Blessed is the solitude of one who joyfully knows and sees the truth;
Blessed is he who is steadfast and who knows how to restrain himself every hour,
Blessed is he who puts an end to all passions, all desires;
Victory over the obstinate self is the greatest bliss.
Mahavagga.
Gautama Buddha is one of the most brilliant personalities in human history. It is difficult to imagine a person to whom so much love, reverence and admiration would be expressed.
Great compassion and love for all people radiated from his entire being, and people reciprocated. He preached for more than forty years, and from all sides both the mighty and the common people flocked to him to touch his feet and receive his blessing.
Buddha brought new understanding and new requirements to Vedic culture.
If the prophets who came before him directed their efforts to develop faith in the One God in their followers, then Buddha destroyed in the minds of his disciples any blind, unconscious belief, because it prevented the mind from soaring to the spirit.
There was no contradiction in this. For his followers, the stage of descending evolution, when a person was required to believe and obey, ended, and a stage began that can be expressed by the word “cognize.”
The teachings of the Buddha encouraged students to independently search, to realize the Highest Divine Nature within themselves and to follow only Her.
The number of his students reached ten thousand. The Buddha's light was so great that dozens of enlightened, self-realized people simultaneously appeared in one place. This light illuminated India for many centuries after his departure.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru