Kisa Gotami was the wife of a wealthy man of

Savatthi Shravasti ( sa, श्रावस्ती, translit=Śrāvastī; pi, 𑀲𑀸𑀯𑀢𑁆𑀣𑀻, translit=Sāvatthī) is a city and district headquarter of Shravasti district in Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. It was the capital of the anc ...

. Her story is one of the most famous ones in

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

. 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. 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 white

mustard seed Mustard seeds are the small round seeds of various mustard plants. The seeds are usually about in diameter and may be colored from yellowish white to black. They are an important spice in many regional foods and may come from one of three diff ...

s from a family where no one had died. She desperately went from house to house, 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 from

mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...

. She returned to the Buddha, who comforted her and preached to her the truth. She was awakened and entered the first stage of enlightenment. Eventually, she became an

Arahat In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated ...

. The following

Dhammapada The Dhammapada (Pāli; sa, धर्मपद, Dharmapada) is a collection of sayings of the Buddha in verse form and one of the most widely read and best known Buddhist scriptures. The original version of the Dhammapada is in the Khuddaka ...

verse (in

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

and English) is associated with her story: Though one should live a hundred years without seeing the Deathless State, yet better indeed, is a single day's life of one who sees the Deathless State. In the "Gotami Sutta" ( SN 5.3), Bhikkhuni Kisa Gotami declares: :I've gotten past the killing of ysons, :have made that the end :to y search formen. :I don't grieve, :I don't weep.... :It's everywhere destroyed — delight. :The mass of darkness is shattered. :Having defeated the army of death, :free of fermentations I dwell. 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. The Therigatha (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.

In popular culture

The story of Kisa Gotami is recited by Australian musician

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Ca ...

in the song "Hollywood" by

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are an Australian rock music, rock band formed in 1983 by vocalist Nick Cave, multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey and guitarist-vocalist Blixa Bargeld. The band has featured international personnel throughout its care ...

from their seventeenth studio album, ''

Ghosteen ''Ghosteen'' is the seventeenth studio album by the Australian rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It was released on 4 October 2019 on Ghosteen Ltd and on 8 November 2019 on Bad Seed Ltd, both the band's own imprints. ''Gh ...

'' (2019). The kids animated television series ''Bluey'' retells the story in the season 1 episode "Bumpy and the Wise Old Wolf Hound". The story of Kisa Gotami is recited in the eponymous episode 5, "The Parable of Kisa Gotami," of
Thai Cave Rescue (2022)
"

Notes

Bibliography

* Buddharakkhita, Acharya (1998). ''Sahassavagga: The Thousands'' ( Dhp VIII). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/dhp/dhp.08.budd.html. * Thanissaro Bhikkhu (trans.) (1998). ''Gotami Sutta: Sister Gotami'' ( SN 5.3). Available on-line at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/sn/sn05/sn05.003.than.html. * C. Rhys Davids and K. Norman: Poems of Early Buddhist Nuns, Pali Text Society, pp. 88–9. Retaken at: https://web.archive.org/web/20110514084000/http://mindfulnessmethod.wordpress.com/articles/kisa-gotami/ * Wendy Garling (2016), ''Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of Women in the Buddha's Life'', Shambhala Publications, pp. 95–106.

External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20060510165611/http://www.goldenlandpages.com/hotspots/buddhism/43.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Kisa Gotami Foremost disciples of Gautama Buddha Buddhism and women Arhats