Mahapajapati Gotami

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Mahapajapati Gotami with the boy Siddharta Gautama on her lap

Mahapajapati Gotami ( Pali ) or Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī ( Sanskrit ) was the sister of Maya , the birth mother of Prince Siddharta Gautama , who later became Buddha , seven days after her birth . She married King Shuddhodana , her sister's husband, and raised the boy as a wet nurse or stepmother.

Life

Mahapajapati (in German the great Pajapati) Gotami was - according to tradition like her sister - born in Devdaha (or Devadaha ) in today's Nepal . She gave birth to two children of Shuddhodana of her own, but it is said that she soon gave them to nurses so that she could devote herself entirely to Siddharta.

When King Shuddhodana died, she asked her already enlightened son to accept her as a nun in his circle, but the latter refused. She then cut her hair, put on a yellow robe and followed her stepson to Veshali, where she met Ananda , the Buddha's favorite disciple, who supported her in her endeavor . Finally, the Buddha agreed to the ordination of women on the condition of observing eight rules ( garudhammas ), the most important of which was the respectful subordination of the nuns ( bhikkhunis ) to the monks ( bhikkus ). Among the five hundred women ordained following Mahapajapati was Yasodhara , the former wife of Siddharta and mother of his only son Rahula .

According to tradition, Mahapajapati Gotami lived to be 120 years old and then went into Parinirvana with the 500 co-ordinated nuns .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Ayya Tathaaloka Theri - Going Forth & Going Out ~ the Parinibbana of Mahapajapati Gotami