The Conception of Gautama Buddha
It was when the Bodisat was thus dwelling in the City of Delight that the so-called "Buddha proclamation" took place.
From: 563 B.C.E. To: 300 B.C.E.
Location: Piprahwa, Uttar Pradesh, India; Tilaurakot, Nepal
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
The conception of Gautama Buddha, from Buddhist Birth Tales, a translation of the c. 4th-century BCE Jataka Tales by V. Fausboll and T.W. Rhys Davids, 1880.
II: The Intermediate Epoch
Avidure Nidana
Part 1
It was when the Bodisat was thus dwelling in the City of Delight that the so-called "Buddha proclamation" took place. For three such "Proclamations" take place on earth. These are the three. When they realize that at the end of a hundred thousand years a new dispensation will begin, devas of the next world who are called World-arrangers, with their hair flying and dishevelled, with weeping faces, wiping away their tears with their hands, clad in red garments, and with their clothes all in disorder, wander among men, and make proclamation, saying:
"Sirs, one hundred thousand years from now there will be a new dispensation; this world-system will be destroyed; even the sea will dry up; this great earth, with Sineru the monarch of mountains, will be burned up and destroyed; and the whole world up to the Brahma-realms, will pass away. And so, sirs, exercize love, pity, sympathy and equanimity, cherish the mother, cherish the father, honour the elders in your families." This is called the proclama tion of an Age.
Again, when they realize that at the end of a thousand years an omniscient Buddha will appear on earth, the deva-guardians of the world go from place to place and make proclamation, saying: "Sirs, at the end of a thousand years from this time a Buddha will appear on earth." This is called the proclamation of a Buddha.
Again, when devas realize that at the end of a hundred years a universal monarch will appear, they go from place to place and make proclamation, saying: "Sirs, at the end of a hundred years from this time a universal monarch will appear on earth." This is called the proclamation of a Universal monarch.
These are the three great proclamations.
When of these three they hear the Buddha-proclamation, the devas of the entire ten thousand world-systems assemble together; and having ascertained who will become the Buddha, they go to him and beseech him to do so, so beseeching him when the first signs appear [that his present life is drawing to its close]. Accordingly on this occasion they all, with the governors in each world, assembled in one world, and going to the future Buddha in the world of bliss (Tusita), they besought him, saying:
"Sir, when thou wast fulfilling the Ten Perfections, thou didst not do so from a desire for the state of world-governor Sakka, or Mara, or Brahma or of a mighty king upon earth; thou wast fulfilling them with the hope of reaching all-knowledge for the sake of the salvation of mankind! Now has the moment come, sir, for thy Buddhahood; now, sir, has the time arrived!"
But the Great Being, as if he had not granted the prayer of the devas, reflected in succession on the following five important points, viz. the time; the country; the family; the mother; and her age-limit.
Of these he first reflected on the TIME, thinking: "Is this the time or not?" And on this point he thought: "When the time of the span of life has grown to be upwards of a hundred thousand years, the time has not arrived. Why not? Because in such a period men perceive not that living beings are subject to birth, decay, and death; the thrice-marked pearl of the preaching of the gospel of the Buddhas is not; and when the Buddhas speak of the impermanence of all things, of the universality of sorrow, and of the delusion of individuality, people will neither listen nor believe, saying: What is this they talk of? At such a time there can be no understanding, and without that the teaching will not lead to salvation. That therefore is not the time.
Neither is it the right time when the span of life is under one hundred years. Why not? Because then sin is rife among men; and admonition addressed to the sinners does not endure, but like a streak drawn on the water vanishes quickly away. That therefore is not the time. When, however, the span of life is under a hundred thousand and over a hundred years that is the proper time." Now at that time the span of (earth) life was one hundred years. The Great Being therefore saw that the time of his advent had arrived.
Then reflecting upon the COUNTRY, and considering the four great continents with their surrounding islands, he thought: "In three of the continents the Buddhas are not born, but in Jambudvipa they are born," and thus he decided on the country.
Then reflecting upon THE DISTRICT, and thinking: "Jambudvipa indeed is large, ten thousand leagues in extent; now in which district of it do the Buddhas appear?" he fixed upon the Middle Country. And calling to mind that the town named Kapilavatthu was in that country, he concluded that he ought to be born in it.
Then reflecting on THE FAMILY, he thought: "The Buddhas are not born in the Vessa caste, nor the Sudda caste; but either in the Brahmin or in the Khattiya caste, whichever is then held in the highest repute. The Khattiya caste is now predominant, I must be born in it, and Suddhodana the chief will be my father." Thus he beheld the family.
Then reflecting on THE MOTHER, he thought: "The mother of a Buddha is not lustful, or corrupt as to drink, but has fulfilled the Perfections for a hundred thousand ages, and from her birth upwar ds has kept the five Precepts unbroken. Now this lady Maha Maya is such an one, she will be my mother." And further considering how long her life should last, he foresaw that it would still last ten months and seven days.
Having thus reflected on these five important points he favoured the devas by consenting: "The time has arrived, sirs, for me to become a Buddha." He then dismissed them with the words and promise "Do you go"; and attended by the devas of the world of Bliss (Tusita), he entered the grove of Gladness (Nandana) in the City of Bliss.
Now in each of the deva-worlds there is such a grove of Gladness; and there the devas are wont to remind any one of them who is about to depart of the opportunities he has gained by good deeds done in a former birth, saying to him: "When hence deceased go to a good destiny." And thus he also, when walking about there, surrounded by devas reminding him of his acquired merit, departed thence, and was conceived in the womb of the Lady Maha Maya.
In order to explain this better, the following is the account in fuller detail. At that time, it is said, the Midsummer festival was proclaimed in the City of Kapilavastu, and the people were enjoying the feast. During the seven days before the full moon the Lady Maha Maya had taken part in the festivity, as free from drunkenness as it was brilliant with garlands and perfumes. On the seventh day she rose early and bathed in perfumed water: and she distributed four hundred thousand pieces in giving great largesse. Decked in her richest attire she partook of the purest food: and steadfast in the rites of the feast she entered her beautiful chamber, and lying on her royal couch she fell asleep and dreamt this dream.
The four Guardians of the world, lifting her up in her couch, carried her to the Himalaya mountains, and placing her under the Great Sal-tree, seven leagues high, on the Crimson Plain, sixty yojanas broad, they stood respectfully aside. Their queens then came toward her, and taking her to the lake of Anotatta, bathed her to free her from human stains; and dressed her in heavenly garments; and anointed her with perfumes; and decked her with heavenly flowers. Not far from there is the Silver Hill, within which is a golden mansion; in it they spread a heavenly couch, with its head towards the East, and on it they laid her down.
Then the future Buddha, who had become a superb white elephant, and was wandering on the Golden Hill, not far from there, descended thence, and ascending the Silver Hill, approached her from the North. Holding in his silvery trunk a white lotus flower, and uttering a far reaching cry, he entered the golden mansion, and thrice doing obeisance to his mother’s couch, he gently struck her right side, and seemed to enter her womb.
Thus was he conceived at the end of the Midsummer festival. And the next day, having awoke from her sleep, she related her dream to the raja. The raja had sixty-four eminent brahmins summoned, and had costly seats spread on a spot made ready for the state occasion with green leaves and dalbergia flowers, and he had vessels of gold and silver filled with delicate milk-rice compounded with ghee and sweet honey, and covered with gold and silver bowls. This food he gave them, and he satisfied them with gifts of new garments and of tawny cows. And when he had thus satisfied their every desire, he had the dream told to them, and then he asked them: "What will come of it?"
The brahmins said: "Be not anxious, sire! your queen has conceived: and the fruit of her womb will be a man-child; it will not be a woman-child. You will have a son. And he, if he adopts a householder’s life, will become a king, a Universal Monarch; but if, leaving his home, he adopt the religious life, he will become a Buddha, who will remove from the world the veils of ignorance and sin."
Fausboll, V. and T.W. Rhys Davids. Buddhist Birth Stories. Vol. 1, Trubner & Co., 1880.
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