The Appeals of Buddhism

The Buddha's message of non-violence and peace, of love and compassion, of tolerance and understanding, of truth and wisdom, of respect and regard for all life, of freedom from selfishness, hatred and violence, delivered over two thousand five hundred years ago, stands good for today and will stand forever as the Truth.

The Buddha taught that we must develop a heart of wisdom, a heart of love, a heart of understanding, to overcome the prevailing vices that have plagued man since the beginning of time.

Buddhism can teach humanity to walk the Middle Path of moderation and have a better understanding on how to lead a richer life of peace and happiness.

In the Three Greatest Men in History, H.G. Wells states:
'In the Buddha you see clearly a man, simple, devout, alone, battling for light, a vivid human personality, not a myth. He too gave a message to mankind universal in character. Many of our best modern ideas are in closest harmony with it. All the miseries and discontents of life are due, he taught, to selfishness. Before a man can become serene, he must cease to live for his senses or himself. Then he mergers into a greater being. Buddhism in a different language called men to self-forgetfulness 500 years before Christ. In some ways, he was nearer to us and our needs. He was more lucid upon our individual importance in service than Christ was and less ambiguous upon the question of personal immortality.'

Buddhism wins by the warm touch of love, not by the cold claws of fear. Fear of the supernatural and the doctrine of everlasting hell-fire have no place in Buddhism.

Buddhism is saturated with this spirit of free inquiry and complete tolerance. It is the teaching of the open mind and the sympathetic heart, which, lighting and warming the whole universe with its tiny rays of wisdom and compassion sheds its genial glow on every being struggling in the ocean of birth and death.

In Buddhism, there is no personal judge either to condemn or to reward but only the working of an impersonal moral causation and natural law.