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The Treatise on the Stages of Yoga Practice 6
In Buddhism, each person has many kinds of mothers: genetic mother, godmother, foster mother, stepmother, and even surrogate mother. The biological mother of the Buddha was Maha Maya, but she passed away early; her younger sister, Maha Prajapati (the foremost nun Mahapajapati Gotami), raised him. In Buddhist literature, the mother of all Buddhas is called Prajna Paramita—Perfection of Wisdom—wisdom personified as the Mother of Buddhas. The Earth is also honored as Bodhisattva Cooling Earth, the mother of the Buddha and countless bodhisattvas, symbolizing the sacred origin of life and enlightenment.
The story in the Avatamsaka Sutra about Sudhana (Shantideva) and Maha Maya illustrates the path of approaching the source of Buddha-nature:
- Sudhana sits quietly on the earth, practicing meditation on touching the earth—feeling the connection with Mother Earth.
- Seeing a thousand-petaled lotus rising from the earth, Sudhana and Maya both sit on two petals of the lotus, symbolizing the encounter with profound wisdom.
- Realizing there is no need to go far to seek the Buddha, because the mother of the Buddha is the image within each person, the inherent potential for enlightenment.
Meditation and mindfulness in our relationship with Mother Earth help generate love, release suffering, and realize the reality that transcends the discrimination of being and non-being. Each mindful step, each breath, each cup of tea, or the contemplation of a yellow leaf is a contact with the sacred mother—a bodhisattva of infinite patience, embracing all beings, animate and inanimate.
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Sudhana Meets Mother Maya in the Heart of the Earth