Sex, Marriage and Family in World Religions (70 page)

[Translated in Strong,
Experience of Buddhism,
pp. 52–56]

THE BUDDHA’S RENUNCIATION OF HIS FAMILY

An especially interesting attempt to fuse family values with Buddhist renunciation is found in a version of the Buddha’s biography that recounts his exit from his family in a decidedly innovative manner. This narrative is found within the Mu¯lasarva¯stiva¯din monastic rules (the Vinaya), and thus presumably was regarded as copacetic with other monastic ideals. (Establishing a date for the composition of this narrative, and the entire Vinaya in which it is found, remains controversial, though we could provisionally argue for a period slightly after the common era, though it is also likely that this Vinaya, like the others, grew incrementally.)

In this version of the Buddha’s exit from family life, his ties to his family are played up in a remarkable manner. First, we are told that before leaving his wife and harem he purposefully slept with his wife Yasódhara¯ in order to deflect the expected charges that he wasn’t a man or that he didn’t fulfill his familial obligations. She becomes pregnant, presumably from this encounter, but this added emphasis on the Buddha’s concern for upholding familial expectations opens the door for a much more interesting turn of events. In developing a long split-screen narrative, the Buddha’s six years of ascetic practice are mirrored by his wife’s equally extended pregnancy with their son. Thus the Buddha’s travails as an ascetic seeking enlightenment and total freedom from the family are ironically doubled by his wife’s six-year-long wait to give birth to their son, an event that would presumably count as the fulfillment of the Buddha’s familial role. This trope is further emphasized when the narrative has the Buddha’s 330

enlightenment arrive simultaneously with his wife’s final delivery of their son, Ra¯hula. In effect, then, the Buddha’s spiritual quest is presented as the cause for finally achieving his familial goals of reproducing a son for his at-home family. Arguably, this explicit linkage, and others like it, suggest a Buddhist version of the “erotic-ascetic,” to borrow the term that Wendy Doniger coined to describe Síva’s virile asceticism.

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Then King Súddhodana met with his brothers, Dron.odana, Súklodana, and Amr.todana, and said to them: “The brahmin soothsayers and fortune tellers have predicted that my son . . . will become a cakravartin king if he does not leave home to become a wandering ascetic. Therefore we should watch the bodhisattva carefully . . . and keep the city well guarded.”

So they encircled the city of Kapilavastu with seven walls and seven moats, and iron doors were put in each city gate. Very loud bells were attached to the doors, so that whenever the doors were opened, they could be heard up to a distance of a league around. They saw to it that the bodhisattva, in his palace, was constantly attended to by entrancingly beautiful women who danced, sang, and played instruments. Royal ministers, commanding armed men and riders, were posted outside on the walls, and they patrolled everywhere, keeping watch all around. Five hundred men were likewise stationed at the door to the bodhisattva’s harem and ordered to sound the alarm in King Súddhodana’s quarters were that door to be opened. [ . . . ]

Now when the bodhisattva was in his harem, in the absence of other men, the women sought to amuse, delight, and seduce him by playing instruments.

And it occurred to him: “Lest others say that the Prince Sákyamuni was not a man, and that he wandered forth without ‘paying attention’ to Yasódhara¯, Gopika¯, Mr.gaja¯, and his other sixty thousand wives, let me now make love to Yasódhara¯.” He did so, and Yasódhara¯ became pregnant.

That night, in her sleep, Yasódhara¯ had eight dreams: she saw her own maternal line cut off, her marvelous couch broken, her bracelets broken, her teeth falling out, the braid of her hair undone, happiness departed from her house, the moon eclipsed by Ra¯hu, and the sun rising in the east and then setting there again.

And the bodhisattva, going to sleep, had five dreams: he saw himself lying on the great earth, with Mount Meru, the king of mountains, as his pillow, his left arm resting in the great Eastern Ocean, his right arm in the great Western Ocean, and his feet in the great Southern Ocean. He saw an upright grass reed grow out of his navel and reach up as far as the sky. He saw large sákunaka
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birds, all white with black heads, standing at his feet and up as far as his knees.

He saw other birds of various colors (varn.a) coming from the four directions and then becoming one color in front of him. He saw himself walking back and forth over a mountain of feces.

Seeing all this, he was pleased and thought: “From what I have seen in my dreams, it will not be long now before I attain highest knowledge.”

Then Yasódhara¯ told the bodhisattva about her eight dreams . . . and the bodhisattva reflected: “The dreams Yasódhara¯ has seen are surely related to her worries about my going away today; thus I will speak so as to make light of them.” And in order to explain them away, he interpreted them as follows: “You say your maternal line was cut off, but is it not established? You say your couch was broken, but it is not broken; it is right here. You say your bracelets were broken, but see for yourself, they are not. You say your teeth fell out, but you yourself know they have not. You say the braid of your hair was undone, but it is itself; look, it is not undone. You say that ‘happiness has left my house,’ but for a woman, a husband is happiness, and I am right here. You say the moon was eclipsed by Ra¯hu, but is that not the moon over there? You say the sun rose in the east and then set there again, but it is now midnight and the sun has not yet risen, so how can it have set?”

At this explanation, Yasódhara remained quiet. But then she said: “Lord, wherever you go, take me there with you.” And the bodhisattva, thinking he was going to nirva¯na [and would show her the way there], said, “So be it; where I am going, I will take you.”

Now Indra, Brahma¯, and the other gods, knowing the thoughts of the bodhisattva, approached him and said: . . . “Get up, get up, well-minded one!

Leave this place and set out into the world! Upon reaching omniscience, you will save all beings.”

The bodhisattva replied: “Do you not see, Indra? I am trapped in a net like the king of beasts. The city of Kapila is completely surrounded by a great many troops, with lots of horses, elephants, chariots, and very capable men bearing bows, swords, and scimitars . . . ”

Indra said: “Good sir, recall your former vow, and the past Buddha Dı¯pam

. kara’s prediction, that having abandoned this world that is afflicted by suffering, you would wander forth from your home. We gods will arrange it so that you will be able to dwell in the forest this very day, free from all hindrances.”

Hearing this, the bodhisattva was very pleased. Then Indra, Lord of the gods and causer of sleepiness, gave orders to Pa¯n˜cika, the great yaksa general: “My friend, bring on sleep, and the bodhisattva will come down from his palace!”

So he brought on sleep, and the bodhisattva came out.

Then, as had been prearranged by Indra, the bodhisattva came across his attendant Chandaka, and saw that Chandaka had succumbed to a deep sleep.

With some effort, he managed to rouse him and spoke to him this verse: 332

“Ho! Chanda! Get up, and from the stable, quickly fetch me Kanthaka, that jewel of a horse; I am determined to set out for the forest of asceticism which previous Buddhas enjoyed and which brings satisfaction to sages. . . . ”

Then the bodhisattva, seeing that the king of horses, Kanthaka, stood ready, . . . mounted him, and with Chandaka holding on behind, he flew up into the air. This was out of the bodhisattva’s bodhisattva-power, as well as out of the divine power of the gods.

And because of the departure of the bodhisattva, the divinities who inhabited the harem of the palace began to cry, and the tears of those crying divinities began to fall onto the earth. And Chandaka said: “Prince, drops of water are falling. Why is the god making it rain?” The bodhisattva replied: “The god is not raining, but, because of my departure, the deities who dwell in the harem of the palace are crying; their tears are falling down everywhere.” And Chandaka, his own eyes filled with tears, heaved a long emotional sigh, and remained silent.

Then the bodhisattva, turning his whole body around to the right like an elephant, considered the following matter: “This for me is the last night on which I will have lain with a woman.” And he further reflected: “I will depart through the eastern gate; were I to go out through another gate, my father, the king, would be upset that I, as prince, did not come to see him and take my leave at this final moment.” Therefore he went and gazed upon King Súddhodana, who was sleeping soundly. He circumambulated him and said: “Father, I am leaving not out of lack of respect, not out of lack of reverence, but for no other reason than that I wish to liberate the world, which is afflicted by old age and death, from the fear of the suffering that comes with old age and death. . . . ”

Then, surrounded by several hundreds of thousands of deities headed by Indra and Brahma¯, the bodhisattva crossed over to the other side. . . . And, unsheathing his sword, which was like a blue lotus, he cut off his hairknot and threw it very high into the air. It was taken by Indra, king of the gods, and received with great honor by the deities in his heaven, who instituted a Festival of the Hairknot. Also, the faithful brahmin householders in that place established a caitya called the Keságrahan.a [Receiving of the Hair] Shrine, which

the monks still venerate today. . . .

[After he had sent Chandaka back to Kapilavastu, together with the horse Kanthaka], there arose the matter of obtaining the bodhisattva’s robes. Long ago, in that peerless city, there lived a certain householder who was rich, the possessor of great fortune and felicity, the owner of vast estates, as wealthy and well endowed as the god Vaisŕavan.a. He had married a woman from a family of equal status. They dallied, embraced, and made love, and a son was born.

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Similarly, in time, ten sons were born, and all of them, wandering forth from the householder’s life, became enlightened on their own as pratyekabuddhas.

Their mother was then old; she offered to them some robes of hemp, but they said: “Mother, we are go ing to attain parinirva¯na. We have no use for these, but King Súddhodana will have a son named Sá¯kyamuni who will attain unsurpassed complete enlightenment. You should pass these robes on to him. In that way, you will obtain great meritorious rewards.”

After saying this, they performed the miracle of simultaneously glittering with both fire and rain showers, and passed away into complete final nirva¯na.

The old woman, at the time of her death, gave the robes to her daughter, telling her everything that had happened. In time, that daughter too became sick, and she, about to succumb to death, placed the robes on a tree, requesting the deity who dwelt in that tree to give them to the son of King Súddhodana.

Now Indra, king of the gods, sees everything that happens down below. Thus, he went down and took the robes, and then, taking on the form of a hunter ravaged by old age, he dressed himself in those robes and went and stood on the bodhisattva’s path, holding a bow and some arrows. And in due time, the bodhisattva came along that path and saw the hunter dressed in the monastic robe, . . . and he said to the man: “Ho! fellow! Those hempen clothes are fit for one who has wandered forth. Take these garments of Benares silk, and give me those in exchange.”

The hunter replied: “Prince, I cannot give you these robes, because if I do, there may be others who will say that I deprived a royal prince of his life in order to steal his garments of Benares silk”

The bodhisattva said: “Ho, fellow! The whole world knows me and the kind of power that I have. Who is able to deprive me of life? Who would believe that you could kill me? Give without fear.”

Thereupon, Indra fell at the feet of the bodhisattva and presented to him the hempen robes, and he received the bodhisattva’s silken robes in exchange, . . . and taking them, he established among the gods in his heaven the Festival of the Benares Silk Robes. And the faithful brahmin householders in that place built a caitya called the Reception of the Monastic Robes Shrine, and the monks still venerate it to this day. . . .

Now the robes of hemp did not fit the bodhisattva’s body, so he said: “Oh!

May my hempen robes fit my body!” And just as soon as he had uttered those words, the hempen robes became the right size. This also was due to the bodhisattva’s bodhisattva-power and to the divine power of the deities. . . .

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Then the bodhisattva reflected: “The city of Kapilavastu is still near. It would be best not to stay here; the Sá¯kya men could cause a commotion. Therefore, let me cross the Ganges.”

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So he crossed the Ganges and, walking along, reached the city of Ra¯jagr.ha.

Being skilled in all the arts and crafts, the bodhisattva then made a begging bowl of oleander leaves and . . . entered Ra¯jagr.ha to go questing for alms. At that time, King Bimbisa¯ra was walking on the terrace of his palace. He saw the bodhisattva and, impressed by his demeanor, had his bowl filled with food. . . .

[He then later went to visit him on nearby Mount Pa¯n.d.ava.]

“I want to give you, for your enjoyment,” he declared, “a bevy of women, unsurpassed riches. . . . ”

“O, King,” replied the bodhisattva, “I am a ks.atriya, a Sá¯kya, I belong to the solar clan, descendant of Iks.va¯ku. I come from Kosala, a kingdom near the Hima¯layas. It is filled with riches and grain; I do not long for sensual pleasures.”

“Sir,” Bimbisa¯ra then asked him, “for what purpose did you wander forth?”