Maya Devi

For to be born as a great king in a quarter of heaven, great merits and impressive qualities are assured.

Recollecting that these four great kings guarded the Bodhisattva from the moment that he descended into his mother, Mahamaya Devi's womb, and received him into this world with their very own hands.

Rejoice now in their great merits and wonderful qualities.

Once again, we will meditate for a minute or so.

And it's about Mahapajapati.

You know, the Buddha's birth mother died a week after he was born, Queen Maya.

And we usually, she's honored and praised and, you know, we really give her all this kind of almost adulation.

But it was Maya's sister, who is the other wife of King Sudhanala, the Buddha's father, who actually raised him.

And so this book is about all the things that Mahapajapati did.

And Mahapajapati was the one who got the Buddha to ordain women.

The Life of Buddha by A. Ferdinand Harold.

King Suddhodana and Queen Maya.

Serene and magnificent was this city where once had dwelt the great hermit Kapila.

It seemed to be built out of some fragment of the sky.

And as starlight intensifies the brightness of the moon, so did their brilliance enhance his splendor.

Suddhodana, king of the Saky race, had wed many queens.

His favorite among these was Maya.

She was very beautiful.

Part 1.

Under the southern slopes of the snowy Himalaya lived a happy race of people who were ruled in justice and mercy by King Suddhodana and the good Queen Maya.

And when a son was born to the royal pair, there was great rejoicing in the palace, for the soothsayers had promised the newborn prince all the seven gifts of perfect kingship.

The king gave orders that his royal city should keep high festival in honor of the birth of the prince, who was to bear the name of Siddhartha.