Visakha

Visākhā
Religion Buddhism
Other names Migāramāta
Personal
Born Bhadaiya, Magadha
Senior posting
Title Chief Lay Disciple
Religious career
Teacher Gautama Buddha
Profession Upasika

Viśākhā (Pali: Visākhā) was a wealthy aristocratic woman who lived in the ancient Indian kingdoms of Magadha and Kosala in the time of Gautama Buddha. She became known by the nickname Migāramāta, literally "Migāra's mother", after converting her father-in-law, a wealthy treasurer in Savatthi by the name of Migara, to Buddhism. Visakha is known as the chief female lay disciple of the Buddha, and his greatest patron along with her male counterpart Anathapindika.[1]

Background

In Buddhist belief, when a fully enlightened Buddha arrives in the world, he always has a set of chief disciples that fulfill different roles. On top of the pair of chief Arahant disciples such as Gautama Buddha's chief male disciples Sariputta and Moggallana, and his chief female disciples Khema and Uppalavanna, all Buddhas have a set of chief lay disciples as well. Gautama Buddha's chief male lay disciple and patron was Anathapindika, with his chief female lay disciple and patron being Visakha.[2]

According to the Pali Canon, in the time of Padumattara Buddha, Visakha had been born the friend of a laywoman who was one of that Buddha's principal supporters. In that lifetime, the woman saw Padumattara Buddha declare a laywoman his chief female lay disciple foremost in generosity. Having heard this, the woman made the resolve to become the chief female lay disciple of a future Buddha and did many good deeds for several lifetimes in hopes of becoming one.[3] This wish came true in the time of Gautama Buddha, when she was reborn as Visakha.[4][5]

Biography

Early life

Stupa of Visakha, where her ashes were interred, in Sravasti

Visakha was born into a wealthy family, in the city of Bhaddiya in Anga, which at the time was part of the kingdom of Magadha. Her father was named Dhanañjaya, and her mother was named Sumanā. According to Buddhist belief, Visakha's family possessed special merit from her grandfather, Mendaka, having given his last meal to a Pacceka Buddha in a previous life, an act of merit the whole family partook in.[3] Visakha met Gautama Buddha at the age of seven, when he was visiting her home town. When the Buddha taught her she achieved sotāpanna, a stage of enlightenment. Over the next two weeks, Mendaka invited the Buddha and his monks to eat at his house daily.[5]

Visakha moved later in life when King Pasenadi of Kosala heard about this family of special merit. King Pasenadi requested that his brother in law, King Bimbasara, send him some of the people of special merit in his kingdom so his subjects could see their example. King Bimbasara obliged and had Visakha and her father and mother moved to the city of Saketa, near the Kosalan capital of Savatthi.[6]

Marriage

When Visakha was sixteen, a wealthy treasurer named Migara wished to find a wife for his son, Punnavaddhana. However, Punnavaddhanna did not want to marry and described a woman of beauty he thought was impossible to find as the only woman he would marry. Because of this, Migara hired a set of brahmins to find a woman that met Punnavaddhanna's description. The brahmins searched many cities until they found a festival in the city of Saketa. When it began to rain at the festival, everybody ran for cover except for Visakha, who walked to cover slowly. When the brahmins saw this they first ridiculed her as lazy. However, Visakha explained to them that she did not run because it was ungraceful for kings, royal elephants, monks, and women to run. She also explained that she did not want to injure herself, as wet clothes can be fixed, but if a woman of marriageable age breaks a limb she couldn't marry and would be a problem for her parents.[note 1] During this conversation, the brahmins noticed that Visakha had all of the traits Punnavaddhana described and they proposed to her on his behalf, which Visakha accepted.[8][9]

On her wedding day her father wanted to give her cattle. After releasing several he stated that was enough and the gates be closed. However, the cattle behind the gate still followed her, jumping over the gate to reach her. According to Buddhist scripture this was because in a previous existence, Visakha made an offering of milk products to the monastic community of the previous Buddha, Kassapa. Despite the efforts by the monastics telling her that her gifts were enough she insisted on giving more. This merit is believed to have caused cattle to go to Visakha on her wedding day, despite efforts to stop them.[10]

After her marriage, Visakha moved to Savatthi to live with her husband's family. Upon entering the city standing in her chariot, the people of Savatthi were amazed by her beauty and showered her with welcoming gifts. Upon receiving the gifts, Visakha redistributed the gifts back to the people of the city in an act of generosity.[11][12]

Family

After Visakha moved into her husband's household her father-in-law, a follower of Jainism, became very irritated by Visakha's devout faith in Buddhism. Eventually her father-in-law started looking to break up the marriage between his son and Visakha. One day when a monk had entered the household to ask for alms, Migara ignored him, prompting Visakha to say "Pass on, Venerable Sir, my father-in-law is eating stale food". Seeing this as an opportunity to get rid of her, her father-in-law asked that Visakha be expelled from the household. Arbitrators were called in but Visakha explained that by her father-in-law eating food and not making merit for the future, he was using up past merit and not making any more, so it was like he was eating stale food. After hearing this it was agreed that Visakha meant no disrespect. Visakha later convinced Migara to see the Buddha, which led to him becoming a sotapanna.[13][14] Migara was so grateful for Visakha helping him reach a stage of enlightenment he declared her his spiritual mother, earning her the nickname Migāramāta, or "Migara's mother".[15][16][note 2] Overtime, she gradually got her entire household to become devout Buddhists.[18]

Visakha had twenty children, ten sons and ten daughters, with each of her children having similarly large numbers of children themselves.[5]

Chief lay disciple

Visakha was the Buddha's chief lay disciple, along with Anathapindika, and was responsible for providing for the Sangha. The two chief lay disciples were Gautama Buddha's primary aides when dealing with the general public, and he often turned to one of the two whenever there needed to be something arranged with the community.[19] It is said that Visakha fed 500 monks at her house daily and regularly saw the Buddha in the afternoon for Dhamma sermons.[20] The Buddha calls Visakha's love of giving exemplary, and points to her as an example of an ideal benefactor, with both a love of giving and abundant wealth to give. He contrasts this with people who have wealth and don't give, who he calls unwise and likens to flower garland makers who have many flowers but do not have the skills to make good flower garlands.[21]

One day Visakha lost some jewelry which was found by Ananda, who put it away for her. After realizing what happened, Visakha decided to sell the jewelry and use the proceeds to make merit. However, the jewelry was too expensive for anyone to buy, so she bought it herself out of her existing assets and set aside the money to build a monastery near Savatthi.[22][23][24][25] As Visakha prepared to begin the construction of the monastery, she requested the Buddha stay in Savatthi for the construction, however, the Buddha needed to teach elsewhere and let her choose a monk to stay with her for the construction. Visakha chose Maha Moggallana, the Buddha's disciple foremost in psychic abilities, to stay with her and oversee the construction. Thanks to Maha Moggallana's oversight and use of psychic powers to aid with the construction, the two-story temple was built in nine months.[26] The temple was known as Pubbarama Monastery, often referred to as Migāramātupāsāda (literally, "Migaramata's Palace").[24][25][27] After the building of the monastery, the Buddha would alternate between Migāramātupāsāda and Jetavana, the monastery of his chief male disciple Anathapindika, whenever he was staying in Savatthi.[28][24][27] In total, the Buddha spent a total of six rainy seasons at Visakha's monastery, the second most of any monastery during his lifetime, surpassed only by Jetavana.[27][29]

According to Buddhist scriptures, after her death Visakha was reborn in Nimmānaratī, the fifth heavenly realm, as the consort of the deva king of the realm.[5]

Notes

  1. ↑ In ancient India, there was a belief among wealthy families that unmarried women were considered to be a burden on their parents.[7]
  2. ↑ Coincidentally, she also later had a son who she named Migara. Although this is not the reason her nickname was "Migara's mother".[17]

References

  1. ↑ Narada (2006-01-01). The Buddha and His Teachings. Jaico Publishing House. ISBN 9788179926178.
  2. ↑ Lay, U Do. "The great chronicle of Buddhas". www.myanmarnet.net. Archived from the original on 2017-06-02. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
  3. 1 2 Thera, Nyanaponika (2012). Great Disciples of the Buddha : Their Lives, Their Works, Their Legacy (PDF). Hecker, Hellmuth., Bodhi, Bhikkhu. New York: Wisdom Publications. p. 355. ISBN 9780861718641. OCLC 793166695. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-09-24. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  4. ↑ Wayman, Alex (1922). Buddhist Parables. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 158. ISBN 9788120807389.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "Visākhā". www.palikanon.com. Archived from the original on 2018-02-20. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  6. ↑ Thera, Nyanaponika (2012). Great Disciples of the Buddha : Their Lives, Their Works, Their Legacy (PDF). Hecker, Hellmuth., Bodhi, Bhikkhu. New York: Wisdom Publications. p. 356. ISBN 9780861718641. OCLC 793166695. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2017-09-24. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  7. ↑ Dharmasena; (Thera), Dharmasēna (2001-10-05). Portraits of Buddhist Women: Stories from the Saddharmaratnavaliya. Footnote 17: SUNY Press. p. 85. ISBN 9780791451113.
  8. ↑ Dharmasena; (Thera), Dharmasēna (2001-10-05). Portraits of Buddhist Women: Stories from the Saddharmaratnavaliya. SUNY Press. pp. 82–85. ISBN 9780791451113.
  9. ↑ Wayman, Alex (1922). Buddhist Parables. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. pp. 160–161. ISBN 9788120807389. Archived from the original on 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  10. ↑ Buddhaghosa; Burlingame, Eugene Watson; Lanman, Charles Rockwell (1921). Buddhist Legends. Harvard University Press. pp. 67–68.
  11. ↑ Thera, Nyanaponika (2012). Great Disciples of the Buddha : Their Lives, Their Works, Their Legacy. Hecker, Hellmuth., Bodhi, Bhikkhu. New York: Wisdom Publications. p. 359. ISBN 9780861718641. OCLC 793166695.
  12. ↑ Wayman, Alex (1922). Buddhist Parables. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 164. ISBN 9788120807389. Archived from the original on 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  13. ↑ "Visakha Migaramata — Migara's Mother". obo.genaud.net. Archived from the original on 2018-08-22. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  14. ↑ Wayman, Alex (1922). Buddhist Parables. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 166. ISBN 9788120807389. Archived from the original on 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  15. ↑ Bandarage, Asoka (2017-11-28). "Visakha: The Chief Female Benefactor of the Buddha". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-08-27.
  16. ↑ 1901-1994., Nyanaponika, Thera, (2012). Great Disciples of the Buddha : Their Lives, Their Works, Their Legacy. Hecker, Hellmuth., Bodhi, Bhikkhu. New York: Wisdom Publications. p. 360. ISBN 9780861718641. OCLC 793166695.
  17. ↑ Dharmasena; (Thera), Dharmasēna (2001-10-05). Portraits of Buddhist Women: Stories from the Saddharmaratnavaliya. Footnote 17: SUNY Press. p. 99. ISBN 9780791451113.
  18. ↑ "Life of Buddha: Visakha, Female Supporter (Part 2)". www.buddhanet.net. Archived from the original on 2018-02-21. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  19. ↑ "Anathapindika: The Great Benefactor". www.accesstoinsight.org. Archived from the original on 2018-08-22. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
  20. ↑ Shaw, Sarah (2006-02-14). Buddhist Meditation: An Anthology of Texts from the Pali Canon. Taylor & Francis. p. 129. ISBN 9780203007310.
  21. ↑ Dharmasena; (Thera), Dharmasēna (2001-10-05). Portraits of Buddhist Women: Stories from the Saddharmaratnavaliya. SUNY Press. p. 108. ISBN 9780791451113.
  22. ↑ Peoples, Dion. "Buddhist Women in the Time of the Buddha and Theravada Women Today (2003)": 2. Archived from the original on 2016-05-31. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
  23. ↑ Narada (2006-01-01). The Buddha and His Teachings. Jaico Publishing House. p. 440. ISBN 9788179926178.
  24. 1 2 3 "Migáramátupásáda". palikanon.de. Archived from the original on 2018-03-18. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
  25. 1 2 Wayman, Alex (1922). Buddhist Parables. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 170. ISBN 9788120807389. Archived from the original on 2016-04-23. Retrieved 2018-08-24.
  26. ↑ Thera, Dharmasēna (2001). Portraits of Buddhist women : stories from the Saddharmaratnāvaliya. Obeyesekere, Ranjini. Albany: State University of New York Press. pp. 103–104. ISBN 0791451119. OCLC 46937658.
  27. 1 2 3 Thabrew, W. Vivian De (2013-07-10). Monuments and Temples of Orthodox Buddhism in India and Sri Lanka. AuthorHouse. p. 40. ISBN 9781481795524.
  28. ↑ "Jetavana". palikanon.de. Archived from the original on 2018-03-18. Retrieved 2018-03-17.
  29. ↑ Thakur, Amarnath (1996). Buddha and Buddhist Synods in India and Abroad. Abhinav Publications. pp. 64–76. ISBN 9788170173175. Archived from the original on 2016-12-23. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
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