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Sacred Texts: Buddhism

Chapter III. The Religious System of Sakyamuni

19th Century BuddhologyBuddhist IconographyTibetan Buddhism

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This is a scholarly exposition of early Buddhist doctrine, drawn from what appears to be a 19th-century academic work on Buddhism (likely a Western comparative religion text, given the extensive footnotes citing Burnouf, Hardy, Köppen, and other Orientalist scholars). The text outlines the foundational philosophical framework of Buddhism as taught by Sākyamuni (the historical Buddha): that all existence is suffering, driven by desire and karma across infinite rebirths, and that liberation (Nirvāna) comes through the extinguishing of passion and craving. It then systematically presents the Four Noble Truths — suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path to cessation — followed by the Eightfold Path, which ranges from right opinion and judgment to right meditation and memory. A notable scholarly caveat is offered: the author acknowledges debate over whether Sākyamuni himself formulated the Four Truths in precisely this canonical form, though the author includes the Eightfold Path on the grounds that early Sūtras attribute it to him. The text also notes that by the time of writing, Buddhist tradition had already evolved to place Sākyamuni within a longer lineage of past and future Buddhas — a later theological development the author identifies as introduced by the Sautrāntika school.

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