The Birth of Siddharta Gautama

In a discourse called the Wonderful and Marvelous in the Middle Length Discourses (MN 123), Ananda lists many wonderful and marvelous things concerning the conception and birth of Siddhartha Gautama, the young prince who would become Shakyamuni Buddha. In The Great Discourse on the Lineage given in the Long Discourses (DN 14), the Buddha describes these same wonders and marvels in terms of the life of a past buddha named Vipashyin, the first of the seven buddhas preceding Shakyamuni Buddha in past ages. Shakyamuni Buddha even proclaims that it is a rule that these wonders and marvels occur at the birth of every bodhisattva who will attain buddhahood in that lifetime. This list of wonders, marvels, or rules became the basis for the later versions of the conception and birth of Shakyamuni Buddha, such as found in the Acts of the Buddha (Buddhacarita) by Ashvaghosha, the Great Story (Mahavastu), the Extensive Play Sutra (Lalitavistara Sutra), or the introduction to the jataka stories of the previous lives of the Buddha in the Pali canon (Nidanakatha).

We might wonder if Buddhists necessarily need to take these marvels and wonders as the literal truth about the conception and birth of Siddhartha Gautama. I think that Shakyamuni Buddha himself was not concerned with people taking any of it as a literal fact. After hearing Ananda recount these marvels and wonders he does not insist that anybody believe any of it in order to attain liberation from suffering. Instead, he states that there is one more wonder and marvel that should be remembered. He says that, for buddhas, feelings are known as they arise, as they are present, and as they disappear. The same can be said regarding perceptions and thoughts. In other words, the Buddha is saying that what is truly wonderful and marvelous about buddhas is that they are fully aware of the workings of their own feelings, perception, and mental formations (three of the five aggregates) and therefore thoroughly know themselves and the working of causes and conditions. It is the cultivation of this kind of awareness, self-reflection, and observation of immediate phenomena that leads to awakening and liberation.

I would also like to share something the late Episcopal bishop John Shelby Spong wrote in his book Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism. His comments regard the nativity stories of Jesus found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, but I believe they could easily be applied to the story of the conception and birth of Siddhartha Gautama.

It is not my intention here to analyze deeply the birth narratives. My purpose here is to see the truth to which these narratives point. Birth narratives tell us nothing about the birth of the person who is featured in those narratives. They do tell us a great deal, however, about the adult life of the one whose birth is being narrated. No one waits outside the hospital room for a great person to be born. This is not the way human life works. A person becomes great in his or her adult years, and the significance of that life is celebrated in tales that gather around the moment in which that powerful adult figure entered history. We celebrate the birthdays of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr., only because those lives in their adult years became turning points in our history, and so the day on which they were born is noted as a significant day in our history. (p. 215)

Let us now review the story of the conception and birth of Siddhartha Gautama that can be derived from the aforementioned list of marvels and wonders. I will also note the later variations and embellishments to this story.

Mindful and fully aware, the bodhisattva appeared in the Heaven of Contentment and remained there for an entire lifespan of five hundred seventy-six million years. At the end of that time, still mindful and fully aware, he descended into the womb of Queen Maya, the wife of King Shuddhodhana of the Shakya tribe. At that moment, a great, immeasurable light that surpassed the splendor of the gods appeared in the world. Even in the void interstellar spaces of emptiness, gloom, and utter darkness, where even the light of the sun and moon cannot reach, a great immeasurable light that surpassed the splendor of the gods appeared. And the beings there perceived each other by that light, remarking, “So other beings indeed have appeared here.” As the ten-thousandfold world system shook, quaked, and trembled, it was illuminated by this great, immeasurable light. Note that this marvel is repeated in Chapter Seven of the Lotus Sutra when the past buddha named Great Universal Wisdom Excellence attains buddhahood.

According to the Nidanakatha, during a festival associated with the full moon in the seventh lunar month (called Asalha in Pali), Queen Maya secluded herself in her bedchamber to observe the uposhadha fast. This fast was observed during the days of the new and full moons, and sometimes the quarter moons. During the uposhadha, those observing it would live a pure and austere life. Shakyamuni Buddha would eventually have the monastic Sangha meet to recite the precepts on the uposhadha days, and during those times, Buddhist lay followers would often follow the eight precepts of abstinence in order to emulate the way of living of the arhats. The precepts were to: 1) abstain from killing, 2) abstain from taking what is not given, 3) abstain from breaking chastity, 4) abstain from lying, 5) abstain from consuming intoxicants, 6) abstain from sleeping on high and luxurious beds, 7) abstain from wearing perfume and bodily adornments and also abstain from indulging in singing and dancing, and 8) abstain from eating at improper times. Chapter Five of the Extensive Play Sutra, goes so far as to state that Queen Maya asked King Shuddhodana’s permission to seclude herself in her chambers and observe strict moral conduct and fasting. The implication is that Queen Maya was not impregnated by King Shuddhodana or anyone else when Siddhartha was conceived. These later accounts seem to suggest that the conception was a spiritual process and not the product of human agency. Furthermore, Queen Maya had not yet had any children, so the stories also seem to be implying that Queen Maya may have been a new bride and had not yet even consummated her marriage to King Shuddhodhana. The heavy emphasis on her purity in these stories, the distaste with which the “impurities” of sexual relations are regarded by the Vedic culture of the Buddha’s time, a distaste also found in many Buddhist discourses, and later comments about the sanctity of her womb that cannot be shared with any other but the bodhisattva, all seem to point in the direction of a miraculous virgin birth, though none of the canonical sources ever state this directly.

I want to stop and reflect upon these later traditions for a moment. According to the Buddha, sexual desire or lust is considered one of the main hindrances to the cultivation of detachment and liberation from suffering. In the Forty-two Chapters Sutra, the Buddha said, “There is no craving or desire like lust. No other desire is greater. Fortunately, there is only one like it and not a second or else no one under heaven would be able to practice the Way.” (Chapter 24) So it is understandable that, as the tradition of the Buddha’s conception and birth developed, efforts would be made to separate these events from the normal biological processes that involve lust, or at least arousal, and the assumed impurities associated with such processes. Still, I do not think we need to take these stories literally. Nor should we demonize normal biological processes or hold women (or men) up to a dehumanizing ideal of bodiless purity. Certainly, those who follow a monastic vocation should have the self-control necessary to live chastely and sublimate their libido into the energy needed to follow their calling to its ultimate end, while those who cultivate the Dharma as householders should have the self-control to engage in sexual relationships that are not only consensual but responsible, honest, faithful, and loving. Buddhism is not about making enemies out of our bodies, minds, and healthy human relationships. It is about making sure that we are mindful of our desires, including lust, and not controlled by them. Even more importantly, Buddhist cultivation should enable us to have the self-control necessary to direct and channel our desires so that we do not harm either ourselves or others, and ultimately to direct our energies to attaining liberation from suffering and attaining true and unconditional happiness.

The later accounts of the Buddha’s conception, such as the Nidanakatha and the Extensive Play Sutra, also state that when the right conditions arose for the conception of the bodhisattva who would become Shakyamuni Buddha, Queen Maya of Kapilavastu had a singular dream. A six-tusked white elephant holding a white lotus flower in its trunk circled her three times and then entered her womb from the right side. At that moment, Queen Maya conceived. In Chapter Twenty-eight of the Lotus Sutra, Universal Sage Bodhisattva says that he will appear before those people who read and recite the Lotus Sutra mounted on a six-tusked white elephant to pay homage to, guard, and comfort them, and to pay homage to the sutra. A six-tusked white elephant, therefore, is representative of advanced bodhisattvas such as Universal Sage or the Bodhisattva who would become Shakyamuni Buddha. Its white color represents purity while the six tusks represent either the purified six sense organs (the five physical senses and the mind) or the cultivation of the six perfections (generosity, morality, patience, energy, meditative absorption, and wisdom).

When the bodhisattva had descended into Queen Maya’s womb, the four heavenly kings came to guard him at the four quarters so that no one, whether human or non-human, could harm him or his mother. During her pregnancy, Queen Maya became intrinsically virtuous, refraining from killing living beings, from taking what is not given, from misconduct in sensual pleasures, from false speech, and from wines, liquors, and intoxicants, which are the basis of negligence. No sensual thoughts arose in her, and she was inaccessible to anyone having a lustful mind. She was provided with every material comfort. Furnished and endowed with them, she enjoyed herself. No afflictions arose in her; she was blissful and free from bodily fatigue. She was able to see the Bodhisattva within her womb with all of his limbs, lacking no faculty. She saw him as clearly as one could see a colored thread strung through a fine transparent beryl gem.

Queen Maya gave birth to the bodhisattva exactly ten lunar months after his conception. Though the other sources would place this in the second lunar month, today called Vesak, the Acts of the Buddha states that Siddhartha was born on the eighth day of the fourth month, which would be Asalha in the lunar calendar. I am not sure why there is this discrepancy, but it is the reason why Buddhists in SE Asia celebrate the Buddha’s birthday in Vesak, which is usually in April, May, or June; while in Japan, it is celebrated on April 8 (the fourth month in the solar calendar) as Hanamatsuri, the Flower Festival.

Unlike other women who gave birth seated or lying down, Queen Maya gave birth standing up. The Nidanakatha states that when Queen Maya sensed that she was about to give birth, she attempted to return to her parents’ home. However, she only made it as far as Lumbini Park, where Siddhartha emerged painlessly from her right side while she was standing up and holding onto a sal tree branch.

When the bodhisattva came forth from her womb, the four heavenly kings received him so that he would not touch the ground, and they set him before his mother, saying, “Rejoice, O queen, a son of great power has been born to you.”

When the bodhisattva emerged from the womb, once more a great immeasurable light shone throughout the ten-thousandfold world system as it shook, quaked, and trembled.

The bodhisattva also emerged clean and unsullied, not smeared by water, mucus, blood, or any other impurity. He was like a pure gem set down on a clean muslin. Two jets of water appeared to pour from the sky, one cool and one warm, and bathed the bodhisattva, and another bathed his mother. Loosely based on this part of the story, during the Japanese Hanamatsuri, sweet tea is poured upon a statue of the baby Buddha as a representation of his being bathed by heavenly nectar.

The bodhisattva then stood firmly with his feet on the ground; took seven steps north, and with a white parasol held over him, he surveyed each quarter and uttered the words of the Leader of the Herd, “I am the highest in the world; I am the best in the world; I am the foremost in the world. This is my last birth; now there is no renewal of being for me.” According to the Acts of the Buddha, he said, “As this birth is a Buddha’s birth, it is my last birth. Just in this one birth I shall save all.” (Buddhacarita, p. 4)

According to the eleventh section of the third chapter of the Suttanipata, on the day Siddhartha was born, a rishi or seer named Asita observed that the gods of the Heaven of the Thirty-three gods at the summit of Mount Sumeru were rejoicing. When he asked them why, they told him about the birth of Siddhartha, the bodhisattva who would attain buddhahood in his present lifetime. Asita hurried to Lumbini Park and asked to see the newborn. When he saw the baby, he began to weep, thereby arousing great fear in the hearts of Siddhartha's parents. They asked him if there was any cause to fear for their son, and Asita told them that he wept not for the baby but for himself. Asita told them that he wept because their son would surely become a buddha, but he himself was too old and would not live to hear the Buddha's teachings. Asita did, however, tell his young nephew to be sure to seek out the one who would be called “the Buddha” to learn the Dharma from him.

According to the Nidanakataha, on the fifth day after his birth, the baby prince was presented to the brahmins for his anointing and the choosing of his name according to custom. Upon seeing the baby and examining him, seven of the brahmins declared that he would surely become either a wheel-turning king, the founder of an empire, or a buddha, an awakened one. King Shuddhodana was a just and pious king, but worldly success was still far more real to him than spiritual awakening. King Shuddhodana, therefore, expressed the hope that his son might choose the path of secular rule, and perhaps later retire into the forest at the appropriate time, after his worldly success was accomplished. An eighth brahmin, younger than the other seven, predicted that the prince would certainly renounce household life and attain buddhahood. Given the predictions of the brahmins, the baby was given the name Siddhartha, which means: "He who has accomplished his aim."

The youngest brahmin’s name was Ajnata Kaundinya. When Prince Siddhartha later left the palace and took up the practice of asceticism, Ajnata Kaundinya went to the sons of the other seven brahmins and invited them to go with him to become ascetics as well. Four of the sons of the other brahmins joined him and took Ajnata Kaundinya as their leader. As the five ascetics, they practiced asceticism with Siddhartha, and when he had attained buddhahood they were the recipients of the Buddha’s first discourse at the Deer Park in Varanasi, known as the first turning of the Wheel of the Dharma. They were the first to become arhats under the Buddha’s instruction. All five were also listed as present in the first chapter of the Lotus Sutra. Ajnata Kaundinya is also given an assurance of future buddhahood by name in the eighth chapter, and the other four were also probably meant to be included among the twelve hundred and five hundred arhats who also receive assurances in that chapter without being specifically named.

Two days after Siddhartha’s naming, the seventh day after his birth, Queen Maya died and was reborn in the Heaven of Contentment. From that time on, Mahaprajapati, Queen Maya's sister, would act as the new prince's mother. Perhaps it can be said that the death of his biological mother may have sensitized the young prince to the problem of birth and death.

Sources

Bays, Gwendolyn, trans. The Lalitavistara Sutra: Voice of the Buddha: The Beauty of Compassion 2 volumes. Berkeley: Dharma Publishing, 1983.The Lalitavistara Sutra: Voice of the Buddha: The Beauty of Compassion

Bodhi, Bhikkhu, trans. The Suttanipata. Boston: Wisdom Publication, 2017.

Jayawickrama, N.A., trans. The Story of Gotama Buddha (Jataka-nidana). Oxford: Pali Text Society, 2002.

Nanamoli, Bhikkhu, The Life of the Buddha. Kandy: Buddhist Publication Society, 1992.

Nanamoli, Bhikkhu, and Bodhi, Bhikkhu, trans. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Majjhima Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995.

Willemen, Charles, trans. Buddhacarita: In Praise of Buddha’s Acts. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2009.

Walshe, Maurice, trans. The Long Discourses of the Buddha: A Translation of the Digha Nikaya. Boston: Wisdom Publications, 1995.