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Abandonment to Enlightenment - The Buddha's Wife - Extra History

🕑 Added 2023-09-01 17:30:01 +0000 UTC

Comments

chromicacid

It was highlighted a few times how scholars started reaching a point where they said, "you know, we should really write this down". Accurate record keeping and precise historical accounts has, for most of history, been a luxury of persnickety nobles and meticulous merchants, and the rare learned scholar. Bummer for scholars in the 20th century and onwards.

Elizabeth Sanford

Her story feels like a centuries long game of telephone, both tracking and influencing how women and children were viewed at different times in various places. So while it doesn’t surprise me that some historians believe Yasodhara never existed, it does disappoint me.

Martin Verran

Personally, I suspect what happened is that, over the centuries, various Buddhist writers added bits onto the story in order to spruce things up a bit, as with so many religious leaders' "biographies." I doubt I'd ever convert to Buddhism, mostly because of the requirement not to eat meat; my response to that would be, "I am a farm labourer; we're sorta contractually obligated to eat meat."