The History of Buddhist Thought c19.8

c19.8

Then the second nidāna, “ the non-distant,” begins with his last birth up to his attaining of enlightenment. When the time for his last birth came, he made five great surveys (vilokana), and reflected on (1) the right time, when the age of men is neither too long nor too short for them to reflect on old age and death; (2) the continent, Jambudīpa (India), for only there are Buddhas born; (3) the country, which was the Middle District, and in it was Kapilavatthu; (4) the family, and he chose a kshatriya family, as that was then in greater honour than the brahmin caste, and king Suddhodana would be his father; (5) the mother, queen Māyā, because she was sober and had kept the five lay precepts from her birth.