The Great Chronicle of Buddhas

by Ven. Mingun Sayadaw | 1990 | 1,044,401 words

This page describes The Birth of The Bodhisatta contained within the book called the Great Chronicle of Buddhas (maha-buddha-vamsa), a large compilation of stories revolving around the Buddhas and Buddhist disciples. This page is part of the series known as the Story of Sataketu Deva, The Future Buddha. This great chronicle of Buddhas was compiled by Ven. Mingun Sayadaw who had a thorough understanding of the thousands and thousands of Buddhist teachings (suttas).

Part 5 - The Birth of The Bodhisatta

Note: This subtitle is not given in the original work. It is the translators’.

[Reference: Mahāmāyā’s Journey to Devadaha City]

With reference to the birth of the Bodhisatta, the Tathāgata Udāna Dīpanī and other Myanmar treatises on Buddhavaṃsa say to the effect that “When the time for Queen Mahā-Māyā’s delivery of the son was drawing very close, did her younger sister, Pajāpati Gotamī, extended help to her by supporting her on the left side? She gave birth by being aided by her attendants all around.” In the Buddhavaṃsa Aṭṭhakathā, Jātaka Aṭṭhakathā and the Jinālaṅkāra Tika, however, it is said that when the time for child-birth was nearer as she felt the force in the womb as the impetus for her delivery, those who were with her set up screens and stayed away from her. While they were thus staying aloof, the Queen gave birth to the Bodhisatta. This work follows the account given in the said Commentaries.

The statement that the two streams of water, warm and cold, enabled (the mother and the child) to adjust the temperature of body immediately after the birth is made according to the exposition in the Mahāpadāna Sutta, Buddhavaṃsa Aṭṭhakathā and Jātaka Aṭṭhakathā.

What is particularly said in the Sutta Mahāvagga Aṭṭhakathā is this: “Of the two water streams, the cold one falls into the gold jar and the warm into the silver. These two streams, that had fallen from the sky, are mentioned to say that they were meant for the son and the mother, who were not dirtied by any impurity on earth, to drink and to play with exclusively of others. Apart from the warm and cold water from the sky, there was the water fetched by gold and silver pots, the water from haṃsa lakes, etc. Water for them was indeed unlimited, it was plentiful. This should particularly be noted.

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