Buddha wrong for leaving home?

Sunspot5254

Now I'm not trying to sound all critical I just don't understand how a father could walk out on his son and wife. I would love to be a nun but I have a daughter so that attachment will always be there. And I take pleasure out of that, I can't change that nor would it be fair to my daughter.

I'm reading "Buddha" by Karen Armstrong and its talking about the time period he left home, heres some pieces from it:

pg. 7
"Gotama believed that gods existed, but was not much interested in them. Here again, he was a man of his time and culture. The people of India had worshipped gods in the past...............But by the sixth century, these deities had begun to recede from the religious consciousness of the most thoughtful people. They were not exactly regarded as worthless, but they had become unsatisfactory as objects of worship. Increasingly, people were aware that the gods could not provide them with real and substantial help. The sacrifices performed in their honor did not in fact alleviate human misery. More and more men and women decided that they must rely entirely on themselves."

pg. 9
"When he left his fathers house clad in the yellow roves of a mendicant monk who begged or his food, Gotama believed that he was setting out on an exciting adventure. He felt the lure of the 'wide open' road, and the shining, perfect state of 'homelessness'. Everybody spoke of the 'holy life' at this time as a noble quest. Kings, merchants and wealthy householders alike honored these bhhikus ('almsmen') and vied with one another for the privilege of feeding them."

pg. 10
"Still, there was a special urgency in the Ganges region in the late sixth century B.C.E. People did not regard the renunciants as feeble dropouts. There was a spiritual crisis in the region. The sort of disillusion and anomie that Gotama had experienced was widespread, and people were desperately aware that they needed a new religious solution. The monk was thus engaged in a quest that would benefit his fellows, often at a huge cost to himself."

So yes everything he did definitely did benefit society, but what about his kid? I mean what if he left and just died from a bug bite? It would have been for nothing. Do you know if his son ever came to search for him?

Toraldris

We already had a thread about this earlier this year. Perhaps the discussion should move there...

http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/21675/the-buddhas-leaving-home

Nirvana

I don't see how the question of this thread's title (Buddha Wrong for Leaving Home) is essentially different than:

Was Buddha wrong to be Buddha?

He left his small family behind and went out in search of his true family, to which his early, small family was destined to rejoin.

Jesus also taught that his disciples should leave their families, too. Perhaps there was a Buddhist influence in this.

Another point, and a salient one at that, is that lots of the legends about these holy men were embellishments (gospels) that glorified facets about them that ordinary people would be unable to perform. Giving up creature comforts and a lovely wife while an infant is being nurtured would be too much for most men to do, unless they were forced to do so by job demands or war or something. These stories meant something totally different to people back in antiquity than they mean to us today: They were compelling tales of wondrous deeds. We are more child-centered. Even 70 years ago the Germanic idea that men owned their wives and children was more-or-less prevalent in our Western society. It rather seems that today's more child-centered and more egalitarian society cannot penetrate some of these stories to see beyond the details to the vision.

silver

Rahula, the Buddha's son, became a bhikkhu -- pretty much every body and their mother became bhikkhus or bhikkhunis.

I order you to read Thich Nhat Hanh's Old Path White Clouds -- tells the Buddha's life story. You will love it.

:smirk:

Bunks

You must alao remember that the Buddha was a prince soleft his son in very good care. it wasn't like his wife had to beg on the streets!

silver

His wife laid out his clothes and ordered a servant to get 2 horses ready for the Buddha and the servant and ride out with him because she knew he wanted to leave and why, they shared their feelings and opinions and were a lot alike.

federica

Given that appropriate links have been kindly supplied, further reading can be found there.

Thanks to all contributors.