Dear Diary,
Today I sat in meetings just as I would any other day. It had
started out as a normal day and nothing in my life would have lead me to
believe any different. Until the moment that I learned my life would forever change,
that is.
My dear wife sent a servant after me as I was providing
justice and good fortune to my loyal citizens. It sounded urgent, and I love my
wife dearly, so I decided to go to her straight away.
However, before I could come near where she sat in the
wooded area beyond our gardens, something strange came over me. I could not
move from the spot in which I stood. Some kind of… terror? No, I do not know
the feelings that I felt while I was stood there. These emotions were strong
and there were so many that I was left feeling terrified. Even in my days as a
warrior I had never felt that kind of fear. I nearly cried from the feelings.
A strange voice then spoke to me, a voice from the sky!
It told me to be happy, and all of those strong emotions
left me. It told be that a supreme being had chosen my family as its own. That
my wife would conceive and carry it, and it would be our child to raise and
nurture. It said that we were worthy of it for many reasons.
I am happy, oh
believe me, I am more than happy. However, I also feel as if I am not worthy
enough. Yes, the being chose my wife and me to come to, but why? Am I really as
valiant and virtuous as that being really believes? Are my wife and I capable
of raising such a divine being?
I will love this child, I know that I will. Perhaps I
already do. However, I do not understand why it is me that this child will
belong to. Are there not better men than me? Are there not better women than my
wife? The trust that this being has in us astounds me.
So I will do my best to stay virtuous, and I will nurture my
child, this supreme being to be the same kind of person. I will give it all of
my riches and protect it from all harm. It will be happy. It will be loved. And
I will do my very best to live up to the expectations that it has of me and my
wife. Our child, our Buddha.
Signing out for today,
Suddhodana
 |
| Image Information: King Suddhodana on His Throne; Web Source: Wikipedia. |
Author's Note:
King Suddhodana and his wife, Queen Maya are seen as
virtuous rulers who are wealthy and noble. Because their family is fully of
good people, the being whom will become Siddhartha, or Buddha, chose them when
he was to be brought to earth. It was revealed to Maya in a dream, who then
wake up supremely happy and calls for her husband. Before King Suddhodana can
reach his wife, he is overcome by an overwhelming amount of emotions, which
stops him in his tracks. A god then explains the situation to him and he joins
his wife, they are happy about this child.
I wanted to get into Suddhodana’s head a little more to
figure out what he felt about the situation. It had to be one where he felt
uncomfortable at first because his wife was suddenly pregnant with a divine
being. I know I would be freaked out in that case. So, I wrote a diary entry to
really get into his thoughts and emotions about the matter. I wanted to show both
the confusion, clarity, and the need to raise the child well as its father.
Bibliography:
This story is based off of the chapter "Maya's Dream" in "Part One" of The Life of Buddha by Andre
Ferdinand Herold (1922).
Hey Lynze! I really liked your story and liked the way you made it in a diary version. It is pretty cool that you did the story in King Suddhodana's point of view. I really don't know much of the story about him. Overall, I thought your story was very detail and did a great job of explaining his emotions when he found out that his wife was pregnant. Although I wish you could describe more of the story in your author's note. I don't know the story of Sudd... and I still wasn't quite sure of the actual storyline after reading your author's note but in the end your story was great and I liked it! Keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI loved the fact that you chose to do a Diary style for this story. It really makes it so much more personal; like we REALLY know what he is thinking without holding back. I can only imagine how scary it must be to have a god speak from heaven and tell you your wife is having a baby and you are going to raise it as your own. This story was such a good summary and rendition! Great job!
ReplyDelete