Why the Buddha was not a Buddhist
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An unique article by Sayagyi, Goenka (1924-2013) explaining this most unfortunate misconception that has kept millions away from experiencing the self-dependent, universal path of Vipassana - to directly experience truth of who we really are, and what is our real work in life. The Buddha did not teach Buddhism. During his lifetime, he did not convert a single person to Buddhism. One may be surprised hearing this because we have been hearing, speaking, reading and writing contrary to this fact for such a long time. The mind is conditioned to believing this misconception. But the historical truth is that the Buddha neither taught 'Buddhism' nor converted anyone to being a 'Buddhist'. The Buddha taught Vipassana, the universal, non-sectarian practice to remove self-generated suffering - by removing deep-rooted defilements in the mind. Instead, the word used everywhere for the Buddha's teaching is "Dhamma", not "Buddhist Dhamma". Whenever any adjec