The Buddha's father King Suddhodana

(Buddha’s Stories) The story of King Suddhodana, the Buddha’s father

Men are dumb, Dad - I know. I❤️U.

It's easy to love mom, but what about dad? What has the Men's Movement done for males in this patriarchy? (There are feminist men?) In the U.S., whether or not to celebrate "Father's Day" nationwide is a matter of debate. In 1908, Grace Golden Clayton proposed a day to honor men who had died in a U.S. mining accident. It was rejected then.

But in 1909, Sonora Louise Smart Dodd, who along with her five brothers had been raised by a single father, attended "Mother's Day" in a church.

Men's empowerment hike on Father's Day

She then convinced the Spokane Ministerial Association to celebrate Father's Day nationwide [7]. In addition to Father's Day, International Men's Day is celebrated in many countries on Nov. 19th in honor of men and boys [8]: Father's Day

In the Pāli canon, there are only two discourses (sutras) that explicitly reference Suddhodana, the Mahāpadāna Sutta (DN 14) and in the verse prologue of the Nālaka Sutta (Sn 3.11). In each of these discourses, Suddhodana is represented simply as the Buddha's father and as a Sakyan ruler.

Father for a Buddha

Good father had a bad Buddha who abandoned his newborn son?

(Buddha's Wisdom) The Buddha's son: the forgotten story of Rahula: Why did the Buddha abandon his newborn son, leaving him on welfare in flat in the winter with no schooling or support?

Afghan chieftain Indo-Scythia, Gandhara

Who is Prince Siddhattha's father, the Gandharan (Afghan territorial chieftain?*) King Suddhodana? In Theravada Buddhism (a major branch) — Suddhodana is recorded in the ancient Pali canon.

He was a Saka, Sakka, Shakya, Scythian, Sakiyan raja ("king," "leader," "head," "royal") in Kapilavatthu, the father of Prince Siddhattha Gotama, who became the historical Buddha.

He was the son of Sihahanu and Kaccana. His brothers were Dhotodana, Sakkodana, Sukkodana, and Amitodana, and his sisters were Amita and Pamita.

Maya was his chief consort. After her death, her sister Pajapati was elevated to that position (Mhv.ii.15f.; Dpv.iii.45; J.i.15, etc.)

Asita's visit to Suddhodana

When soothsayers predicted that his son Siddhattha had two destinies awaiting him, either that of a universal monarch (cakkavatti, chakravartin) if he stayed in the world or a universal teacher (Buddhahood) if he renounced it, he exerted his utmost effort to provide the prince with all kinds of sensual luxuries and hedonistic pleasures to hold him to the household life.

It is said (e.g., J.i.54) that when Asita, who was his father's [Brahmin] chaplain and teacher, visited King Suddhodana to see the newborn prince, he paid homage to the infant by allowing his feet to rest on his head. Suddhodana was filled with wonder and also worshipped the child.

I wish for you to be a noble warrior, my son.

Seven years later, at the annual Ploughing Festival ceremony, Suddhodana saw that the shadow of the jambu tree under which the child had been placed in the shade when he spontaneously went into meditative absorption (jhana, samadhi) did not move even as the sun traveled overhead. Then the child, seated cross-legged without moving, levitated in the air. So he again worshipped him (J.i.57f).

Life in the luxurious house of Saka

Twenty-nine years later, when in spite of all his father's efforts, Prince Siddhattha renounced and left behind the household life and took to practicing austerities in the East, Suddhodana sent a messenger/private investigator to find his son and see what he was up to.

The investigator returned with news that his son had died, owing to the severity of his penances (tapas). But Suddhodana refused to believe it, saying that his son would never die without achieving his spiritual goal (J.i.67).

When this was afterwards related to the Buddha, he taught the Maha Dhammapala Jataka, showing that in the past, too, Suddhodana had refused to believe that his son could have died even when he was shown the heap of his bones.

I failed as a father. My son left.

Seven years after that, when news reached Suddhodana that his son had reached enlightenment, he sent a messenger to Veluvana in Rajagaha ("Bamboo Grove" in Rajgir, where King Bimbisara reigned) with many others to invite the Buddha to return home and visit the seasonal capital of Kapilavatthu.

But when the messenger and his companions heard the Buddha teach, they renounced worldly life, entered the Monastic Order, and forgot their mission. This happened nine more times with different messengers.

On the tenth occasion, King Suddhodana sent Kaludayi (Sanskrit Kālodāyin) who had advance permission to join the Sangha on the express condition that he give the king's invitation to the Buddha.

The Buddha's family from Gandhara (not Nepal)

Kaludayi kept his promise, the Buddha consented, and seven years after having left home to embark on a massive spiritual quest, he returned home to visit Kapilavatthu [Kabul, Bamiyan, Mes Aynak, ancient Gandhara now modern Afghanistan, "Saka Land," the maha-janapada of the Shakya Clan in Central Asia?], staying in Nigrodharama. There, in reference to a rain shower that fell, he taught the Vessantara Jataka.

• The Buddha returns home to Kapilavatthu (Wisdom Library)

Life of the Buddha (Archaeological Museum of India, Sarnath, Gallery 1)

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The next day, when King Suddhodana remonstrated his royal (noble, warrior) son, the Buddha, because he was seen "begging" (going on almsround) on the streets of Kapilavatthu, the Buddha told him that surviving on offerings was the custom of all buddhas. Hearing this, King Suddhodana became a stream enterer (sotapanna, the first stage of enlightenment).

Son, at 16, you shall marry the beautiful Bimba.

He then offered to feed his new teacher the Buddha, inviting him to visit the palace, where he entertained him. At the end of the meal offering, the Buddha further taught the king, who became a once returner (sakadagami, J.i.90; cf. DhA.iii.164f).

• This was when the Buddha was reunited with Princess Bimba (Yasodhara) and his 7-year-old son Rahula, both of whom were "saved" in that they were inspired to renounce their worldly lives in the palace and take up the path-of-practice the Buddha taught as wandering ascetics. In no long time, they both became enlightened. Many Saka/Shakya/Scythian relatives were inspired to follow suit, join the Sangha (spiritual community), and make an end of all suffering.

The king then became a nonreturner (anagami, the third of four stages of awakening) after hearing the Maha Dhammapala Jataka (DhA.i.99; J.iv.55).

Suddhodana was the Bodhisatta or Buddha-to-be’s father in numerous previous births, but he is mentioned as such by name in only a few birth (jātaka) tales, namely:

1. Kaṭṭhahāri Jātaka
2. Alīnacitta Jātaka
3. Susīma Jātaka
4. Bandhanāgāra Jātaka
5. Kosambiya Jātaka
6. Mahādhammapāla Jātaka
7. Dasaratha Jātaka
8. Hatthipāla Jātaka
9. Umaṅga Jātaka
10. Vessantara Jātaka.

• *Where is the real Kapilavatthu (Sanskrit Kapilavastu)? There were three seasonal capitals (with three palaces, one for each season) of the Sakas, Shakyas, Indo-Scythians of Gandhara, which we speculate were Kabul, Bamiyan, and Mes Aynak. Was Suddhodana really a "king" as we understand the term? A janapada is the "foothold of a family clan," in the case the Sakas. More likely he was a tribal leader as of the Pashtun's loya jirga. While the Pashtuns may be new to the area of Bamiyan, the tradition of leadership "councils" seems to be longstanding.
• SuttaVinaya.com: Appreciation of Parents' Love
• Nakula's dad the householder Nakula's mom the householder
• Buddhism for All - (Discussion & Learning) | Blessing #11 from the Mangala Sutta
• G. P. Malalasekera, Buddhist Dictionary of Pali Proper Names, via WisdomLib.org, edited, clarified, and expanded by Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Lumbini Ashoka pillar, Fuhrer's fraud?

Ancient Greece spread to Central Asia: Bactria

(The Epic History Vibe) Archeologists dug beneath the Buddha's alleged birthplace (Lumbini): This is what they found, Buddhist Emperor Ashoka's pillar (usually topped with a lion capital). Dr. Ranajit Pal convincingly explains that Nepal had next to nothing to do with Buddhism. The Buddha came from Shakya Land (Gandhara, Saka Land, Indo-Scythia, Central Asia, modern Afghanistan, Pakistan, the northwest frontier of India (Maha Bharat, an empire pieced together by King Asoka, centuries after the Buddha lived and taught on the subcontinent that was not a country but territories, maha-janapadas, disputed "footholds of family clans" like the Sakas/Shakyas from Kapilavastu/Kabul, Bamiyan (with the world's oldest and largest Buddhist statues), Tillya Tepe, Mes Aynak, and other sites of Early Buddhism).

• VIDEO: Floods 'n Fires: NEPAL, Hawaii, Europe, LA
• Boudhanath Stupa: Stunning Tibetan Buddhist stupa in Nepal | Travel Tourism and Landscapes Destinations

Non-Jonesian Indology, Alexander

Why forger Dr. Fuhrer lied and deceived the world is obvious, for fame and academic advancement. Why India or Buddhists continue to believe and promote his fiction seems to have more to do with politics and foolishness, ignorance about the truth with the Buddha's actual homeland being a little farther to the west in ancient Gandhara, Afghanistan, and places like formerly Buddhist Pakistan that were ransacked and ruined by Muslim invasions during the rise of Islam. Dr. Pal failed to make a sufficiently convincing argument to his colleagues in the fields of history and archeology to settle the question. All he showed was that Dr. Fuhrer was a fraud and many British archeologists were taken in or continue to act as if what Fuhrer asserted were true. See the documentary Bones of Buddha to see what these mistakes have led to with the loss of priceless Buddhist treasures, now sitting in someone's house, under his bed, in England because archeologists say the stupa (Buddhist reliquary mound) they were pulled from during an unscientific excavation (at Piprahwa) probably wasn't one of the eight or nine stupas the historical Buddha's relics (relics associated with the Buddha) were first deposited, as the ancient texts tell us.

There is Buddhism in Nepal today though it is alleged by officials to have a Hindu majority

• British fraud in Archeological Survey of India: Dr. Anton Führer
• Pillars of Indian Buddhist Emperor King Ashoka
• Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander (Dr. Ranajit Pal)
• Terai lowlands of Nepal
• The Epic History Vibe; Bones of the Buddha, PBS; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Fun and spirituality with the poet Rumi

(Daughter of Iran) Thinking is an Ego Trap: Thought will not solve our problems

(Shams of Tabrez) Life-Changing Rumi Poems (Ancient Wisdom for Modern Hearts)

Tomb Shrine of Rumi in Konya, Raulana Jelaledin Muhammad Rumi (wikipedia)

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Rumi 'loves' disciple Chelebi

The History of Iran, formerly Persia, is rich and wondrous. Among the many strongest features of Cyrus the Great's powerful (Achaemenid) Empire is its enduring love of poetry. One need only to think of one of the world's greatest poets, Rumi (aka Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī).

Zionist Israelis and American imperialists, who together are trying to establish a Western beachhead in the center of the Middle East and calling it "Greater Israel," may hate Iran, but we love it and Iranians, the original Aryans.

Rumi's darkest lesson: How we become our own worst enemy: Jewish king

The Buddha's mothers (sisters Queen Maya and Queen Prajapati), according to maverick Indian historian Dr. Ranajit Pal, were Aryan-Iranians from a region now known as Sistan-Baluchistan, south of Buddhist Afghanistan, in ancient Gandhara (Indo-Scythia of the Sakas/Shakyas), the original Kapilavastu, which was not in Nepal as we are told. (See Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander).

(Shams of Tabrez) Rumi's secret of form and meaning (namarupa)

Mawlana ("Rumi") meeting Shams-i Tabrizi (Cāmiʿü’s-siyer of
Muhammed Tahir, Topkapı Palace Museum Library, Istanbul)

Whirling dervishes and Lala
visit Rumi's tomb in 1580

The Buddha's father, Scythian King or Tribal Chieftain Suddhodana, was a Central Asian from Kabul and Bamiyan, it would seem. But even if the historical Buddha and his biological parents bore no relation to the region, modern Iran is still a magnificent ancient society and a power to reckon with in the region.

It is a horror and a travesty that the CIA, NSA, NSC, Mossad, Israel, UK, TC, and USA meddle in it so much since at least the time of the Shah of Iran and U.S. puppet dictator gone rogue Saddam Hussein.

Mad at Iran, I quit the Olympic team

(AJ+) Why I quit Iran's Olympic team - but still love my country very much

Turquoise from the Buddha's IRAN

The Buddha's Afghanistan (Gandhara): Monks of the Mines (National Geographic)

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The Afghan-Aryan Buddha

Nishapur, the "City of Turquoise, is in Iran. (There's Buddhism in Aryan Iran? According to India's Dr. Ranjit Pal, the Buddha's mothers, Queen Maya Gotami and Queen Pajapati Gotami, were Sakas/Shakyas/Scythians [an ancient Eastern Iranic equestrian nomadic people who migrated during the 9th to 8th centuries BC from Central Asia] from Iran's Sakastan/Sistan and Baluchestan province) Native Americans and Tibetan Buddhists love this semi-precious mineral and gemstone, as do so many in the American Southwest, particularly in precious Sedona, Arizona. We love crystals.

(Katie Halper) Prof. Marandi destroys anchor over Iran protest propaganda

• Wisdom Quarterly: Was the Buddha from Baluchistan?
• Mega copper deal in Afghanistan fuels rush to save ancient Buddhist archeological treasures | National Geographic
• The daring journey to reach Afghanistan’s famous Buddhas—before they were lost
• These archaeological findings unlock stories of ancestors

The Gem Story | From Ancient Turquoise Mine to the Mashhad Gem Market | Iran

The quality turquoise of Nishapur, from the village of Ma'dan (Sonia Sevilla/wiki)

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Adele shops for turquoise.

(Adele Journeys) Premiered Jan. 22, 2026: The Gem Story | Turquoise of Iran. Explore the legendary turquoise mines of Nishapur, Iran, where some of the world’s most prized Persian turquoise has been mined for thousands of years.

See how the stones are extracted, shaped, and polished in local workshops, and learn why turquoise is called a "living stone."

(Asiaonnews) The Republic of Iran is stronger than ever, military

and strategic ties with Russia and China | Yusef Jalali explains

• Walk through Mashhad turquoise market,
• discover how to identify high-quality stones,
• the differences in color, and
• how to distinguish natural Persian turquoise from synthetic.

Madan, Iran, turquoise mines, Afghanistan

Rare collector-grade pieces are revealed for the first time on camera.

• 00:00 Intro — History of Persian turquoise
• 00:42 Inside the world’s oldest turquoise mine in Nishapur
• 04:40 Local turquoise cutting workshop
• 05:45 Attar of Nishapur mausoleum — Persian poet and his legacy
• 06:50 Omar Khayyam mausoleum — Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer
• 07:47 Invited to a mountain village near the turquoise mines
• 08:21 Mashhad Gem Market — turquoise trade
• 09:13 Talking with a turquoise seller — how to identify quality stones
• 12:44 Turquoise in Islam — religious meaning explained
• 13:53 What’s next — upcoming episodes

Lie: mass gov't killing of protesters

The U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran falls flat after Time magazine

deletes its falsified (propagandized) story on deaths | Janta Ka Reporter

Enjoy these videos and want to help the channel grow? Support Adele voluntarily in a few ways: 

• Support via PayPal: paypal.com/donate/?hosted...
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Support, big or small, makes a real difference. It helps her create more videos, improve the content, and share even more exciting journeys with viewers. Thanks so much for being here and for generosity.

• Adele Journeys, Jan. 22, 2026; Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

American gal motorbikes into Afghanistan

(Itchy Boots) Entering Afghanistan under Taliban rule

Greco-Buddhism in Hellenistic Far East

BOOK: Greco-Buddhist Relations in the Hellenistic Far East

Dr. Olga Kubica, University of Wroclaw

Author Dr. Olga Kubica has 4.4 out of 5 stars with four ratings. This book provides the first comprehensive and interdisciplinary view of the relationship between the Greeks and Buddhist communities in ancient Bactria and Northwest India [Scythian Gandhara, now Afghanistan and Pakistan], from the conquests of Alexander the Great to the fall of the Indo-Greek kingdom circa 10 AD.

Greco-Buddhist Relations...

The main thesis is the assumption that, despite the presence of mutual relationships and interactions between the Greeks and Buddhist inhabitants of the Hellenistic Far East, the phenomenon known conventionally as "Greco-Buddhism" never truly occurred.

The individual chapters of this book provide an analysis of the main sources for Greco-Buddhist relations, mainly textual, but also archeological [excavated sites] and numismatic [coinage].

• Greco-Buddhist art
• Buddhism in Central Asia
• Greco-Buddhist monasticism
• Indo-Greek Kingdom
• Buddhism in Afghanistan
• Buddhism in Pakistan
• The historical Buddha had golden skin and blue eyes? (Yes)
• The Questions of the King Milinda (Greek King Menander I)
• Oldest "Buddhism" in world: Gandhāran Buddhist texts

(Sam Taylor) Is this really Afghanistan? Bluest lake in world: Band-e Amir

Who are the Hazara people?

The methods of philological and historical research are used in combination with postcolonial approaches to the study of the Greeks in India, drawing from sociological research on ethnicity and intercultural relations.

It is a rich source of information for anyone interested in Greco-Buddhist relations and is a great starting point for further research in this area.

This volume (1st edition) is a valuable resource for students and scholars working on the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kingdoms, both classicists and those working on early Indian history, as well as those working on cultural exchange in the Hellenistic world. More

• VIDEO: Dave Mani travels through old Afghanistan
• VIDEO: Dark Reality of visiting Kabul, Afghanistan
• Escape with Emily and Danny; Samantha Taylor, female traveler through Afghanistan; Dr. Olga Kubica; Amber Larson and Dhr. Seven, (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Priceless relics of the Buddha found

Dr. Ranajit Pal, Ph.D.

Bones of the Buddha is a documentary about the British excavation of one of the eight stupas (Buddhist burial mound and reliquary found in Piprahwa, now India, near the border with Nepal) where the historical Buddha's cremation remains (sarira or relics) were placed after the Buddha's final nirvana (parinibbana). More

• Ranajit Pal's Non-Jonesian Indology and Alexander makes sense of the ancient history of proto-India and India and sheds light on the real motives of Alexander the Great in his Gedrosian expedition.

What treasure was in the stupa?

(Doug's Dhamma) William Claxton Peppe excavates on his land in India

Bones of the Buddha: full documentary puts this monumental find in context

• Charles Allen; Bones of the Buddha (documentary); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Ancient Greeks converted to Buddhism

• Moment of Zen: Wonders of Kashmir, India

(Religion for Breakfast) Greece is very far away from the heartland of Early Buddhism in proto-India and parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan (ancient Gandhara). But thanks to Alexander the Great, Hellenistic and Buddhist cultures came into contact (and fusion) in the 4th century BCE, creating a cultural synthesis known as Greco-Buddhism.

• 00:00 A Greco-Bactrian Buddhist Inscription
• 1:41 The Hellenistic "Far East"
• 4:10 Pyrrho: A Buddhist for Greece?
• 7:42 Ashoka and his Dharma Conquest
• 10:23 King Menander [King Milinda]: The Most Famous Greek Buddhist
• 13:26 Greco-Buddhist Art of Gandhara
• 15:23 Syncretism?
• 16:44 [Sponsor:] Nebula!

Indie creators being awesome Thumbnail art by @hotcyder Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images and Reuters

Why does media denigrate Iran? (Eli)

• Russian Correspondent Eli from Russia, redhead in Persia

Greek, Persian influences on Early Buddhism

Monks of the Mines (National Geographic) in ancient Afghanistan/Gandhara, Central Asia

Greek and Persian influence on Early Buddhism

Non-Jonesian Indology, Alexander (Ranajit Pal)

(Ajahn Sona) Premiered June 22, 2025: This video essay explores the influence of Western culture -- particularly those of ancient Persia (Aryan Iran) and Greece -- on Indian Buddhism in the first 500 years after the Buddha's passing [into final nirvana].

Focusing on the region of Gandhara (in present-day Afghanistan/Pakistan, Central Asia), this video traces how early encounters between these civilizations shaped the development of [Greco-] Buddhist art, writing, and the transmission of ideas [particularly along the Silk Road].

Through reflections on script, statuary, and cultural exchange, this documentary sheds light on the oft-overlooked role that Western thought played in shaping early Buddhism -- a legacy that still echoes to this day.

• 0:00:00 - Title
• 0:00:15 - Chapter 1: Two empires arrive in India
• 0:24:11 - Chapter 2: Roots of writing the Dhamma
• 0:52:23 - Chapter 3: Buddha statues and monasteries
• 1:22:48 - Photo/video credits
• 1:24:00 - About Ajahn Sona

Greco-Buddhist Relations in the Hellenistic Far East (Olga Kubica)

Gray schist seated Buddha, Gandhara, 2nd/3rd century (Christie's)

Early Buddhism = Gandhari

Other videos with Ajahn Sona on Greeks in Early Buddhism:

• June 25th Interview
• Earliest Western Buddhist Monks
• Hercules and the Buddha: The Legend...

Ajahn Sona's Podcast:

• AppleAjSona, SpotifyAjSona, PodbeanAjSona
• Who were the nomadic Scythians?
• The Buddhas of Bamiyan, Afghanistan
• Pillars of Ashoka: borrowing ideas to build empire
• Ajahn Sona, June 22, 2025; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly