RELS 1506 Chapter 1: The Buddha's Childhood-Vanessa Sasson

• School: University of Iowa
• Department: Religious Studies
• Course: RELS 1506
• Professor: Kalzang Bhutia

Document Summary

Very idea of childhood assumes period of transformation and development: not (cid:374)e(cid:272)essarily appli(cid:272)a(cid:271)le to buddha"s hagiography. Range of permitted childhood tropes is limited: Re(cid:374)ders dis(cid:272)ussio(cid:374) of the buddha"s (cid:272)hildhood (cid:272)o(cid:374)strai(cid:374)i(cid:374)g. The(cid:373)e of buddha"s (cid:272)hildhood (cid:373)erits (cid:272)o(cid:374)sideratio(cid:374: a(cid:374)dre bareau did(cid:374)"t (cid:271)elie(cid:448)e a lot (cid:272)ould (cid:271)e o(cid:374) su(cid:271)je(cid:272)t. Or buddha"s ge(cid:374)eral disi(cid:374)terest i(cid:374) o(cid:449)(cid:374) (cid:272)hildhood. Buddha"s (cid:272)hildhood=foreshadowing for man to come: may answer key question. 2 objectives filled by his surroundings: establish the buddha in royal framework. Debated whether his family ruled the amount of land they did. Association between kingship and divinity: narrative flow. While everyone focused on the field, bodhisattva meditates: this meditation pivotal role in his awakening. Next the buddha sees dead insects in wake of plough: grieves for them. This was not the first of his meditations: but merely frames what was there all along. Samskaras: rites of passage: early vedic sanskaras, people avoid mentioning. Initiate into fire sacrifice: much debate on whether buddha participated in samskaras.