When Lord Shakyamuni Buddha was asked to bring the dead back to life
Prazol Maharjan | Youtube: Prazol Vlogs | Follow: Instagram | jhigunepa@gmail.com
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Kisa Gotami asking Lord Buddha to bring her dead son back to life. Painting gallery of the Global Vipassana Pagoda
This is an incident that took place during the lifetime of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha. There was a poor woman, a single Mother, named Kisa Gotami, in a famous city of Srāvastī, now in North India. Her son meant the world for her and the source of happiness. One day the very child, whom she loves so dearly, got sick and died. The pain becomes so unbearable for her and starts lamenting, holding the child to her heart. She loses her senses, carried the dead body in her hands, and starts wandering throughout the town and asking if there was anyone who can bring her child back to life.
The villagers knew the child was already dead and advised her to accept it and make funeral arrangements. However, she refused to believe that her son is dead. She held her son's body close and kept uttering her son to wake up. One of the villagers being unable to console her, suggests her, go to Jetvana Monastery, to see Lord Buddha. She says, 'He is very compassionate and also great physician, now he's the only one who can bring your son, back to life.'
Kisa Gotami, weeping and wailing rushes to the Jetavan Vihar, with the dead body of her child. She falls down on her knees and laid the dead child at the feet of Lord Buddha. She requests him to bring his son, back to life.
Lord Buddha, after seeing her state, says, "Kisa Gotami, I can bring your son back to life but you must do one work"
Kisa Gotami replies, ' I will do anything to bring my son back to life'
Lord Buddha says, 'If it is so, I need you to go beg a pinch of mustard seeds from any household but it must be from a house, where no one residing in the house has ever lost a family member. Once you bring the mustard seeds back to me, your son will come back to life."
Seeings signs of hope, Kisa Gotami rushed back to her town. She goes from house to house, asking for mustard seeds. She knocks on the door of one of the house and asks if she could get a pinch of mustard seeds. A person from the house offered to give her some mustard seeds. Before taking the seeds, Kisa Gotami asks, whether there was any death in this house. He replies, he recently lost so and so just a few months ago. She goes to another house and learns that someone else has died in that household as well. Another house, they lost uncle, another house lost an aunt She goes door to door crying, every single house in the town, but gets the same answer. She was not able to find any house, where they have not lost any loved ones to death. She gets so tired and finally came to realize that death is inevitable, it is the law of nature. She goes back to Lord Buddha tired.
Lord Budha, then explains her, 'Kisa Gotami, you were not in right senses when you came to me earlier. You were in great sorrow, due to losing your only, son whom you loved so much. I would not have been able to console you if I tried earlier. Thus, I sent you on this errand to make you realize that no one can escape death, this is the law of nature. Anything that has life, must end one day. No one can avoid death."
Kisa Gotami, having realized this, she gave the dead body of her son and performed the last rites and went back to seek refuge in the path of the Buddha. She gets ordained and becomes the nun. Due to the accumulation of merits from her previous births, she became Srotapanna, and then Arahat. She taught Vipassana to many suffering women and helped them come out of it.
References:
Vipassana Research Institute - Kisa Gotami
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