Kisa Gotami was the wife of a wealthy man of Savatthi. She
had only one child. When her son was old enough to start running about, he
caught a disease and died. Kisa Gotami was greatly saddened. Unable to accept
that her son was dead and could not be brought back to life again, she took him
in her arms and went about asking for medicine to cure him. Everyone she
encountered thought that she had lost her mind. Finally, an old man told her
that if there was anyone who could help her, it would be the Buddha.
In her distress, Kisa Gotami brought the body of her son to
the Buddha and asked him for a medicine that would bring back his life. The
Buddha answered: "I shall cure him if you can bring me some white mustard
seeds from a house where no one has died". Carrying her dead son, she went
from door to door, asking at each house. At each house, the reply was always
that someone had died there. At last, the truth struck her, "No house is
free from death". She laid the body of her child in the wood and returned
to the Buddha, who comforted her and preached to her the truth. She was
awakened and entered the first stage of Arhatship. Eventually, she became an
Arhat.
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