

SASANAVAMSA.

Rangoon, 1907.

International Buddhist Society.

"One thing only, Brothers, do I make known:
Suffering and Deliverance from Suffering."

Add to Lib.

GIFT

PREFACE.

TAKE the liberty of prefacing a few words to the present English edition of "Das Wort des Buddha" which has been prepared from the German edition by the late Superintendent of the Buddhasāsana Samāgama, Mr. J. F. M'Kechnie, now known as Sāsanavamsa.

BL1451
N9

I would wish the Reader to know that "The Word of the Buddha is not intended as an introduction to the teaching of the Buddha, or as a book on Buddhism merely to be read through and then laid aside. Its aims are, to provide a systematically arranged outline of the Buddha's doctrine for the benefit of such as are already acquainted with its fundamental ideas, and to bring under a single aspect the various parts of that doctrine which at first sight appear to have no connection with one another, but which in fact, when viewed from this aspect, are found all to converge upon a single point,-Deliverance from Suffering, -as expressed by the Buddha Himself in the words I have used as motto: "One thing only, Brothers, do I make known: Suffering and Deliverance from Suffering."

Thus it is that the teaching of the Eightfold Path leading to the cessation of suffering constitutes the real essence of Buddhist doctrine, and only from the standpoint of that teaching do the different details find their due place.

I have given these expositions of Buddhist doctrine in the Buddha's own words, having brought them together from the five Nikayas or Collections of the Sutta-Piṭaka of the Pāli Canon. They have been put together in such a way as to form a connected whole, and thus provide, as it were, a guiding clue to the huge labyrinth of the Sutta-Piṭaka.

The notes, it may be added, are taken from the authoritative Pāli commentaries by Buddhaghosa and from the Abhidhamma. Very rarely have I used my own words. In this English edition they have been considerably expanded, and an Appendix has been added which throws light from another direction, so to speak, upon the Eightfold Path.

926

Great care has been taken to render the present work an accurate compendium of the teaching of the Buddha ; how far that care has resulted in success, I must leave to the judgment of my Readers.

NYANATILOKA,