As is widely known, Gotama Buddha himself never wrote down his own teachings. After his death, some one and a half to two hundred years later, a group of his deciples, who had only orally handed down the teachings generation after generation, decided to write them down as a record. The record is now known as Pali Canon, which includes 17,520 Suttas.
At the age of fifty-one, in 1964, I began to learn the Suttas, said to be the true teachings of Gotama Buddha himself, in search of something true and sure in life. Now at eighty-nine years old, thirty-eight years since starting, I still continue to learn the Gotama Buddhism.
Some twenty years ago, I finally managed to write and publish a booklet, 'The Teachings of Gotama Buddha: Gotama Buddhism', after I had understood the ultimate (highest) of his teachings by practicing the Eightfold Path as shown in the Pali Canon.
Now I remember, I used to read it rapidly or sometimes just peruse. Its fundamentals, as I identified myself, are totally different from Mahayana Buddhism, known as Bukkyo in Japanese. Bukkyo teaches about the 'hotoke', the soul, one's former life or life after one's death and the trans- migration of the soul. The Buddha never taught the Bukkyo widely known today, nor metaphysics, nor even religion.
What the Buddha actually taught is the Four Truths and the ceasing of greed, anger, and foolishness instead. I wish for you to understand the true teachings of Gotama Buddha presented in Pali Canon as a guideline for your own lives. This booklet can provide you with useful instructions for your easy learning.
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