His Greatness

The efficient way in which He maintained the discipline of His numerous followers, especially His Orders of Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis, testifies to His unsurpassed administrative ability. He anticipated even the present Parliamentary system.

Lord Zetland writes:

"And it may come as a surprise to many to learn that in assemblies of Buddhists in India, two thousand years and more ago, are to be found the rudiments of our own Parliamentary practice of the present day."

The most notable characteristic of the Buddha was His absolute purity and perfect holiness. He was so pure and so holy that He should be called "The Holiest of Holies." He was the perfect model of all the virtues He preached. His life had not a stain upon it." On no occasion did the Buddha manifest any moral weakness. Everybody that came in contact with Him acknowledged His indisputable greatness and was deeply influenced by His magnetic personality.

His will, wisdom, compassion, service, renunciation, perfect purity, exemplary personal life, the blameless methods that were employed to propagate the Dhamma, and His final success - all these factors have contributed to hail the Buddha as the greatest religious Teacher that ever lived on earth.

Hindus honor Him as an incarnation of Vishnu. Christians have canonized Him as Saint ) Joshaphat (a corruption of Pali term Bodhisatta). Muslims regard Him as a spiritual teacher. Rationalists treat Him as a great freethinker. H.G. Wells, the distinguished thinker, assigned to Him the first place amongst the seven great men in the world. The poet Tagore calls Him the Greatest Man ever born.

Fausboll, a Russian admirer, says:

"The more I know Him, the more I love Him."

A humble follower would say:

"The more I know Him, the more I love Him; the more I love Him, the more I know Him."