The Tear of the Prophet

In the flickering candlelight of the palace in Kapilavastu, King Suddhodana sat upon his throne, cradling his newborn son with trembling hands. The child had golden skin, eyes bright as stars, and bore clearly upon his body the thirty-two auspicious marks. The king felt both joy and worry, for the prophecy of the sages still echoed in his ears: the boy would become either a Universal Monarch or a being of enlightenment.

"Bring the sage Asita to me at once!" King Suddhodana commanded, his voice urgent. Old Asita, more than one hundred years of age, with hair and beard white as snow, entered with eyes so deep they seemed to see through all of the past and the future. When he beheld the young prince, his aged face suddenly changed. He lifted the child, turning him this way and that, and then, unexpectedly, tears streamed down his cheeks.

King Suddhodana was alarmed and knelt down. "Venerable master, is something ill-omened? Why do you weep?"

The old man wiped his tears and sighed. "Your Majesty, I do not weep because of misfortune. I weep because I am old and will not live long enough to witness the prince's fulfillment. In time, the prince will do one of two things: he will become the king of all kings upon the earth, or he will leave home and become a great being of enlightenment."

He then turned to his grandnephew standing beside him, his voice lowering. "My child, when the prince grows up and attains the way, you must seek him out and ask to become his disciple. That will be a great blessing from merit for our family."

The grandnephew, already past thirty at the time, looked at him in bewilderment, not understanding why he was told to follow a newborn infant. Yet many years later, when the Buddha attained the way, that grandnephew became one of his first disciples.

Hearing this, King Suddhodana clenched the sleeves of his robe. He knew his son would not remain with him to inherit the throne. But he could not have imagined a sorrow even greater: seven days later, Queen Maya, the prince's birth mother, passed away, leaving the infant in the care of her sister, Prajapati.