THE GOD OF BUDDHA
James K Fozdar
Asia publishing house , Inc. New York
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This book is about the greatest enigma that has plagued Buddhism for over two thousand years and made it a “thing” apart from the other great religious systems of the world, much to Buddhism’s detriment.
Mr. Fozdar’s thesis dwells on a subject long since accepted as self-contradictory and hence taboo. Where God was they said. Buddha could not be and vice versa. Now we find upon deeper penetration of the Buddha’s message that it was not always so and that the true and meaning of His message can only be understood if the reality of His claim is predicated, as in the case of all other major religions, on the existence of God. Without a clear affirmation of the “Source of Divinity”, Buddhism seemed as a tree without roots in the ground of “being”, offering a meaningless extinction as its final fruit. Mr. Fozdar’s quest therfore has been to unearth and elaborate the Buddha’s own sayings concerning the nature of that Primal Cause acknowledged by Him so as to remove the long accepted fallacy that, unlike the other great reiligions of the world, Buddhism rests on no divine revelation and leads to no eternal ends beyond that of total annihilation of the individual consciousness.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
I. GAUTAMA THE BUDDHA
Birth and Background
Enlightenment
Divine Station
II. DOCTRINE
Renewal of Religion
Dharma
Faith
Renunciation
Detachment
Selfless Action
Doing One’s Duty
Moderation Concerning Food
The Meaning of Brahmin
Soul- Mind and Self
Soul-Mind
True Self
Non-Ego – Illusory Self
Heaven and Hell
The world of Devas (Gods) and Spirit Beings
III. NIRVANA
IV. THE GOD OF BUDDHA
Point and Counterpoint
- ‘Gods’, in our image, and the Unmanifest Brahma
- Creation and Creator
- Law and Law-Maker
Obviating the Absurdities
The Underlying Reality – God
EPILOGUE
GLOSSARY
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX