Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal: Buddhist tragedy unfolds in real life SoCal

Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Buddhist tragedy unfolds in real life SoCal

When one goes insane, it sometimes makes sense to tear one's clothes off and run and yell.

Some of the most harrowing sutras (discourses) in Buddhism concern life, death, and motherhood. The stories are so farfetched, they seem like parables more than historical accounts. There is the heartbreaking tale of Kisa Gotami, who went insane when her only son died and she could not accept it. The Buddha cured her.

There was another mother, Patacara ("cloak-walker"), who had it worse, trying to cross a swollen river with two young children. The water was so deep, she had to set one down on the shore and carry the other over her head. But a bird swooped one away, and she began to scream in her helpless agony and impotent rage. The other child mistook those yells as calls and entered the river and was swept away.

Similarly, yesterday in post-drought California, a mother was by the river, watching her 2-year-old as her 4-year-old played by the swollen river, overrunning with spring melt after recent rains. (In fact, the Sierra Nevada mountain range got more snow a few days ago than it has all year, which is jaw dropping because there has been so much snow this year up by the American cannibals' Donner Pass). And the unimaginable happened.

Mother loses 2 babies, ages 4 and 2, after they are swept away by river in Southern California

(ABC News, May 7, 2024) MENTONE, California - The two children were eventually found near the river's edge, according to authorities.

Snow melts, water pools, and creeks flow hard.

A 4-year-old girl and her 2-year-old brother died after being swept away by a river Tuesday during an outing with their mother, according to authorities.

The incident happened around 3:00 pm in Mill Creek near the Thurman Flats Picnic Area in San Bernardino County (in the Inland Empire) on Highway 38 outside of Mentone.

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department (SBCSD) said the mother was attending to her son when her daughter was taken downstream. "The mother searched for her but could not locate her," read a statement from the sheriff's department.

A mother's unbearable grief

"You're a bad mother, you're a bad mother! I mean, you're a bad boy, you're a bad boy!"

Mom, promise me you'll never go.

Patacara was described as the beautiful daughter of a very wealthy merchant of Savatthi, in the Kosala Kingdom. Her previous name was Roopwati, the most beautiful girl of the whole town.

Her over-protective parents used to love her dearly and provide her with every luxury. She also had a younger brother named Bharadwaj. Though she had everything, she was lonely and unhappy.

She fell in love with one of her parents' servants, Amarshanath, a young, good-looking, and innocent boy of lower social status. They had sex on a trip, she got pregnant, and they decided to run off because her parents had arranged a suitable marriage for her with a prince whom she did not love.

They eloped and hid from her parents, but when Patacara became pregnant a second time, she asked her husband to take her home to her parents. He refused, saying they would torture or imprison him. She began the journey by herself, taking her son with her. Her husband followed.

She went into labor along the way and asked her husband to find them some shelter as a heavy storm had hit the area. He went in search of wood but was bitten by a venomous snake and died instantly.

In his absence, Patacara gave birth to her second son. The next morning, she found her husband on the ground dead, his body rigid. Distraught, she blamed herself for his death.

She continued her journey back to Savatthi, but when she came to the river Aciravati, it was swollen due to the heavy rain. Unable to wade across with both children, she left the older child on the shore and carried the baby across to the further shore, intending to return for the first child.

"When she returned, her son was missing and assumed to be down river as well." The mother then hiked up to the picnic area and contacted another family member to help, but they couldn't find the children.

Authorities said it took the mother about an hour to call 911 due to limited cell phone service in the area.

Deputies from the Yucaipa Station, Sheriff's Air Rescue, Mentone Station County Fire personnel, a U.S. Forest Service Rescue Crew, and SBCSD Search and Rescue members worked together on the search.

Crews first found the girl and rushed her to a local hospital. Shortly after, they found the boy. They were both found near the river's edge, according to authorities.

The girl was sent to Redlands Community Hospital by ambulance, while the boy was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center. They were pronounced dead later in the evening.

Tragedy then she meets the Buddha

I better wear a cloak

When she was midway through her return, a large bird swooped down upon the baby and flew off with it. Hearing his mother screaming in the river, the elder son thought Patacara was calling him and entered the water. He was immediately swept off by the strong current.

She had lost her beloved husband and now both of her children. She was utterly devastated. Yet, she continued towards the city, in hope of meeting her parents.

But on her way home, she was informed that her parents and brother had been killed after their house collapsed during that very storm.

Completely shattered and hopelessly stricken and depressed, Patacara went insane. She started to scream like a madwoman and undresses herself.

Seeing her naked, people begin throwing stones at her, calling her a crazy woman and torturing her. No one seemed to recognize who she was previously, the most beautiful girl in the city. She grows more aggressive and more insane day-by-day.

Whenever any sympathetic person tries to cover her nude body, she screams and tears the garments off. She gradually becomes unaware of her conduct and nudity, challenging the norms and values of her society.

She comes to be called "Patacara." People hurl abuses at her and completely ostracizing her from her village.

Meeting the Buddha

At that time the Buddha was staying in Jetavana in [the multi-millionaire] Anathapindika's monastery. Patacara, running through the city naked and not able to be consoled, bows at the Buddha's feet in a mark of respect for a wandering ascetic, describing her tragedies.

The Buddha explains what has happened to her, referring to core Buddhist doctrines. And Patacara immediately understands the real meaning of impermanence (the doctrine of radical transience of all phenomena).

[The other two core tenets of Buddhism are that all things are disappointing and impersonal. This grouping of three universal characteristics of all things is known as the Three Marks of Existence.]

When she is asked her name, she feels awkward. Her actual name is not Patacara. It is Roopwati, which means "beauty," but in her present condition, she is the complete opposite. So she introduces herself as Patacara ("cloak-walker").

She becomes a "stream-enterer," realizing the first stage of enlightenment or awakening.

[This is presumably because, having realized that all things are impermanent, so there is nothing to cling to, and letting go, she glimpses the complete freedom of nirvana from what the Buddha was teaching her.]

So she becomes a Buddhist nun (bhikkhuni) and soon attains the fourth and final stage of enlightenment (arhatship).

The Buddha declares her "foremost keeper of the Monastic Discipline (Vinaya) among the nuns," making her the female counterpart of the monk Upali.

Her interest in the "Rules of Conduct" of the monastic life is attributed to her reflections on her former indulgences. Source