Episode 53 – Rahula, Son of the Buddha
>> Be vigilant, cause and effect cannot be avoided. In our every action, we must firmly believe that with one mistaken thought, we will hinder ourselves and give rise to karma.
>>Rahula means Repeated-Obstructions. Because he blocked up a rat’s nest for six days, he remained in the womb for six years. Therefore, he is called Repeated-Obstructions.
>> Such are those the assembly knew and recognized. There were 21 people in all. They had talents and virtues, so they were respected and admired.
We must always be careful.
Be vigilant, cause and effect cannot be avoided. In our every action, we must firmly believe that with one mistaken thought, we will hinder ourselves and give rise to karma.
In our daily living all the things that we do are inseparable from the karmic law of cause and effect. With one wrong move, we create a karmic cause. With one facial expression or one mistaken word, we create a negative affinity. If we have negative causes and affinities, when we die, though we take nothing, our karma will follow us. Each cause is like a seed; one can give rise to infinity. So we should not say, “This is just a minor mistake, just let it be. There is nothing to worry about.” But there is. A huge tree is grown from a little seed. So, with every seed, with every cause, we must be very careful and vigilant.
We must remember that the law of cause and effect cannot be averted, so we must be vigilant in our daily living. If we want to do something, first we must carefully consider it. Is it the right or wrong thing to do? We absolutely cannot do the wrong thing. If we made an unintentional mistake, it happened because of our habitual tendencies. We always have these habitual tendencies. We do not intentionally offend others, but when we speak we may unintentionally say something that harms someone’s spiritual aspiration. A careless remark may cause people to hold grudges.
So, we must change our habitual tendencies so that we can speak good and kind words whenever we see people. If we see something displeasing, however, we must also be understanding. If something causes us great unhappiness, we must still be accommodating. We must be understanding, accommodating, and open-minded. Even if someone intentionally bothers us, if we can be understanding and accommodating, we can transform bad affinities into good ones. So, we must be open-minded, understanding and accommodating. If we can gradually correct our mistakes in this way, we can transform our arrogance into openness and understanding. We can turn a habitual tendency of abusive speech into one of encouragement and kind words. If we can do so, we can certainly transform negative affinities into positive ones.
So in our daily living, we must be vigilant. We need to pay attention to how we interact with people and things. We should know that with one mistaken thought, we will hinder ourselves and give rise to karma. When we hinder ourselves, karmic forces will arise. No one else hindered us; we did it ourselves. We created the cause that resulted in the karmic retributions we face.
Take a look at Rahula. Rahula means Repeated-Obstructions. He obstructed himself and obstructed others as well. These layers of obstructions are called repeated obstructions.
Rahula means Repeated-Obstructions. Because he blocked up a rat’s nest for six days, he remained in the womb for six years. Therefore, he is called Repeated-Obstructions.
The Buddha once spoke of this in a sutra. Rahula’s mother, Yasodhara, gave birth to him after six years of pregnancy. Basically in those six years, he was in a womb-prison and received no exposure to daylight. This was a case of self-obstruction. The same thing happened to his mother. His mother was pregnant for six years. We know usually a woman’s pregnancy lasts around ten months, but for her it was six years. In those six years, everyone was suspicious, especially because the Buddha’s wife, Yasodhara announced her pregnancy after He became a monk.
We must know that, for Indian women, chastity is very important. So during that time, not only were people in the palace suspicious, all the citizens of the country were as well. They even felt resentful and offended. As a king’s daughter-in-law and crown princess, even if the crown prince left home to be a monk, she should still be faithful to him. So, the whole nation misunderstood her. When her belly began to swell, everyone knew she was pregnant. But after six years, she had not yet given birth. These suspicions accumulated over six years.
We may have chanted, “Yasodhara avoided calamities; flames were transformed into a red lotus,” a verse of praise from. “The True Fragrance of Precepts and Samadhi.” This describes Yasodhara, who experienced all kinds of suffering at that time. When others gave birth, everyone was happy. But when she gave birth, everyone was angry, even the people in the palace. Not only were people suspicious of her, they censured her. Therefore, the king could not forgive her.
The tradition in that land was to burn a woman if she was unfaithful. So, a fire basin was set up and a big fire was lit. Yasodhara carried her child in her arms. With her little baby, she stood by the fire. She prayed to the heavens, “This child of mine is truly the son of Crown Prince Siddhartha. I did not do anything wrong. If I have done something wrong, I am willing to jump into the pit of fire with my child and die in the flames. If I did not do anything wrong, may the heavens bless me and be my witness!”
After she said this, she held her child in her arms and jumped into the pit of fire. Suddenly a giant lotus bloomed and floated above the fire and caught her. Mother and son stood on top of the lotus, safe and sound. When the people saw this, they thought it was inconceivable. Since this happened, he must be the son of Crown Prince Siddhartha. So, the whole nation began to believe it and jubilation filled the country.
Over ten years later, the Buddha attained enlightenment, transformed sentient beings, assembled the Sangha, and returned to the palace. Yasodhara called to her son, who was still very young, to bring Joy-buns, or sweet dumplings, as an offering to his father. The adorable Rahula was truly innocent and pure. He did not know who his father was. Since the men there were all monastics, this was another test to see whom his father was. This child was so young. He walked among the monks with the Joy-buns and ended up in front of the Buddha. He offered him the Joy-buns. The Buddha smiled and accepted them. Everyone was very delighted. Father and son naturally shared a bond.
So in any case, this was the legend of Rahula. He was born after six years of pregnancy. This was acknowledged and accepted by everyone.
Why did Rahula remain in his mother’s womb for six years before his birth? The Buddha explained Rahula’s karmic conditions. A very long time ago, there was a naughty child who saw a running rat. This rat darted into a hole. The boy was very naughty so he took a rock and blocked the entrance. He then packed in the edges with soil because he was a mischievous boy. After six days passed, he finally thought of the rat in the hole. Was it still alive? He went back and dug into the soil and removed the stone. The rat came out and was barely alive.
The Buddha said, “This boy was Rahula in a past life.” Though it was a childish game, an unintentional mistake of a child’s playfulness, the rat spent six days in the hole. The rat starved and did not see the sunlight, so it felt hatred in its heart. When it was released, it was barely alive. That was the cause Rahula had created, so for several lifetimes, he faced this kind of retribution.
And there was also another story. Once, a spiritual practitioner embarked a journey on foot and suddenly felt very thirsty. He spotted a lotus pond and bent down to scoop up water to drink. After drinking it, he realized, “This pond must belong to someone. I did not get the approval of the owner before scooping up and drinking the water. I should hurry and repent.” But who was the owner? Nobody knew, so he came to the king and told him, “I have transgressed. I was very thirsty just now so. I scooped up and drank some water from a pond. I don’t know who owns the pond, but you are the ruler of the city, so I should repent to you.”
At that time, the king thought, “It is not a big deal. Any passerby can drink water. You have not transgressed.” The man then said, “I did not get the permission of the owner before drinking the water, so I have transgressed. You have to punish me. I am busy,” said the king. As the crown prince passed by, he told him, “Please take this man to the garden in the back. Show him around. When I am available, I will talk to him again.” This crown prince, a young man, brought him to the garden. Then he said, “Please wait here for now.” The young man felt he had other things to do. He wanted to have fun, so he left.
This practitioner stood there for six days, he dared not sit or move. He had nothing to eat, nothing to drink. Six days later, the king wondered, “What happened to that spiritual practitioner?” So, he asked his son. He replied, “You said to take him to the garden, so I did.” They hurriedly went to look. The man was still standing there. The king quickly called him over and apologized to him. He said, “These six days were your punishment.” The Buddha continued the story by saying, “The prince’s unintentional mistake caused a practitioner to starve for six days. In this way, he created this cause. This was also one of Rahula’s past lives.”
You see, Rahula once blocked the rat’s hole and once made a practitioner suffer for six days. These unintentional mistakes, one after another, led to his imprisonment in the womb for six years. He also created obstructions for his mother. Therefore He was called Repeated-Obstructions because they happened again and again.
The Buddha felt that since the child had been born in the palace, he needed to promptly become a monastic and engage in spiritual practice. But the Buddha’s father was unwilling. And the boy’s mother also refused. When Yasodhara heard about this, she was stunned and quickly grabbed her son’s hand. She hurriedly led him upstairs, but Venerable Maudgalyayana leapt into the air to retrieve the child. The Buddha made a great effort to guide him to become a monastic.
Such a young child needed to be taught, so he selected Sariputra to be Rahula’s teacher. Rahula became Sariputra’s disciple. But when Rahula was a young boy in the Sangha, he was still very mischievous. But in terms of the Buddha-Dharma, he was foremost in secret practice. Though he appeared mischievous, in his mind, he was silently engaging in spiritual practice.
In conclusion, among the Buddha’s disciples, we have brought up 21 people, each with his own past, his own strengths, and his own causes and conditions.
Such are those the assembly knew and recognized. There were 21 people in all. They had talents and virtues, so they were respected and admired.
We must believe in the law of karma; cause and effect cannot be avoided. So, we must be vigilant and very careful all the time. We must know that in everything we do and say and how we treat people, we should be mindful and avoid any deluded thoughts or missteps. Even if there is only one deluded thought or one wrong step, we still cannot avoid cause and effect. So everyone, please always mindful.