The Life of Buddha and Its Lessons
The Life of Buddha and Its Lessons
In the late 19th century, Henry Steel Olcott became one of the first Americans to formally embrace Buddhism. This book, written with the conviction of a convert and the rigor of a scholar, traces the arc of one of history's most transformative lives: from the cushioned palaces of a Nepalese prince to the Bodhi tree where he attained enlightenment. Olcott recounts Siddhartha's shocking renunciation, his years of ascetic searching, and his eventual awakening as the Buddha. He explores the core teachings that emerged from that moment: the nature of suffering, the path to its cessation, and the radical possibility of liberation from desire. Written for readers seeking to understand Buddhism's foundations, Olcott emphasizes the practical wisdom embedded in Buddha's life, showing how compassion, mindfulness, and the questioning of worldly attachment remain urgent tools for navigating modern existence. The book endures because it captures both the biographical drama of an extraordinary journey and the timeless philosophy that grew from it.
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“A profound impression was created by the discourses of Professor GN Chakravarti and Mrs Besant, who is said to have risen to unusual heights of eloquence, so exhilarating were the influences of the gathering. Besides those who represented our society and religions, especially Vivekananda, VR Gandhi, Dharmapala, captivated the public, who had only heard of Indian people through the malicious reports of interested missionaries, and were now astounded to see before them and hear men who represented the ideal of spirituality and human perfectibility as taught in their respective sacred writings.””
— Henry Steel Olcott
“Eternal Rest. If I have the temerity to prefer my own definition of the spirit of Buḍḍha's doctrine, it is because I think that all the misconceptions of it have arisen from a failure to understand his idea of what is real and what is unreal, what worth longing and striving for and what not. From this misconception have come all the unfounded charges that Buḍḍhism is an "atheistical," that is to say, a grossly materialistic, a nihilistic, a negative, a vice-breeding religion. Buḍḍhism denies the existence of a personal God”
— Henry Steel Olcott
“Everything in the world of Matter is unreal; the only reality is in the world of Spirit.””
— Henry Steel Olcott
“He found that the pleasures of the eye, the ear, the taste, touch and smell are fleeting and deceptive: he who gives value to them brings only disappointment and bitter sorrow upon himself.””
— Henry Steel Olcott
“This process of euhemerisation, as it is called, or the making of men into gods and gods into men, sometimes, though more rarely, begins during the life of the hero, but usually after death. The true history of his life is gradually amplified and decorated with fanciful incidents, to fit it to the new character which has been posthumously given him.””
— Henry Steel Olcott
“The thoughtful student, in scanning the religious history of the race, has one fact continually forced upon his notice, viz., that there is an invariable tendency to deify whomsoever shows himself superior to the weakness of our common humanity.””
— Henry Steel Olcott
“teachings of this heroic prince of Kapilavasṭu? Lessons””
— Henry Steel Olcott
“display vanity in their worship and ostentation in their almsgiving; that they are fostering sects as bitterly as Hinḍūs? So much the worse for the laymen: there is the example of Buḍḍha and his Law. Am I told that Buḍḍhist priests are ignorant, idle fosterers of superstitions grafted on their religion by foreign kings? So much the worse for the priests: the life of their Divine Master shames them and shows their unworthiness to wear his yellow robe or carry his beggar's””
— Henry Steel Olcott
