Hello dear sangha
Last night I listened to one of the most interesting dharma podcasts I have heard for a very long time, about the mother and aunt of the Buddha (Mahamayana and Prajapati), and the development of the early female sangha:
The speaker, Wendy Garling is the author of the book Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of the Women in the Buddha's Life, and is writing a follow-up volume on Prajapati, the Buddha's aunt who was the women who raised him after the death of his birth mother.
In the talk she shares some less well known texts and stories, including an oral teaching about the final words of the Buddha's mother, Mahamaya, to her sister as she lay dying.
And this poem by Prajapati from the Therigatha (poems of early Buddhist nuns) speaking about her adopted son, the Buddha:
Buddha! Hero! Praise be to you!
You foremost among all beings!
You who have released me from pain,
And so many other beings too.
All suffering has been understood.
The source of craving has withered.
Cessation has been touched by me
On the noble eight-fold path.
I've been mother and son before;
And father, brother — grandmother too.
Not understanding what was real,
I flowed-on without finding [peace].
But now I've seen the Blessed One!
This is my last compounded form.
The on-flowing of birth has expired.
There's no more re-becoming now.
See the gathering of followers:
Putting forth effort, self controlled,
Always with strong resolution
—This is how to honor the Buddhas!
Surely for the good of so many
Did Maya give birth to Gotama,
Who bursts asunder the mass of pain
Of those stricken by sickness and death.
Of course, we do not know exactly what happened at that time, as teachings were transmitted orally and only written down at a later date but I found this talk to be incredibly moving and inspiring, filling in some of the missing feminine parts of early Buddhism, and giving me great gratitude for the women in the Buddha's life who both raised him and were a cause of the development of the lineage of Buddhist nuns.
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-
Last night I listened to one of the most interesting dharma podcasts I have heard for a very long time, about the mother and aunt of the Buddha (Mahamayana and Prajapati), and the development of the early female sangha:
The speaker, Wendy Garling is the author of the book Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of the Women in the Buddha's Life, and is writing a follow-up volume on Prajapati, the Buddha's aunt who was the women who raised him after the death of his birth mother.
In the talk she shares some less well known texts and stories, including an oral teaching about the final words of the Buddha's mother, Mahamaya, to her sister as she lay dying.
And this poem by Prajapati from the Therigatha (poems of early Buddhist nuns) speaking about her adopted son, the Buddha:
Buddha! Hero! Praise be to you!
You foremost among all beings!
You who have released me from pain,
And so many other beings too.
All suffering has been understood.
The source of craving has withered.
Cessation has been touched by me
On the noble eight-fold path.
I've been mother and son before;
And father, brother — grandmother too.
Not understanding what was real,
I flowed-on without finding [peace].
But now I've seen the Blessed One!
This is my last compounded form.
The on-flowing of birth has expired.
There's no more re-becoming now.
See the gathering of followers:
Putting forth effort, self controlled,
Always with strong resolution
—This is how to honor the Buddhas!
Surely for the good of so many
Did Maya give birth to Gotama,
Who bursts asunder the mass of pain
Of those stricken by sickness and death.
Of course, we do not know exactly what happened at that time, as teachings were transmitted orally and only written down at a later date but I found this talk to be incredibly moving and inspiring, filling in some of the missing feminine parts of early Buddhism, and giving me great gratitude for the women in the Buddha's life who both raised him and were a cause of the development of the lineage of Buddhist nuns.
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-
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