‘ALL BUDDHAS ARE BORN FROM WOMEN’: Remembering Abhidhamma teachings and Buddha’s mother at a contemporary Buddhist Nālanda in the sacred heart of India

“I tell you, monks, there are two people who are not easy to repay. Which two? Your mother and father. Even if you were to carry your mother on one shoulder and your father on the other shoulder for 100 years, and were to look after them by anointing, massaging, bathing, and rubbing their limbs, and they were to defecate and urinate right there [on your shoulders], you would not in that way pay or repay your parents.”–Shakyamuni Buddha in Aṅguttaranikāya 

“You who have been born from my womb so many times, have now rendered me a recompense. In one birth, from being a slave I became the wife of the king of Benares, but that exaltation was not equal to the privilege I now receive. From the time of Piyumatura [Buddha], during an [eon], you sought no other mother and I sought no other son. Now, my reward is received.”–Queen Māyā to Buddha

A few days ago, on the full moon day of Śharada Pūrņimā, (28th October) the Abhidhamma Day was celebrated in India, and many other Buddhist countries (according to the Theravāda tradition) as the day when Buddha taught the Abhidhamma. The Abhidhamma are generally considered as Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic presentations of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist sutras.

In the Theravāda tradition it is held that the Abhidhamma was not a later addition, but rather was taught in the fourth week of Gautama Buddha’s enlightenment. The Theravāda tradition is unique in regarding its Abhidhamma as having been taught in its complete form by the Buddha as a single teaching, with the exception of the Kathavatthu, which contains material relating to later disputes and was held to only have been presented as an outline.

According to their tradition, devas built a beautiful jeweled residence for the Buddha to the north-east of the bodhi tree, where he meditated and delivered the Abhidhamma teachings to gathered deities in the Thirty-Three Gods (Trāyastriṃśa) heavenly realm, including his deceased mother Māyā (who had been re-born there after passing away giving birth to the Buddha. The tradition also holds that the Buddha gave daily summaries of the teachings given in the heavenly realm to the bhikkhu Sariputta, who passed them on.

On the other hand, some modern scholars generally believe that the canonical Abhidhamma texts emerged after the time of the Buddha, in around the 3rd century BCE. Therefore, the canonical Abhidhamma works are generally claimed by scholars not to represent the words of the Buddha himself, but those of later Buddhists.

Whatever the case may be it was wonderful to be able personally attend the commemoration of the Buddha’s teachings in India followed by an International Conference on ‘The Tenets of the Buddha Dhamma and Global Well-being: Nature, Significance, and Applicability.  This prestigious event was jointly organized by the International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) and the School of Buddhist Studies and Civilization at Gautam Buddha University, Greater Noida, India from October 28-30, 2023.  For more about this magnificent new university, see below.  The GBU is located in the sacred land of Uttar Pradesh, India. A place, as one speaker reminded us contains at least four major sacred Buddhist sites, including the place where the Buddha is said to have descended back here after his teaching, Sankassiya, presently known as Sankisa Basantapur, Farrukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh state of India. The place is documented by the Asokan marker – Asokan Elephant Pillar signifying the importance of the place of event.

Here is my brief overview of the event and conference, my participation in it, the remarkably stunning GBU  campus venue, and meeting (and exchanging books with) the esteemed Indian Kālacakra intellectual, scholar and translator, Dr. Niraj Kumar.

Music? Meri Maa (My Mother) by Shankar Mahadevan.

Remembering Buddha’s Teaching in the Divine Realms

The Abhidhamma commemoration day itself had several speakers including Senior Prof. Kotapitiya Rahula Anunayaka Thera, General Secretary and Anunayaka (Deputy Prelate) Supreme Sangha Council of the Kotte Chapter, Sri Lanka who spoke about the Abhidamma and it being one of the three Tipaka baskets (the other two being Vinaya and Sutra) and was concluded with a speech from the former President of India, Shri Ramnath Kovind who stated that if someone was a well-known, powerful or wealthy person, but not a ‘good person’ then they are ‘nowhere’. 

This was followed in the afternoon with a commemoration of the centenary of the renowned Indian teacher and meditation master, S.N Goenka (for more on that see below).

Repaying a Mother’s Kindness: Making Visible the Role of Buddha’s Mother in his divine realm teachings – talk by Dakini Translations founder and scholar-translator, Adele Tomlin

The following day began the two day international conference.  I was honoured to be invited to speak on the opening day plenary session with esteemed Indian professors and monastics, including Rajesh Ranjam, VC of Central Institute of Buddhist Studies,  Professor C Upender Rao of Jawaharlal Nehru University,  Soond Hwang, a Professor from South Korea, who gave a talk on the concept of causal interdependence and Dr. Niraj Kumar. 

The topic I spoke on was my compilation of the research done on the Buddha’s biological mother, Queen Māyā and her role in the Buddha’s life, her passing, being re-born in the divine realms and the Buddha going to teach in that realm, see here.  In my introduction to the Indian queen and biological mother, Queen Māyā, I briefly mentioned another ‘jewel’ in Indra’s net:

“That as a British citizen talking about an Indian queen, I would also like to take the opportunity to express my gratitude to my kind and generous Indian hosts, whose intellectual, cultural and linguistic legacy has given so much to the world (and to myself) for hundreds of years, and my hope that the Koh-I-Noor diamond be finally returned to its origin on Indian soil, along with many other precious objects taken during the British colonisation…”

For more on the journey of the controversial Koh-I-Noor diamond to Great Britain from India, see this article here.

I then went on to speak about why the role of Buddha’s mother is important to remember:

“Traditionally, even though Buddha ascended to the heavenly realms to teach his mother there, the day is still predominantly and rightly focused on Buddha, but not so much attention is paid to his mother’s story, the person who gave birth to him and was the cause of him coming to the divine realms. To counter-balance this male-centred/androcentric history, I will briefly present research on women of importance during this sacred event.

As it says in this quote: “All Buddhas are born from women….” In addition, as eminent speakers have also mentioned here, conflict, war and violence is escalating all over the world, and never before has love and compassion, as taught by Buddha been more vital and necessary for the survival of humans, animals and our precious planet. We not only need to de-colonise aspects of Indian Buddhism but also de-masculinise it too.”

The talk also spoke about the ‘silence’ of key aspects of Queen Māyā’s life, death and passing as notable in the androcentric Buddhist texts and biographies.  Yet, she plays a key role in Buddha’s life even after she passed away and is living in the heavenly realms. She is said to have re-appeared to him twice before he attained full awakening in order to help and advise Gautama Buddha.

However, Buddha spoke of the importance of gratitude to our parents, and repaying them if possible. So he did not bring his father, mother and aunt to arhatship out of any worldly bias or favour, it was a teaching in itself of the importance of repaying the kindness of our parents (in particular our mothers).

Meeting Dr. Niraj Kumar – Kālacakra scholar, intellectual, Sanskritist and Director of the Indian Ministry of Culture

The chair of the opening day plenary session panel I spoke on was an esteemed Indian scholar-translator on Kālacakra, and the Director of the Indian Ministry of Culture, Dr. Niraj Kumar. Dr. Kumar kindly referred to me as a ‘genius’ and told me personally he was a secret and great ‘admirer’ of my work and website.

We had been in online contact several months before about Kālacakra mainly, and when Dr. Kumar requested that I present his Kālacakra paper at the Bhutan Vajrayana conference last year (as he was unable to attend), which I declined as I am not a Sanskrit scholar.  Finally, being able to meet in  person, we were able to exchange our respective books on Kālacakra, see photos below:

I will be writing more about Dr. Niraj Kumar and his work on Kālacakra soon!  His work is masterly, original and revelationary in many respects and symbolic of a cultural and intellectual Indian Buddhist renaissance. As Dr. Kumar himself states, it has ‘rattled’ some people/groups who have de-Indianized Buddhism and Kālacakra.

Birth Centenary of Dr. Satya Narayan Goenka and the Vipassanā meditation method

There was also a commemoration of the Birth Centenary Year Celebration of Dr. Satya Narayan Goenka. S. N. Goenka, was an Indian teacher of Vipassanā meditation. Born in Burma to an Indian business family, he moved to India in 1969 and started teaching meditation. His teaching emphasized that the Buddha’s path to liberation was non-sectarian, universal, and scientific in character. He became an influential teacher and played an important role in establishing many non-commercial Vipassana meditation centers globally.   The most famous of which is the Pagoda at Dhamma Giri Meditation Centre, Igatpuri, which was founded by Goenka in 1976. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in 2012, an award given for distinguished service of high order. He passed away in 2013 and is still remembered for his contribution towards the meditation culture worldwide.

A few years ago, I also attended a 10-day Vipassana course at the centre in Dharamkot, Dharamsala, HP, India. It certainly was a great learning experience in how the mind constantly chatters and creates much internal dialogue and suffering. The 10 day retreats are conducted in complete silence, and all external distractions are removed, such as phones, laptops, notebooks, pens, etc. Literally all you have there is your external surroundings and your mind.

Part of the retreat involves sitting for sessions where one is encouraged not to move physically as much as possible. This was a lot more difficult for silence (which is easy for me), however, when the knees start aching or body wants to move, to go through that without moving was challenging indeed, but the revelation at the end of it (for me at least) was how the urge and discomfort eventually passes once the thought about it does!

Gautama Buddha University: An Indian architectural marvel and symbol of Indian Buddhist renaissance

The Gautam Buddha University in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, is spread over 511 acres. Designed by CP Kukreja,  the campus itself is absolutely extraordinary and stunning, not only aesthetically but it also features new and eco-friendly technology.

With its forests, water bodies, local species of flora and fauna, rainwater harvesting, and recycling of water, the GBU was awarded one of the best eco-friendly campuses by BUILD Architecture Awards, London. The campus is located adjacent to the Yamuna Expressway connecting Delhi and Agra.

To protect the campus from the noise and visual pollution of heavy traffic, a sufficiently wide patch of urban forest has been provided along the Expressway. On entering the campus through a majestic entrance one is greeted by thick forest which creates a tranquil environment inside the campus and helps in improving the micro-climate of the area.

All images courtesy of CP Kukreja Architects.

 

 

For example, the meditation hall (see above) is designed with one of the largest column-free domes in India. Further, the earth dug out to create an underground research facility is used as a thermal buffer to reduce heat gain. The research facility receives light from skylights installed on the circumambulation path around the meditation centre above. For more about the architectural design and photos, see here.