Reading Diary A: The Life of Buddha

The Life of Buddha

(Buddha and Mara's Demons, c. 1,000 C.E., 

File created by Asia Society - Author: Anonymous)

I had wanted to explore this unit from the first week because one of my New Year’s resolution to explore different religions in order to increase my knowledge base.

Maya’s Dream: This story tells about the beginning of Buddha’s life, which all started with a dream from Queen Maya. Going from the Biblical Unit last week to the Buddha Unit, I see quite a few similarities and differences. For example, an angel came to Mary the Mother of Jesus to tell her she would bare a son named Jesus who would be the Messiah. Buddha’s mother was approached in a very similar way–through a dream–to find out about the identity of her son. With Buddha living inside his mother’s stomach, she had healing powers over people and nature. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he performed miracles, but only in the last three years of His life, which is a difference.

Birth of Siddhartha: Queen Maya seemed to have some connection with trees because she was continually fascinated by their beauty and splendor. After reading the birth story of Buddha, the whole world seemed like a utopia at the time. Nothing in nature or society was evil or unhappy.

Asita’s Prediction: I thought the term gifted to Buddha from the gods was odd – destroy the evil of rebirth. I am unsure if this means reincarnation or something else. In the Christian Bible, the purpose of the text is centered on being rebirthed into our new life of purity, so it is something we desire, not something we want to be destroyed.

I find it sad that Asita, the priest, was unable to know his (Buddha) message and his (Buddha) law, but it might not be revealed until Buddha ages.