Mahavagga, Khandaka 1, Chapter 54

1. Then the Blessed One, after having resided at Rājagaha as long as he thought fit, went forth to Kapilavatthu. Wandering from place to place he came to Kapilavatthu. There the Blessed One dwelt in the Sakka country, near Kapilavatthu, in the Nigrodhārāma (Banyan Grove).

And in the forenoon the Blessed One, having put on his under-robes, took his alms-bowl and with his cīvara on went to the residence of the Sakka Suddhodana (his father). Having gone there, he sat down on a seat laid out for him.

Then the princess, who was the mother of Rāhula^[1], said to young Rāhula: 'This is your father, Rāhula; go and ask him for your inheritance.'

2. Then young Rāhula went to the place where the Blessed One was; having approached him, he stationed himself before the Blessed One (and said): 'Your shadow, Samaṇa, is a place of bliss.'

Then the Blessed One rose from his seat and went away, and young Rāhula followed the Blessed One from behind and said: 'Give me my inheritance, Samaṇa; give me my inheritance, Samaṇa.'

Then the Blessed One said to the venerable Sāriputta: 'Well, Sāriputta, confer the pabbajjā. ordination on young Rāhula.' (Sāriputta replied): 'How shall I confer, Lord, the pabbajjā ordination on young Rāhula?'

3. In consequence of that and on this occasion the Blessed One, after having delivered a religious discourse, thus addressed the Bhikkhus: 'I prescribe, O Bhikkhus, the pabbajjā ordination of novices by the threefold declaration of taking refuge.

'And you ought, O Bhikkhus, to confer the pabbajjā ordination (on a novice) in this way: Let him first have his hair and beard cut off; let him put on yellow robes, adjust his upper robe so as to cover one shoulder, salute the feet of the Bhikkhus (with his head), and sit down squatting; then let him raise his joined hands and tell him to say: "I take my refuge in the Buddha, I take my refuge in the Dhamma, I take my refuge in the Saṃgha. And for the second time, &c. And for the third time, &c."

“I prescribe, O Bhikkhus, the pabbajjā ordination of novices by this threefold declaration of taking refuge.”

Thus the venerable Sāriputta conferred the pabbajjā ordination on young Rāhula.

4. Then the Sakka Suddhodana went to the place where the Blessed One was; having approached him and having respectfully saluted the Blessed One, he sat down near him. Sitting near him the Sakka Suddhodana said to the Blessed One: 'Lord, I ask one boon of the Blessed One.' (The Buddha replied): 'The perfect Ones, Gotama, are above granting boons (before they know what they are^[2]).' (Suddhodana said): 'Lord, it is a proper and unobjectionable demand.' 'Speak, Gotama.'

5. 'Lord, when the Blessed One gave up the world, it was a great pain to me; so it was when Nanda^[3] did the same; my pain was excessive when Rāhula too did so. The love for a son, Lord, cuts into the skin; having cut into the skin, it cuts into the hide; having cut into the hide, it cuts into the flesh, . . . . the ligaments, . . . . the bones; having cut into the bones, it reaches the marrow and dwells in the marrow. Pray, Lord, let their reverences not confer the pabbajjā ordination on a son without his father's and mother's permission.'

Then the Blessed One taught the Sakka Suddhodana (&c., see chap. 39. 7).

'Let no son, O Bhikkhus, receive the pabbajjā ordination without his father's and mother's permission. He who confers the pabbajjā ordination (on a son without that permission), is guilty of a dukkaṭa offence.'

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The Buddha's former wife. This is, as far as we know, the only passage in the Pāli Piṭakas which mentions this lady, and it deserves notice that her name is not mentioned. Probably this name was unknown to the Buddhists in early times, and thus we may best account for the difference of the simply invented names given to this lady by later writers. Compare Rh. D., Buddhism, p. 50 seq.

[2]:

Granting a boon (vara) is a constant phrase used of princes when making an open promise to give to any one whatever they should ask. See, for instance, the Jātaka Story, No. 9, where the person to whom the boon was given laid it by for a convenient season; and then asked the king to make her son heir-apparent, in violation of all ancient law and custom.

[3]:

Nanda was a son of Mahāpajāpati, a half-brother of the Buddha. See the story of his conversion in Rh. D.'s Buddhist Birth Stories, p. 128 (later and fuller accounts can be seen in Hardy, Manual, p. 204 seq.; Beal, Romantic Legend, p. 369 seq.)