Maha Pajapati Gotami

Mahà Pajàpati Gotami was the second of Suddhodhana’s two wives. When Siddhattha’s mother died, Mahà Pajàpati Gotami took the child and brought him up as if he was her own offspring.

After Siddhattha became the Buddha, Mahà Pajàpati Gotami approached him and asked if he would allow her and other women to renounce the world, thus becoming nuns. The Buddha was very reluctant to do this but Ananda interceded on Gotami’s behalf. He asked if women had the same spiritual potential as men and the Buddha replied, “Having gone forth from home into homelessness in the Dhamma and discipline women are able to realise all the states leading to enlightenment and enlightenment itself.’

Then Ananda asked the Buddha to consider how kind and helpful his foster mother had been to him. ‘Lord, Mahà Pajàpatã Gotamã was of great help to you – she is your aunt, your foster mother, she gave you her milk and suckled you when your mother died.’ Moved by these words, the Buddha decided to allow women to become nuns.

Why was the Buddha so reluctant to take this step? At this time there were no monasteries as such, monks lived in the forest or in parks on the outskirts of towns and cities. Although the position of women in Indian society was much higher that it later became, a lone woman still stood a good chance of being thought of as loose and being open to harassment or worse. The Buddha probably thought that having women living in forests posed too many difficulties. As it is, this turned out not to be the case.

Maha Pajapati Gotami attained enlightenment, becoming an arahant.

References

• Buddhism A to Z. Ven. Dhammika, 2007.
• The Complete Book of Buddha's Lists -- Explained. David N. Snyder, Ph.D., 2006.
• http://www.thedhamma.com/
• http://www.theravadabuddhism.org/