.jpg)
| Part ofa series on |
| Buddhism |
|---|
 |
Kṛśā Gautamī (Sanskrit:कृशा गौतमी;Pali:Kisā Gotamī) was the wife of a wealthy man ofShravasti. Her story is one of the most famous ones inBuddhism.
After losing her only child, Kisa Gotami became desperate and asked if anyone could help her. Her sorrow was so great that many thought she had lost her mind.[1]
After some time, an old man told her to see the Buddha. The Buddha told her that he could bring the child back to life if she could find whitemustard seeds from a family where no one had died. She desperately went from house to house in search of such a case, but to her disappointment, she could not find a house that had not suffered the death of a family member. Finally, the realization struck her that there is no house free frommortality. She returned to the Buddha, who comforted her and preached theDharma to her.[1]
She became awakened and entered thefirst stage of enlightenment and eventually became anarhat. The Buddha appointed her foremost in discipline among thebhikṣuṇīs.[2]
The followingDhammapada verse[3] (inPali and English) is associated with her story:
Yo ca vassasatam jeeve | Though one should live a hundred years
|
In the "Gotami Sutta" (SN 5.3),Bhikkhuni Kisa Gotami declares:
Happy indeed is the mother
Happy indeed is the father
Happy indeed is the wife
Who is a lord so glorious
The story is the source of the popular aphorism: "The living are few, but the dead are many".
A literary tradition has evolved round the story of Kisa Gotami, much of it in oral form and in local plays in much of Asia. TheTherigatha (or "Verses of the Elder Nuns") in the Pali Canon recounts a version of the story. A number of popular similar alternative versions also exist.[5] A similar story is told about the Greek philosopherDemonax, who promised a person he can summon his deceased son's shadow if provided with three names of people who never had to mourn in their lives.[6]
The story of Kisa Gotami is recited by Australian musicianNick Cave in the song "Hollywood" byNick Cave and the Bad Seeds from their seventeenth studio album,Ghosteen (2019).[7]
The kids animated television seriesBluey tells a very similar story in the season 1 episode "Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolf Hound".[8]
The story of Kisa Gotami is recited in the eponymous episode 5, "The Parable of Kisa Gotami", ofThai Cave Rescue.[9]
The story of Kisa is part of NCERT Class X English syllabus as Sermon at Benares.[10]
.svg)
