ལས་བརྒྱ་ཐམ་པ་པ 13.7

13.7

“Lord, tell us why thousands of men have seen the Blessed One, but no one has ever said with love, ‘I have met my son!’ and then run to put his arms around the Blessed One like that.”

“For five hundred lives this brahmin was my father,” the Blessed One explained. “It is because of these habitual tendencies alone that he said with love, ‘I have met my son!’ and put his arms around me.”

The monks further inquired, “Lord, if he was the Blessed One’s father for five hundred lifetimes, why is he not your father now?”

The Blessed One replied, “Because bodhisattvas want so deeply to renounce and to perform acts of charity, and in all my lives he obstructed my renunciation and charity, I prayed, ‘May he not become my father again.’ Furthermore, Śuddhodana also prayed, ‘Oh, may I become the father of the Buddha.’ ”

The monks then asked him, “Lord, where did Śuddhodana make these prayers?”

“Monks,” the Blessed One replied, “in times past, in the ninety-first eon, when the totally and completely awakened Buddha Vipaśyin was in the world, a certain trader offered a meal and prayed, ‘By this root of virtue, wherever I am born, may it be into a family of great means, prosperity, and wealth. May my child be one as precious as this. May I please him and not displease him.’ ”

The monks asked the Blessed Buddha,