This week for my reading I chose to read about ‘The Life of Buddha’. I took the Indian Epics class a year ago and had my fill of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, so I decided to stray away from traditional fairytales and read about the famed Siddhartha. I’ve also always been curious about buddhism in general, so I figured these stories would be good to read.
Maya’s Dream:
So Queen Maya and King Suddhodhana are the parents of Siddhartha. Before his birth, Queen Maya is visited in a dream by many Gods and Goddesses, singing and praising, and having a grand ‘ol time.
She awakes feeling freed from all earthly troubles and worries, completely blissful. She tells her husband about the dream in private in the wood outside their palace. He calls upon the brahmans (wise men) to interpret the dream and they proclaim that the King and Queen will birth a son who will grow in nobility and then go to see the suffering of the world and strive to put an end to it. The King and Queen rejoice and there is much celebration - the poor are given food, the thirsty are given drink, and all the women receive nice perfumes and flowers. Reading this, I imagined it in my mind like a grand Bollywood movie. Flower petals falling from the air, smiling faces everywhere, the sitar playing gaily in the distance… The way the celebration is described in the story, it’s no wonder Bollywood films are so colorful.
This is how I imagine Siddhartha's birth was celebrated.
Image: The Merchants of Bollywood
The Birth of Siddhartha:
Most of these stories are reading like a grand Bollywood dream. Queen Maya somehow knows her son is about to be born and wants him to be born surrounded by flowers in bloom. So the King sends his servants out to drape silver and gold ornaments on the trees outside, his wife dresses in fine silks (a poor choice for a woman about to give birth, if you ask me), and everyone in attendance is decked in their best. So she goes out, wanders about the trees, stops to sniff a blossom, and poof - baby Siddhartha is born. No pain, no fuss. Birds sing, the sick are cured, the world is rid of all its sorrows. Just by this little prince-baby being born. Incredible. Cue more colorful Bollywood dancing.
Asita’s Prediction:
Asita, a wise and learned man in the ways of the spirit, comes to visit the baby-prince Siddhartha. He tells the King that his son will indeed seek to end suffering in the world, and he is sad because he will not be alive to hear the teachings of the Buddha. Honestly, to be burdened with such knowledge, to know that you’ve missed your chance to learn from one of the best teachers of all time… that would sadden me quite a bit, too.
Siddhartha’s First Meditation:
Little prince Siddhartha is told to go learn from Viswamithra, the wisest sage (gurus) in the land. I’ve read about Viswamithra before in the Ramayana - he’s a very popular choice for teaching young princes. There seem to have been so many wonderful teachers in Hindu mythology. I think I would have liked to study under them.
Seeing Siddhartha’s brillaince, Viswamithra is stunned and decides there is nothing he can teach him. So little prince Siddhartha goes to sit in a field under a clump of trees and meditate. He emits some sort of glow when doing this - I’m not sure why (or how for that matter). Many people stop to stare in awe at him and praise him. I’m also not sure why this is happening, either. I also notice it doesn’t mention which tree he meditates under. I’m pretty sure it’s important to know what kind of tree the Buddha meditates under in case I want to replicate the same results.
An ivory carving depicting Siddhartha meditating
Image: Wikipedia
Bilbiography: 'Life of Buddha,' by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922).
Read the stories here!
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