法苑珠林 9.38

9.38

According to the Fo benxing jing: at that time, when seven days had just elapsed since the birth of the crown prince, Queen Māyā, the crown prince's mother, passed away. Some masters say: the lifespan and karmic measure of Queen Māyā was only seven days, and that is why she passed away. Nonetheless, in the past this was always the rule: after a bodhisattva has been born for seven days, the mother of every bodhisattva reaches the end of her life. Why is this? Because when the bodhisattvas leave household life at a tender age, their mothers would see this, their hearts would break, and they would immediately pass away. Furthermore, masters of the Sarvāstivāda school say that the mother, seeing the handsome and extraordinary physical form of her newborn son, could not bear her overwhelming joy and immediately passed away. After passing away, she was immediately reborn in the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven. At that time, after King Śuddhodana saw that the queen had passed away, he immediately summoned the Śākya clan and had them gather together like clouds. He addressed them, saying: 'All of you kinsmen are relatives of the state. Now this child is an infant who has lost his mother; to whom shall the responsibility of nursing and feeding be entrusted? Who can be instructed to raise him and ensure his survival? Who is able to show pity and love him as if he were her own child?' At that time, there were five hundred young brides of the Śākya clan. Each of these brides cried out, saying: 'I can raise him! I can look after him!' Then the elders of the Śākya clan said to those women: 'All of you are young and in your prime, your minds indulging in sensual desires; you cannot nurture him at the proper times or love him with compassion in accordance with the Dharma. Only this Mahāprajāpatī is a close relative, the child's true maternal aunt. Therefore, she is capable of tending to and raising the body of the child.' Then King Śuddhodana immediately took the crown prince, entrusted him to the aunt, and addressed her, saying: 'Welcome, O lady! Such a child must be raised; you must protect and support him well, cause him to grow, and bathe him at the proper times.' In addition, thirty-two women were specially chosen to assist in raising him: eight women were designated to hold the prince, eight women to bathe the prince, eight women to suckle the prince, and eight women to play with him. At that time, Mahāprajāpatī addressed King Śuddhodana, saying: 'I shall respectfully obey the king's order and dare not go against it.'