Sutta related to Mothers

Dear All

I am thinking of sharing a sutta related to Mothers and Children during Mother’s Day Celebration on this Friday at a preschool.

Is there a short sutta related to Mother’s care for their child that would be suitable for sharing with a group of mothers and preschoolers with limited knowledge in Buddhism?

Ben

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hi Ben

you can do some search by the key word both on Suttacentral and at http://www.accesstoinsight.org/

having run one on ATI i found a few where mother figure is mentioned but none would quite meet the requirement

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Hi Bhante

I found The Filial Piety Sutta on Buddhanet.

In the text, there is a comment that most women have little wisdom. I have copied the section of the text below.

Is there a reason why the text described women as having little wisdom?

Ben

The Buddha answered Ananda, “If when men are in the world, they enter temples, listen to explanations of Sutras and Vinaya texts, make obeisance to the Triple Gem, and recite the Buddha’s names, then when they die, their bones will be heavy and white in colour. Most women in the world have little wisdom and are saturated with emotion. They give birth to and raise children, feeling that this is their duty. Each child relies on its mother’s milk for life and nourishment, and that milk is a transformation of the mother’s blood. Each child can drink up to one thousand two hundred gallons of its mother’s milk. Because of this drain on the mother’s body whereby the child takes milk for its nourishment, the mother becomes worn and haggard and so her bones turn black in colour and are light in weight.”

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What about the metta sutta which has the simile about how a mother would protect her only child? The whole sutta contains such lovely teachings for anyone, even with no or limited knowledge of Buddhism.

SC does not have an English translation, but there are several here.

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As a mother would risk her life
to protect her child, her only child,
even so should one cultivate a limitless heart
with regard to all beings.
With good will for the entire cosmos,
cultivate a limitless heart:
Above, below, & all around,
unobstructed, without hostility or hate.
Whether standing, walking,
sitting, or lying down,
as long as one is alert,
one should be resolved on this mindfulness.
This is called a sublime abiding
here & now.
_____________ Sutta Nipata I.8
________ Karaniya Mettá Sutta

Regards.
Hero Barua
Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Dear BenLim

There are 12 Virtues of a Mother (mātu guṇa) according to Sona-Nanda Jātaka [Ja532]

(1) Mother is a divine with great merit (brahma tena vaccati)
(2) Mother is a fore teacher (pubbacariyā tena vaccati)
(3) Mother deserves offerings (āhuneyya tena vaccati)
(4) Mother is a guardian god (pubbadeva tena vaccati)
(5) Mother is a friend (sohada tena vuccati)
(6) Mother delivers you (janetti tena vaccati)
(7) Mother feeds you (posaka tena vaccati)
(8) Mother supports you (poseti tena vaccati)
(9) Mother takes care of you (āpādaka tena vaccati)
(10) Mother shows you good things (desetar tena vaccati)
(11) Mother makes you happy (tosenta tena vaccati)
(12) Mother will secure (gopayati tena vaccati)

Sona Nanda Jataka English Reference

The Master here ended his lesson and revealing the Truths identified the Birth—At the end of the Truths the Brother who cherished his mother was established in the fruition of the First Path—“At that time the parents were members of the Great King’s Court, the sage Nanda was Ananda, king Manoja was Sariputta, the hundred and one kings were eighty chief elders and certain others, the twenty-four complete armies were Buddha’s disciples, but the sage Sona was I myself.”