This letter presents a fully mythologized, luminous account of the life of Gautama Buddha, beginning long before his earthly birth. Hall describes the Bodhisattva Prabhapala dwelling in the Tushita heaven, perceiving that one final incarnation remained before Nirvana. The descent into Maya’s womb is framed as a cosmic event marked by celestial music, radiant light, and prophetic visions—an elephant with six tusks entering her side, astrologers foretelling a world‑ruler or world‑teacher, and the miraculous birth beneath a flowering sala tree. Hall follows Siddhartha’s sheltered youth in Kapilavastu, his marriage to Yasodhara, and the four visions—old age, sickness, death, and the serene monk—that shatter his protected ignorance and awaken the irresistible call to renunciation. The dramatic night‑escape, the cutting of his princely hair, and his years of fruitless austerity culminate in the moment beneath the banyan tree when Mara’s temptations dissolve and Siddhartha attains perfect illumination, becoming the twenty‑ninth Buddha.

The second half of the letter shifts from narrative to doctrine, outlining the foundations, evolution, and distortions of Buddhist philosophy. Hall contrasts the original ethical‑philosophical agnosticism of early Buddhism with the later ritualism and theological elaboration that developed across Asia. He explains the distinction between Hinayana (“small vehicle”) and Mahayana (“large vehicle”), noting how the former preserved severity while the latter broadened accessibility but drifted toward idolatry and magic. Hall then presents the core disciplines: the Ten Buddhist Commandments for monks, the Noble Eightfold Path for all practitioners, and the ten “fetters” of illusion that bind consciousness to suffering. He concludes with Buddhism’s metaphysical structure—Universal Self, the impermanence of the phenomenal world, reincarnation, karma, and the gradual dissolution of illusion—arguing that Buddhism offers a profound yet simple philosophy capable of guiding both the wise and the ordinary toward clarity, harmlessness, and liberation.