E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Gauta’ma (g hard).
The chief deity of Burmah, whose favourite offering is a paper umbrella.
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The four sublime verities of Gauta’ma are as follows:
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(1) Pain exists.
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(2) The cause of pain is “birth sin.” The Buddhist supposes that man has passed through many previous existences, and all the heaped-up sins accumulated in these previous states constitute man’s “birth sin.”
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(3) Pain is ended only by Nirva’na.
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(4) The way that leads to Nirvana is—right faith, right judgment, right language, right purpose, right practice, right obedience, right memory, and right mediation (eight in all).
