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in Christianity are Roman Catholics, Protestants, and The Orthodox Communion, while in
Islam, we find Sunni and Shiite, and in Buddhism, Theravada and Mahayana. 6) What is
the most potent symbol of this religion? Examples include the five-pointed star, the cross,
the crescent, and the golden temple (of the Sikhs).
The wise traveler who pursues these questions will apprehend a country and its culture
in far richer relief than by visiting a checklist of monuments, churches, and public build-
ings. [171]
THE BUDDHA AND HIS FOLLOWERS
With a boundless heart
Should one cherish all living beings;
Radiating love over the entire world
Spreading upward to the skies,
And downward to the depths.
— The Buddha, Words of Love (The Metta Sutta )
THE CONTEXT
Says professor Lucien Stryk, “The Sixth Century B.C. has been called the most remarkable
in the spiritual history of mankind…” [172] It produced Mahavira, Lao-Tze, Confucius,
Zarathustra, Paramenides, and not least, the Buddha. Extend the time frame from 800 to
200 BCE, and we confront the Axial Age, a period “pivotal to humanity,” [173] because the
Axial Age also includes the great Hebrew prophets of the sixth, seventh, and eighth centur-
ies, as well as Socrates and Plato (c. 427-327 BCE):
The Axial Age marks the beginning of humanity as we now know it. During this peri-
od, men and women became conscious of their existence, their own nature and their limita-
tions in an unprecedented way. The experience of utter impotence in a cruel world impelled
them to seek the highest goal and an absolute reality in the depths of their being. The great
sages of the time taught human beings how to cope with the misery of life, transcend their
weakness, and live in peace in the midst of this flawed world. [174] This last sentence ap-
plies with ringing resonance to the life and teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, who would
later be known as the Buddha.
THE BUDDHA: EARLY LIFE
Tradition has it that Siddhartha was born sometime around 560 BCE in northern India, in
the Gangetic Plain in an area close to present-day Nepal, about one hundred miles from
 
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