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The Great Departure and Enlightenment

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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Two key events in the legend of the Buddha are his decision to leave his family and home to set out on a religious quest-an event known as his Great Departure-and his attainment, six years later, of bodhi (enlightenment)-an event that transforms him from being a bodhisattva (a being headed for enlightenment) into being a Buddha (an Enlightened or Awakened One). The story of the Buddha's Great Departure was clearly informed by, and a model for, the ordination ritual of Buddhist monks. One of the first things that the Buddha does after leaving home is to cut his hair, to give up his princely clothes in exchange for the rough garb of an ascetic, and to embark, bowl in hand, on the rounds of a mendicant. The same events are ritually reenacted to this day by Buddhist monks, whose initial ordination ceremony, called their wandering forth (pravrajya), is marked by the shaving of their head, the exchange of their lay clothes for the robes of a monk, and the acquisition of their begging bowl.

The practice of abandoning one's home to adopt a life of religious mendicancy was, however, already widespread in the Buddha's time. It was, in fact, an age that saw all sorts of youthful questers (sramanas), not just Buddhists, seeking out teachers and striving for religious satisfaction in one way or another. It was an age of ferment, in which it was thought that enlightenment, salvation, and escape from the prison of repeated rebirths could come only by "dropping out," by quitting the householder's life with its pleasures and obligations. The Buddha/s family-the Shakya tribe-being of 'royal blood, was clearly opposed to the Buddha's Great Departure. According to Buddhist legend, at the time of the Buddha's birth, some soothsayers had predicted that if he remained at home and inherited his father's throne, he would become a great cakravartin king, or "world-ruling" monarch. The Buddha's father, Suddhodana, concerned for the future of his family line, understandably preferred his son's becoming a cakravartin king to his becoming a wandering quester.

In the hopes of preventing his son's departure, he therefore made the Buddha a virtual prisoner in the palace, surrounding him with bevies of beautiful women and encouraging his attachment to his principal wife, Yasodhara, and to his newborn son. But all of this was in vain. The Buddha, on a drive in his chariot through the royal park, came across an old person, a sick person, and a corpse and became deeply distressed the phenomena of old age, sickness, and death. When, on his next outing, met a wandering sramana who seemed to be at peace with the world, he was inspired to leave home and become a quester himself. Soon thereafter, according to what is perhaps the best-known version of the story, he was filled with disgust by the sight of the sleeping women of his harem, drooling, dissheveled, and snoring, and turning away from his wife and his child, whom he now called Rahula Ca fetter), he left home.

But Buddhist attitudes towards the family and home were more complex and varied than this account, informed by the misogamist attitudes of male monastics, would seem to indicate. The selection that follows, taken from a Sanskrit text, presents a noted variant to the story given above. Here the Buddha's father still tries to keep him at home, and the Buddha's repulsion at the sight of the harem women is still expressed, but his relationship to wife and child is radically different. Rahula is not born on the eve of the Great Departure but only engendered then, when the future Buddha makes love to Buddhis111 his wife to prove his manhood and to fulfill his duties to his family.

To judge from her dreams, Yasodhara is clearly aware, at least subconsciously, that her husband is about to leave her, but there ensues an interesting parallelism between his career as a quester and her own pregnancy, which develops at home. When he undertakes asceticism, she does likewise; when he fasts, she fasts; when he gets thin, she does, and the growth of the fetus within her is retarded; when he takes food again, she does so as well, and the growth of Rahula within her resumes; finally, when he attains enlightenment at gaya, she gives birth at home, having, according to this legend, borne her son in her womb for six years! Here her son's name, Rahula, is not associated with the word for fetter but with the divinity Rahu, who eclipses the moon at the moment of his birth, just as his father, upon attaining enlightenment, is thought to outshine the sun.

The Night of the Great Departure

Then King Suddhodana met with his brothers, Droryodana, Suklodana, and Amrtodana, and said to them: "The brahmin soothsayers and fortunetellers 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 anned 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 Suddhodana's quarters were that door to be opened.

 ... 1 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 Sakyamuni was not a man, and that he wandered forth without 'paying attention' to Yasodhara, Gopika, Mrgaja, and his other sixty thousand wives, let me now make love to Yasodhara." He did so, and Yasodhara became pregnant. That night, in her sleep, Yasodhara 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 Rahu, and the sun rising in the east and then setting there again. And the bodhisattva, going to sleep, had five dreams: he saw himself living on the great earth, with Mount Meru, the king of mountains, as his pillow, his left ann resting in the great Eastern Ocean, his right arm in 1 the great Western Ocean, and his feet in the great Southern Ocean. He 1 saw an upright grass reed grow out of his navel and reach up as far as

the sky. He saw large sakunaka birds, all white with black heads, standing at his feet and up as far as his knees. He saw other birds of various Ii colors (varrya) 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 YaSodhara told the bodhisattva about her eight dreams, ... and the bodhisattva reflected:

 "The dreams Yasodhara 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 Rahu, 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, Yasodhara remained quiet.

But then she said:
"Lord, wherever you go, take me there with you." And the bodhisattva, thinking he was going to nirvarya 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, lndra? 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 Dipankara's prediction [see 1.4.1], 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 Pancika, the great yaksha 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: "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 Suddhodana, 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 Kesagrahana [Receiving of the Hair) Shrine, which the monks still venerate today ....

Receipt of the Robes

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 Vaishravana. He had married a woman from a family of equal status. They dallied, embraced, and made love, and a son was born. 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.