Was Gautam Buddha right when he left his sleeping wife and child for nirvana ??

Answer 1

Material Happiness is flickering and temporary and ultimately results in suffering . Spiritual happiness is eternal.

Kinga Bharata left his whole kingdom and went to the forest in search of spiritual pleasure and after his name Bharata, India is called as Bharata Varsha.

Similarly Gautama or Siddharta or Buddha or anybody else who leaves the family life gives a greater teaching in spiritual life which is followed later on by everyone. We are not these temporary bodies but spirit souls. So, the temporary meeting of various relatives reinforces one's bodily concept of life with various material attachments. Therefore, detachment from material concept of life is very much necessary.

Sri Ramanujacharya around 1000 years back accepted sannyasa, renounced order of life and his teachings are very much favored in South India and all over the world.

According to Vedic Tradition of Varnashrama , first one lives as a student(brahmachary), then a householder with marriage (Grihastha),then one leaves his family at the age of fifty and goes to forest to cultivate spiritual life (Vanaprastha) and finally as a completely renounced person (Sannyasi). Even if one does not leave the family, one is forced to leave by the laws of material nature by way of disease, old age and death. So, intelligent person gives up family life at suitable age and cultivates spiritual life, realizes one's spiritual identity and returns back to the eternal spiritual world.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu at the age of twenty four, left his wife and mother by taking sannyasa. It is mentioned of Him in the Srimad Bhagavatam (11.5.34), "O Maha-purusa, I worship Your lotus feet. You gave up the association of the goddess of fortune and all her opulence, which is most difficult to renounce and is hankered after by even the great demigods. Being the most faithful follower of the path of religion, You thus left for the forest in obedience to a brahmana's curse. Out of sheer mercifulness You chased after the fallen conditioned souls, who are always in pursuit of the false enjoyment of illusion, and at the same time engaged in searching out Your own desired object, Lord Syamasundara."

Answer 2

Gautam Buddha Wife

Answer 3

First,I would like to clarify that Gautama ,The Buddha,did not leave his 'family'.The man that left his family was Siddhattha Gautama.Gautama Buddha was an enlightened being,whereas,Siddhattha was only a Bodhisatta.This distinction is very important in answering your question.

As a family man,I say, Siddhattha was selfish,etc,when he left his sleeping wife and child.Walking away from his family was wrong.
At least,when Siddhattha left his family behind,he knew they were in good hand.No worry over food,etc.At present,I am in similar dilema.I have the intention to enter the monkhood,but,I still have four sons in college and university and they are dependent on me.When they are independent,then I will renounce the world.

Let us look at what Siddhattha found after leaving his family.He became The Buddha.He discovered The Truths.The Truths that lead human beings out of the cycle of Suffering.As a Buddhist,I am grateful to Siddhattha for acting selfishly in leaving his family.If not for his selfish act of leaving his family,the world will still be living in darkness.

Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma-Sambuddhasa
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma-Sambuddhasa
Namo Tassa Bhagavato Arahato Samma-Sambuddhasa

Metta to all.

Answer 4

A worrying mind would forget the surroundings. A troubling mind would loose peace. He sought a peaceful satisfactory reason / answer for the events of life and each person is having different experience of life - Why is it so. Such alerting and curious mind is behind every greatness.
If a person leaves his wife and children for want of more knowledge, there is nothing wrong as wife and children should not suffer for the basic needs of life, and it was there with Sri Buddha. Even when Mahatma Gandhi faced the "throw out of train" from South Africa, he lost his peace of mind and he sought it by taking a suitable revange - that is freedom of India, and his life shows that he gave little importance for his wife and children. (And Kasturba became Great behing the reputation of Gandhiji). Sri Budha did not seek 'Nirvana" but answers to his curiosity or queries on life.

Answer 5

Gautam Buddha sacrificed his wife, his son, his entire wealth, his entire empire for the benefit of mankind.

If you sacrifice the money you saved to buy a gift for your wife, for a person who hasn't eaten for days, would you be right or wrong?

:-)

Answer 6

OK, I have a lot of respect for Buddhism and Buddhists but seriously, this story probably didn't actually happen in real life. The conventionally accepted story of the life of Gautama Buddha is so encrusted with myth at this point that it simply can't be accepted as normal biography. It is impossible to separate the man, the real Gautama Shakymuni, from the Siddhartha Mythos. If he did ever exist in the flesh, his biography is at this point irrecoverable...

I do not say this to put down Buddhism, far from it. I just don't see the point of trying to judge a mythic figure by ordinary standards. It's like asking if Frodo was morally right when he deserted his friends to take the One Ring to Mount Doom. Of course he was in the mythic framework of the story, just as of course he wasn't outside that framework. But outside that framework, he doesn't exist at all...

Nimadan

Answer 7

Gautam Buddha is considered among the incarnations of God. All acts of God and saints are for the welfare of the mankind and with our materialistic brains we can never judge their acts.

Even if you don't leave your wife or children, one day they are going to get parted from you. Buddha emphasised this aspect of our fate.

You don't become courageous by claiming that you prefer to be optimistic about life, than be pessimistic. Wisdom lies in being realistic. Wisdom lies in getting dettached from the ephemeral beings, while still performing your duties to the world.

Answer 8

the wife and child were both in a royal family, so they must have had enough comforts. anyway the Buddha came back, and helped them reach enlightenment. so it might be wrong in today's moral sense (but divorce seems to be increasing) but he did this for the sake of the world, so I guess it was ok

Answer 9

It is not a question of right or wrong , it is the understanding of ones convictions.
What do you think , when a soldier leaves his wife and children , goes to the battlefield and dies , was he right or wrong?
It is the supreme belief in one's commitment , which inspires an ordinary human being to sacrifice himself in the altars of duty and beliefs.
Choosing a monks life requires great strength of mind , which one undertakes out of supreme belief of self realisation and uplifting of the society.
These great minds we ordinary human beings fail to fathom and think as a foolish thing to do.
Saints and Godmen are the only solace and refuge for the vast majority of the poor and downtrodden people of our society. Whoever understands their grief , will try to become an ascetic , for their development.

Answer 10

Since we don't know all the specifics I wouldn't judge the whole religion based on that. If legend is correct, he left them in a palace with his family, and came back for them later, his wife becomming one of the first Buddhist nuns.