Reading Notes, The Life of Buddha, Part F

 

The Buddha Visits His Relatives, Source

 Chapter 33: The Story of Dharmapala

Gopa sees her husband begging in the streets so she goes to King Suddhodana. King Suddhodana approached his son and asked him to stop begging for he comes from a race of warriors. The Buddha tells his father a story of one of his former lives as a child. The story speaks of the consequences of a mother who adores her child more than her husband. The story is meant to teach King Suddhodana the virtue of knowing true virtue from false virtue. In the end, King Suddhodana decides to follow his son’s teachings.

Chapter 34: Gopa’s Great Virtue

Gopa waits for her husband to come to her out of a desire to not want to fawn over him in order to show her humility. When he finally visits her, she shows him that she has dressed herself in humble clothing. She has shed her jewelry and no longer sleeps in a comfortable bed. She eats only once a day as the Buddha eats. Buddha praises her virtue, then tells her a story of how evil and wicked women are before he concedes that she is not like other women.

Chapter 35: Nanda Renounces Royalty

Siddhartha’s brother Nanda was to take his father’s throne since Siddhartha had left the royal life. He was to be wed to a woman whom he loved very much. The Buddha questioned Nanda’s intentions; whether they were from a place of vanity and self-servitude. The Buddha questioned Nanda, to which Nanda was moved by his questioning and teaching. So Nanda renounced his fiancée and left with Buddha.

Chapter 36: The Buddha Leaves Kapilavastu

Gopa introduces her son to his father. He is happy to be in the radiance of the Buddha. Buddha decides to leave Kapilavastu and Gopa and her son decides to follow him into the monk life. King Suddhodana is sad to be left alone. The Buddha consoles him before leaving.

Chapter 37: Anathapindika’s Offering

A merchant prince visits Rajagriha and asks the Buddha to visit him in Cravasti. The Buddha promises to do so. When the merchant returns to Cravasti, he purchases a park to provide the Buddha and his monks a place to live. When the Buddha arrives, many of the town’s folk offer precious metals and jewelry. A young poor girl offers her meek dress. She dies and is rewarded as a goddess for her offering.

Chapter 38: The New Disciples

New disciples follow Buddha, but one is exposed as vane because he carries with him a jewel. The jewel is exposed and his intentions are questioned.

Chapter 39: Nanda’s Pride

Nanda is missing his fiancée. The Buddha recognizes this and decides to “cure” Nanda of his feelings. The Buddha compares love to a someone seeking something that will fail to death. He compares it to pride as well.

Chapter 40: The Death of Suddhodana

King Suddhodana is nearing death and Buddha decides to visit him again. After the King dies, Buddha performs funeral rites and proclaims the following, "Suffering is birth, suffering is old age, suffering is sickness, suffering is death. O thirst to be led from birth to birth! Thirst for power, thirst for pleasure, thirst for being, thirsts that are the source of all suffering! O evil thirsts, the saint knows you not, the saint who extinguishes his desires, the saint who knows the noble eight-fold path."

Bibliography:

Andre Ferdinand Herold, The Life of Buddha, http://sacred-texts.com/bud/lob/lob03.htm#page_3