Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
The Buddha left his son when he set off....But where was the *right view, right intention + action*?
When buddha left to search for enlightenment..This would nowadays be classed as selfish.. we couldnt just up and go and leave our family and friends... So suppose you say buddha didnt know the 8fold path at this time, then after he achieved enlightenment and came up with the 8fold path would he agree that he was *wrong* in leaving his son behind??
i wonder what he would answer to this question?? the *right intention would have been to stay with his family and raise his son up..the right action would have been to be a father to his son...
First of all it is pretty irrelevant what people think nowadays about leaving family. It might not have been a been a big thing those days. Leaving home and family for the monk life is still a respected choice even nowadays in sri lanka and also in India. People might not like it but they will accept it.
Second of all it was not like he was leaving his son on the street. Rahula was pretty well cared for.
Third of all by becoming a Buddha he could offer his son (among others) the only thing he believed was worth having, namely Nibbana.
Had he stayed. He would have failed at being the best father he could be to his son.
So no it was not a thing of regret for the Buddha. IMO.
Of course, the Buddha was a very selfish, cowardly person. Only selfish, cowardly people give up luxuries, women, leave palaces to live in the wilderness, give up their royal status to become beggars etc. etc.
Can you explain why you think that?
I assumed he was being sarcastic, but since he thinks I didn't understand what he wrote, perhaps I'm wrong.
Third of all by becoming a Buddha he could offer his son (among others) the only thing he believed was worth having, namely Nibbana.
/Victor
I'm kinda with you generally...except on this point since he didn't know he would become a Buddha and he didn't know about Nibanna at the time he left. He really had no idea what would happen.
Third of all by becoming a Buddha he could offer his son (among others) the only thing he believed was worth having, namely Nibbana.
/Victor
I'm kinda with you generally...except on this point since he didn't know he would become a Buddha and he didn't know about Nibanna at the time he left. He really had no idea what would happen.
Correct me if I am wrong but...according to the myth... did he not swear to find the "cure" to sickness,aging and death the very night he left Rahula?
You realize all we're doing is supplying two different answers, depending on if you believe (1) Prince Siddartha was just a man, not yet awakened, who became obsessed with discovering the secret to unhappiness, walked away from his family and fortune to follow this obsession, and through his supreme effort and genius found the answer. He was not the Buddha when he left, only a frustrated, troubled man. What he did before awakening to be the Buddha is mostly irrelevant.
Or (2) Prince Siddartha was the current incarnation of a line of Buddhas and his mission to save the world meant leaving his family behind, in the same way a great general must leave his family behind to fight for his kingdom. We would not question why the warrior left his family behind.
I dunno. Seems what is important here is his intention. We all want what is best for our kids and his intention was to discover just that.
Wheather he knew at the moment of leaving his hosehold life if he would succeede or not does not feel all that relevant.
The alternative would have been giving his son something that he himself felt very dissatisfied with...
But also I just remembered that the Buddha somewhere said than having children is the most selfish act one can commit. (references anyone?) So maybe he did regret it.
EDIT: No now I was being illogical. If he regretted bringing his son into this world it would only make sense to leave him and find a solution to the mess he had gotten Rahula into.
In Thailand there is a very special day which I have forgotten now, shame on me. but it is around this time of year and they believe that on this day the Buddha was born, died and became enlightened. Of course not in the same year because that would truly be something to marvel at
The question the OP asked has probably been answered several times over, but I will just say that there was no right view in my opinion because at the time he was not a Buddha, he was a Prince who made a decision. Even after that and still before he had reached awakening, he nearly starved himself to death, wrong intention and wrong pretty much everything apart from effort.
Buddha didn't leave his son. Prince Sidhartha did. He was just another prince unhappy in his domestic life and wanting to investigate more in life. He wasn't enlightened at the time.
Comments
It might not have been a been a big thing those days. Leaving home and family for the monk life is still a respected choice even nowadays in sri lanka and also in India.
People might not like it but they will accept it.
Second of all it was not like he was leaving his son on the street. Rahula was pretty well cared for.
Third of all by becoming a Buddha he could offer his son (among others) the only thing he believed was worth having, namely Nibbana.
Had he stayed. He would have failed at being the best father he could be to his son.
So no it was not a thing of regret for the Buddha. IMO.
/Victor
/Victor
Or (2) Prince Siddartha was the current incarnation of a line of Buddhas and his mission to save the world meant leaving his family behind, in the same way a great general must leave his family behind to fight for his kingdom. We would not question why the warrior left his family behind.
Actually, depending on the situation, we might.
My father withdrew from family life and back into the military. He couldn't hack family life. He could hack the military.
So we always questioned it.
Wheather he knew at the moment of leaving his hosehold life if he would succeede or not does not feel all that relevant.
The alternative would have been giving his son something that he himself felt very dissatisfied with...
But also I just remembered that the Buddha somewhere said than having children is the most selfish act one can commit. (references anyone?) So maybe he did regret it.
EDIT:
No now I was being illogical. If he regretted bringing his son into this world it would only make sense to leave him and find a solution to the mess he had gotten Rahula into.
/Victor
The question the OP asked has probably been answered several times over, but I will just say that there was no right view in my opinion because at the time he was not a Buddha, he was a Prince who made a decision. Even after that and still before he had reached awakening, he nearly starved himself to death, wrong intention and wrong pretty much everything apart from effort.
Yep shame on you.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesak
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.061.than.html