Rāhula
Rāhula was the only son of Siddhārtha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, and his wife, princess Yaśodharā. He is mentioned in numerous Buddhist texts, from the early period onward. Accounts about Rāhula indicate a mutual impact between Prince Siddhārtha's life and the lives of his family members.
According to the Pāli tradition, Rāhula was born on the day of Prince Siddhārtha's renunciation, and was therefore named Rāhula, meaning a fetter on the path to enlightenment.
According to the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition, however, Rāhula was only on the day of Prince Siddhartha's renunciation, and was born six years later, when Prince Siddhārtha became enlightened as the Buddha. This long gestation period was explained by bad karma from previous lives of both Yaśodharā and of Rāhula himself, although more naturalistic reasons are also given. As a result of the late birth, Yaśodharā needed to prove that Rāhula was really Prince Siddhārtha's son, which she eventually did successfully by an act of truth.
Historian H.W. Schumann has argued that Prince Siddhārtha likely conceived Rāhula and waited for his birth, to be able to leave the palace with the king and queen's permission.
However, Orientalist Noël Péri considered it more likely that Rāhula was born after Prince Siddhārtha left his palace.
12 years after Rahula's birth, the Buddha returned to his hometown, where Yaśodharā had Rāhula ask the Buddha for the throne of the Śākya clan. The Buddha responded by having Rāhula ordained as the first Buddhist novice monk. He taught the young novice about truth, self-reflection, and not-self, eventually leading to Rāhula's enlightenment. Although early accounts state that Rāhula died before the Buddha did, later tradition has it that Rāhula was one of the disciples that outlived the Buddha, guarding the Buddha's Dispensation until the rising of the next Buddha. Rāhula is known in Buddhist texts for his eagerness for learning, and was honored by novice monks and nuns throughout Buddhist history. His accounts have led to a perspective in Buddhism of seeing children as hindrances to the spiritual life on the one hand, and as people with potential for enlightenment on the other hand.
Accounts
Some early texts such as those of the Pāli tradition do not mention Rāhula at all; but he is mentioned in later Pāli texts such as the Apadāna and the commentaries, as well as in the texts on monastic discipline of the Mūlasarvāstivāda and Mahāsaṇghika traditions. Earliest texts do not describe Rāhula in much detail, and he remains an ideal figure without much depth in character. Because of the lack of detail, especially after Rāhula's ordination, some scholars have argued Rāhula did not have an important role in Buddhism. Apart from the early texts, there are many post-canonical Buddhist texts that contain accounts about Rāhula. The accounts about Rāhula reveal that when Prince Siddhārtha left his palace to become a monk; his decision and subsequent spiritual quest was not just a personal matter, but also affected his family every step during the way, as they responded to and affected the prince on his path to enlightenment. Thus, the prince's life before enlightenment is about two parallel spiritual lives, that of the Buddha and that of his family.Birth
Pāli tradition
Rāhula was born on the same day Prince Siddhārtha Gautama renounced the throne by leaving the palace, when the prince was 29 years old, on the full moon day of the eighth lunar month of the ancient Indian calendar. That day, Prince Siddhārtha was preparing himself to leave the palace. The Pāli account claims that when he received the news of his son's birth he replied "", meaning "A rāhu is born, a fetter has arisen", that is, an impediment to the search for enlightenment. Accordingly, Śuddhodana, Prince Siddhārtha's father and king of the Śākya clan, named the child Rāhula, because he did not want his son to pursue a spiritual life as a mendicant. In some versions, Prince Siddhārtha was the one naming his son this way, for being a hindrance on his spiritual path. Just before the prince left the palace for the spiritual life, he took one look at his wife Yaśodharā and his just-born child. Fearing his resolve might waver, Prince Siddhārtha resisted to hold his son and left the palace as he had planned. Rāhula therefore became Prince Siddhārtha's first and only son.Other traditions
Other texts derive rāhu differently. For example, the Pāli Apadāna, as well as another account found in the texts of monastic discipline of the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition, derive rāhu from the eclipse of the moon, which traditionally was seen to be caused by the asura Rāhu. The Apadāna states that just like the moon is obstructed from view by Rāhu, Prince Siddhārtha was obstructed by Rāhula's birth. The Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition relates, however, that Rāhula was conceived on the evening of the renunciation of Prince Siddhārtha, and born six years later, on the day that his father achieved enlightenment, which was during a lunar eclipse. Further credence is given to the astrological theory of Rāhula's name by the observation that sons of previous Buddhas were given similar names, related to constellations.Mūlasarvāstivāda and later Chinese texts such as the Abhiniṣkramaṇa Sūtra give two types of explanation for the long gestation period. The first type involves the karma of Princess Yaśodharā and Rāhula himself. According to this interpretation, Yaśodharā had to bear the suffering of carrying a child in her womb for six years, because in a previous life as a cow herder she had refused to help her mother to carry a pail of milk and left it for her mother to carry the extra pail for six leagues. As for Rāhula, his karma was that in a previous life as a king he unintentionally had a sage wait for six days. In this life, he was a king called Sūrya and his brother, a previous life of the Buddha, was a hermit called Candra or Likhita who had taken a vow he would only live from what was given by people. One day, the brother broke his vow to take some water, and feeling guilty, asked the king to punish him. The king refused to issue a punishment for such a trivial matter, but had his brother wait for his final decision and constrained in the royal gardens. After six days, the king suddenly realized he had forgotten about the hermit and immediately set him free, including apologies and gifts. As a result, Rāhula had to wait for six years before being born. In some versions, the king did not allow a sage to enter his kingdom and accumulated the same bad karma of a long gestation period. The later Mahāyāna commentary Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa does not blame Yaśodharā's karma for the six years gestation period, but does mention Rāhula's same karma as a king. However, in the 13th-century Japanese devotional text Raun Kōshiki, Rāhula's late birth is seen as evidence of a miracle, rather than a result of karma.
The second type of explanation consists of the more naturalistic argument that Yaśodharā was practicing religious austerities involving fasting and sleeping on a straw bed, which caused Rāhula's growth to slow down. She was involved in these practices during the time when Siddhārtha was practicing self-mortification. Later, King Śuddhodana prevented Yaśodharā from hearing any news of her former husband, and she gradually became healthier, as the pregnancy continued normally. However, some time later, the false rumor spread that the former prince had died of his ascetism. Yaśodharā became very desperate and depressed, endangering her own pregnancy. When the news reached the palace that Siddhārtha had attained enlightenment, Yaśodharā was overjoyed and gave birth to Rāhula. Buddhist Studies scholar John S. Strong notes that this account draws a parallel between the quest for enlightenment and Yaśodharā's path to being a mother, and eventually, they both are accomplished at the same time.
File:Rāhula seeing the Buddha.png|thumb|The Buddha returning home following his enlightenment, being greeted by Rāhula. The Buddha is represented by his footprints and throne. Amarāvatī, 3rd century. National Museum, New Delhi. |alt=Stone relief with throne at the center and numerous figures surrounding the throne, including a mother and her child
The late childbirth leads to doubts in the Śākya clan as to who is the father, as told in the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition, in the Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa and in the later Chinese Zabaozang jing. Since Rāhula's birth was not regarded by Buddhists to be a virginal or miraculous birth, tradition had to explain that Prince Siddhārtha was actually the father. Yaśodharā responded by putting her child on a stone in a pond of water and making an act of truth that if Rāhula really was his child, that Rāhula and the stone may not sink, but rather float back-and-forth. After she made the declaration, the child floated according to her vow. Strong notes that this is a symbolic parallel with the attainment of enlightenment by the Buddhadescribed as the "further shore"and the return to teach humankind. The Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa contains another account, in which Prince Siddhārtha has several wives, and a wife other than Yaśodharā is the one defending her, being witness of her purity in conduct.
Furthermore, in both the Mūlasarvāstivāda texts and the Mahāprajñāpāramitāupadeśa, there is a third account that proves Yaśodharā's purity in conduct: in this version, the Buddha made everyone around him look identical to him, through a supernatural accomplishment. Rāhula proved that the Buddha was his true father when he managed to approach the real Buddha straight away. In a fourth story about proving Yaśodhara's purity, appearing in Chinese Avadāna-style texts from the 5th century CE onward, she was burnt alive, but miraculously survived. In this account, King Śuddhodana ordered that she be killed by burning her alive as punishment for her alleged impurity. Instead of being hurt by the flames, however, she performed an act of truth and the fire transformed into a pond of water. Śuddhodana welcomed her and her son back into the clan, and later became very fond of Rāhula. Some Chinese Jātakas say that he recognized his son Siddhārtha in the child, and managed to better cope with the loss of Prince Siddhārtha. Religion scholar Reiko Ohnuma sees the fire ordeal as a metaphor that parallels the Buddha's enlightenment, a similar argument that Strong makes.