Buddha himself did not write anything. The essence of his teachings is contained in the Sermon of “Setting in Motion the Wheel of Righteousness”.
He exhorts those who wish to lead a religious life to avoid the two extremes of self indulgence and self mortification and to follow the middle way.
He enunciates the four nobel truths (1) the first truth is about the existence of suffering and unhappiness in the world (2) the second truth declares the cause of suffering and unhappiness is selfish craving (3) the third truth gives the assurance that selfish craving and unhappiness can be destroyed (4) the fourth truth shows the way leading to the removal of sorrow and1 unhappiness and the realization of peace and happiness.
Buddha gives the wonderful exposition of the Eightfold Path leading to the end of suffering and unhappiness. Buddhas’s first important doctrine is that everything in the realm of phenomenal existence is in change and is transitory.
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Whatever becomes passes away, whatever is burn, must die. Every living creature is a compound of elements, sooner or later they must dissolve. Hence a realistic acceptance to death is an essential part of true adjustment to reality.
His second doctrine is the essential connection in Buddha’s experience and teachings, between a realistic acceptance of death and the realisation of an outgoing compassion towards all living beings that like us are subject to such ills and suffering.
Buddha’s noteworthy achievement was the abolition of the caste system. He declared that a Brahmin is a Brahmin not by birth but by the work and deed he does, he is Brahmin by*the virtue of his devotion to truth and his righteous life.
He taught that a man is responsible for his own actions. His happiness and unhappiness are a result of his own thoughts and deeds. Buddha often referred to the Dharma, the true faith as Brahmanacariyam the way of Brahma.
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He said that one who leads a noble true life will after death become united with Brahman. The goal of all Buddhism as of all religions is Nirvana which is the original message of the Buddha meaning soul’s return to God, the union of the finite with the infinite.