Following yesterday’s Using Śāriputra’s Failure to Explain the Meaning of Bodhisattva Mahāsattva, I offer another example of how Master Hsuan Hua’s retelling of stories in his commentary on the Lotus Sutra produces new information.

Rahula was the Buddha’s son. In Sanskrit, his name means “to cover” or “to obstruct.” Why was he given this name? He was given this name because of his karmic obstacles. In the past, he’d been a cultivator. One time, while he was meditating, he was disturbed by the noise of a mouse gnawing at some wood. Cultivators like quiet. He thought, “You’re making too much noise!” So he plugged up the mouse hole. He left it that way for six days.

During those six days, each time he meditated, he thought about the mouse inside the hole and wondered whether or not it had died. On the sixth day, he started to feel uneasy. Why did he feel uneasy? Driven by his conscience, he thought, “If the mouse were to die inside the hole that I blocked, wouldn’t I have violated the precept against killing?” He felt compassion for the mouse and uncovered the hole. As retribution for those six days, in his present life, he had to stay in his mother’s womb for six years.

How did Rahula come into this world? Yaśodharā didn’t conceive her child in the normal way. When Prince Siddhartha decided to leave the household life, she said to him, “You may leave the household life, but first you must give me a son.” The prince pointed at her belly and said, “You shall have a baby.” That was how she became pregnant. It was very unusual! After being conceived, this child had to wait six years before coming into the world. For the six years that Yasodhara carried the baby in her womb, Śākyamuni Buddha meditated in the snowy mountains.

Rahula brought about many troubles after his birth. What kind of troubles? During this time, the culture in India was very conservative. Śākyamuni Buddha had renounced his household life and was away meditating in the snowy mountains for six years before his son was born. People from the Śākya clan said, “Humph! She’s a bad woman! Her husband hasn’t been around, so how could she have a child? She must’ve had an affair.” The people wanted to burn Yaśodharā and Rahula to death. Yaśodharā challenged them, saying, “If this child is really Prince Siddhartha’s, then the fire won’t burn us. If he isn’t, we’ll both die.” When they entered the fire, it turned into a lotus that held mother and son aloft, so they were spared. Seeing this, the people realized that they’d misjudged her.

In Buddhism, all phenomena are subject to cause and effect. Even the Buddha’s son, the Venerable Rahula, couldn’t escape the laws of cause and effect. Because in a past life he plugged up a mouse hole for six days, he had to stay in his mother’s womb for six years. For this reason, he was named Cover and Obstruct. Because of the circumstances of his birth, he almost caused his mother to be burned to death. Fortunately, the Bodhisattvas intervened and protected her, so she was spared.