Accounts of Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī in Pāli and Chinese sources

Abstract

When reflecting on outstanding women, their roles and impact on Buddhist communities, Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī (Pāli Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī) is considered to be at the forefront due to the many activities she was engaged in as well as her various representation in Buddhist history as the Buddha’s foster mother, maternal aunt and wet-nurse, and most importantly as the first Buddhist nun. Although stories of Mahāprajāpatī have been undertaken in the past, they are usually based on only one source, commonly the Pāli or occasionally the Chinese. There are few comparative studies of the material found in more than one of these sources. The aim of this dissertation is, therefore, to examine accounts of Mahāprajāpatī in both the Pāli and Chinese sources, to identify the differences and common themes between the two sources, and to understand the ways in which her story was used and interpreted by Buddhist communities as witnessed by the sources used. In the course of this comparison, the research revealed that there are not only multiple accounts of Mahāprajāpatī Gautamī’s story in the two sources, but that these accounts vary in details, undoubtedly resulting from multiple reasons and factors. For example, in the case of some episodes, it appears that differences resulted from themes found in unrelated contexts being applied to Mahāprajāpatī’s biography. Most importantly, the current research shows that there is no coherent account of her life story among the extant sources.