Accepting the invitation, the Bodhisatta descends to take conception among a royal family in Kapilavatthu
This picture depicts the Bodhisatta, later Prince Siddhattha and the Buddha, coming down from the Dusita heaven in order to enter the womb of his mother. The day he came down and took conception was the fifteenth day of the waxing moon of the eighth lunar month, at which time King Suddhodana, his father, and Queen Mahamaya, his mother, were newly married.
On that same night, as Queen Mahamaya lay sleeping on her bed, she dreamt that she was in a forest in the Himalaya Mountains, and a white elephant descended from the mountains and approached her. In the Pathamasambodhi this event is described thus:
"There was a white elephant ... who lifted its trunk, in which was held a freshly blooming white lotus of wafting fragrance, roared loudly and entered into the golden palace. It reverently circumambulated the sleeping Queen three times and then seemed to enter into the Queen's belly on the right side ... "
Later the palace seers predicted that it was an auspicious omen, foretelling the birth of a son. And when the Queen became pregnant, the Pathamasambodhi describes the Bodhisatta in his mother's womb as follows:
"... like a yellow thread wound around a clear jewel. When she wanted to, she could see her son sitting in meditation posture, with his face toward the surface of her belly, like a golden statue lying in a bud of lotus petals. But the Bodhisatta did not see his mother...."
The day the Bodhisatta descended to his mother's womb, the poet who composed the story in his honor stated that the same kind of miracles arose as on the occasion of the Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and first eaching, differing only in minor details. For example, a celestial drum resounded throughout the heavens, blind people regained their sight, and deaf people regained their hearing.
If we were to bring the story from the tradition of literature into the historical tradition, we may interpret the "magical drum" of this story as being a sign of the Buddha's glory, which would cover the entire world. The blind and deaf people are symbols of people with defilements who, on hearing the Buddha's teaching, would lose their "blindness" and "deafness," obtaining wisdom of the way out of suffering.
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