Buddhist view of motherhood

by S.M. Wijayaratne Kurunegala daily news corr.

The Buddha raised the status of women in India despite criticism levelled against Him. Generally speaking, during the time of the Buddha, due to brahminical influence, women were not given much recognition. Sometimes, they were held in contempt, although there were solitary cases of their showing erudition in matters of philosophy, and so on.

There will be no Fully Awakened. One on this earth without a mother. There will be no sons and daughters on this earth without mothers. Motherhood was greatly admired and honoured by the Buddha. The most Enlightened One admonished His followers to treat their mothers similar to that of the Fully - Awakened One. So, we can understand how respectfully and nobly. He treated motherhood.

Queen Maha Maya, the mother of Prince Siddhartha passed away when the prince was only seven days old.

After passing away of Queen Maha Maya King Suddhodana married the princess Prajapathi, the sister of Queen Maya to look after and foster the motherless Prince Siddhartha. After passing away of King Suddhodana, Queen Prajapathi decided to be a Buddhist nun. With much effort and determination, she was able to become a nun at last.

Prince Siddhartha left the royal palace at the age of 29 and strove immensely to attain the Enlightenment for six years. Ultimately, he was able to be the Fully-Awakened One.

After attaining the Buddhahood, He visited His mother reborn in the heaven known as Thusitha as Mother God. The Buddha preached the profound Dhamma known as “Abhidarma” to her and made her realize the noble doctrine. She ultimately became an heir to the supreme bliss of Nibbana.

That is how He paid His gratitude to His mother who helped Him to be born into this world for His final birth.

The Buddha raised the status of women in India despite criticism levelled against Him. Generally speaking, during the time of the Buddha, due to brahminical influence, women were not given much recognition. Sometimes, they were held in contempt, although there were solitary cases of their showing erudition in matters of philosophy, and so on.

In his large-heartedness and magnanimity, the Buddha treated women with consideration and civility, and paved the way to them, too, for peace, purity and sanctity. The Buddha established the Order of Nuns (Bhikkuni Sasana) for the first time in history; for never before this had been there.

Women from all walks of life joined the Order. The lives of quite a number of these noble nuns, their strenuous endeavours to win the goal of freedom, and their paeans of joy at Deliverance of mind are graphically described in the “psalms of sisters” (Theri-Gatha).

While the dead body of Theri Prajapathi Gotami was being taken to the cemetery in a procession, it is said that the Buddha too followed (went behind) the cortege to pay His last respects to His foster mother who breast fed Him. That is how The Buddha showed his gratitude to the motherhood. The Buddha never belittled the motherhood and women’s wisdom. He guided women to develop their insight and to put an end to this samsaric journey (the process of births and deaths) Kisa Gotamee and Patacara went mad due to unbearable sorrow of losing their beloved children.

But ultimately, they became Bhikkunis of perfect wisdom and virtues. We should not forget that the sacred Bo-tree planted in Maha Meuna Park in Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka was brought to this island by a woman. She was Theri Sangamittha, the daughter of Emperor Asoka of India. The Sacred Tooth Relic of the Buddha which is now enshrined in the Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, too was brought here by a woman. She was princess Hemamala from India. Queen Visakha was the chief laywoman disciple (devotee) of the Buddha during those days of the Buddha Theri Patacara became the chief female disciple of discipline in the Order of Buddhist nuns during the time of the Buddha.

Queen Vihara Maha Devi, the beloved mother of King Dutugemunu in Sri Lanka pioneered in protecting Buddhism in Sri Lanka when Buddhism and Buddhists were at the risk of destruction due to misguided non-Buddhist rulers.

The first lesson that the Buddha gave to the world was gratitude. He showed that lesson by example. He honoured the Sacred - Bo tree which supported Him to meditate by glancing at it with open eyes for a week. The Buddha always practised what he preached.

So, all of us should start practising the perfect way shown by the Buddha without further delay to enjoy the bliss of deliverance. Perfect wisdom will never come to us without dedicated efforts. Since we are presently blessed with the noble humanity, we should attempt to reap the maximum benefits of it. How can we believe that we would be blessed with the form of humanity in our next birth? Who gives us that guarantee? The power of kammic energy is unimaginable and incomprehensible.

Although our beloved parents can provide us with almost all our material requirements for the welfare of this very life here on earth, they are unable to open the doors of the next world that is filled with joy and delight. It is our well-directed mind that brings us eternal bliss of Nibbana. We should honour and respect our parents through day and night as they have brought us up with sound physical fitness. It is the sole benefit that we are presently capable of performing meritorious deeds.

Let’s pay our highest homage to the motherhood as long as we live on this earth. Under these circumstances, we should be humble enough to pay our great honour to the womenkind. Not only that, we should also protect and foster them with loving-kindness.

To re-pay for the breast-milk of our mothers that we have sucked from them to survive, we must use our all possible strength to make our mothers to tread on the path of purification as shown by the Buddha. Then only we can be satisfied that we have paid fully for the debt of her blood that she turned into white milk to feed us.