Bodhisattas' mothers' short-livedness

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
Post Reply
Lombardi4
Posts: 1551
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2009 2:53 pm

Bodhisattas' mothers' short-livedness

Post by Lombardi4 »

Stumbled across this sutta.

Why does every Bodhisattas' mother pass away 7 days after the Buddha-to-be's birth?
User avatar
DNS
Site Admin
Posts: 17186
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:15 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, Estados Unidos de América
Contact:

Re: Bodhisattas' mothers' short-livedness

Post by DNS »

Good question. Maybe the Commentaries address a reason for that? I don't have access to all of the commentaries yet.

One possibility I have heard is that the Bodhisattas are all born from their mother's side, suggesting a Caesarian section was performed. In those days, medical care was no where near the quality of today and many women died shortly thereafter.

Apparently there have been C-sections performed before modern hospitals:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarean_section#History" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
User avatar
Fede
Posts: 1182
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:33 pm
Location: The Heart of this "Green & Pleasant Land"...
Contact:

Re: Bodhisattas' mothers' short-livedness

Post by Fede »

She dies, because she must bear no other being.

According to this:

http://www.viet.net/~anson/ebud/ebdha238.htm

(Scroll down to "The Emergence from Tusita heaven").
"Samsara: The human condition's heartbreaking inability to sustain contentment." Elizabeth Gilbert, 'Eat, Pray, Love'.

Simplify: 17 into 1 WILL go: Mindfulness!

Quieta movere magna merces videbatur. (Sallust, c.86-c.35 BC)
Translation: Just to stir things up seemed a good reward in itself. ;)

I am sooooo happy - How on earth could I be otherwise?! :D


http://www.armchairadvice.co.uk/relationships/forum/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
User avatar
SDC
Posts: 9062
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:08 pm

Re: Bodhisattas' mothers' short-livedness

Post by SDC »

To add to what Fede has found...

From the notes/commentary for Acchariya-abbhuta Sutta (Sutta 123) of the MN, in the Bhikkhu Nanamoli/Bhikkhu Bodhi translation:

"(The mother's death) happened, not through a defect in the birth, but through the expiration of her lifespan; for the place (in the womb) occupied by the Bodhisatta, like the inner chamber of a cetiya, is not to be used by others."

I looked but could not find some other info you may be interested in regarding the Buddha traveling to the Tusita heaven to teach the Dhamma to his mother.
“Life is swept along, short is the life span; no shelters exist for one who has reached old age. Seeing clearly this danger in death, a seeker of peace should drop the world’s bait.” SN 1.3
User avatar
mikenz66
Posts: 19941
Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2009 7:37 am
Location: Aotearoa, New Zealand

Re: Bodhisattas' mothers' short-livedness

Post by mikenz66 »

Hi SDC,


Abhidhamma Pitaka
The Basket of Abhidhamma
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/abhi/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
According to tradition, the essence of the Abhidhamma was formulated by the Buddha during the fourth week after his Enlightenment.[1] Seven years later he is said to have spent three consecutive months preaching it in its entirety in one of the deva realms, before an audience of thousands of devas (including his late mother, the former Queen Maya), each day briefly commuting back to the human realm to convey to Ven. Sariputta the essence of what he had just taught.[2] Sariputta mastered the Abhidhamma and codified it into roughly its present form. Although parts of the Abhidhamma were recited at the earlier Buddhist Councils, it wasn't until the Third Council (ca. 250 BCE) that it became fixed into its present form as the third and final Pitaka of the canon.[3]

Notes

[1] Handbook of Pali Literature, by Somapala Jayawardhana (Colombo: Karunaratne, 1994), p. 1.
[2] From the Atthasalini, as described in Great Disciples of the Buddha, by Nyanaponika Thera and Hellmuth Hecker (Somerville: Wisdom Publications, 1997), pp. 45-46.
[3] The Katthavatthu, composed during the Third Council, was the final addition to the Abhidhamma Pitaka. See Guide Through the Abdhidhamma Pitaka, by Nyanatiloka Mahathera (Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1983), p xi.
Mike
User avatar
SDC
Posts: 9062
Joined: Mon Dec 14, 2009 11:08 pm

Re: Bodhisattas' mothers' short-livedness

Post by SDC »

Right on, Mike. Thanks for that.




EDIT - The reason I brought up that aspect of his mother recieving the teaching was to highlight the fact that even though she passed on from her life on earth she had a very good rebirth. Perhaps some think that she has been cut short of something, that it is a burden being the mother of the Buddha. But it is most definately not.
“Life is swept along, short is the life span; no shelters exist for one who has reached old age. Seeing clearly this danger in death, a seeker of peace should drop the world’s bait.” SN 1.3
char101
Posts: 336
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2009 1:21 am

Re: Bodhisattas' mothers' short-livedness

Post by char101 »

Stefan wrote:Stumbled across this sutta.

Why does every Bodhisattas' mother pass away 7 days after the Buddha-to-be's birth?
Just another opinion: delivering birth to a boddisattas is such a great kusala kamma that the kamma cuts any kamma that supports her in the human realm and send her to the Tusita heaven.
User avatar
Cittasanto
Posts: 6646
Joined: Tue Dec 30, 2008 10:31 pm
Location: Ellan Vannin
Contact:

Re: Bodhisattas' mothers' short-livedness

Post by Cittasanto »

char101 wrote:
Stefan wrote:Stumbled across this sutta.

Why does every Bodhisattas' mother pass away 7 days after the Buddha-to-be's birth?
Just another opinion: delivering birth to a boddisattas is such a great kusala kamma that the kamma cuts any kamma that supports her in the human realm and send her to the Tusita heaven.
Hi Char101,
why did the Buddha not pass away untill 45 years after he first attained enlightenment?
by your logic he would of dies imediately after, not 45 years later. wasn't his Kamma that supported his physical life extinguished?
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
Post Reply