Backcover Description: Buddha's Wife is a novel about compassion, inspiration and forgiveness. Thousands of books, texts and stories have followed Siddhartha's teachings and his path to becoming The Buddha, but little has been written about his wife Yasodhara, their child Rahula or their relatives, until now.
Yasodhara was the first woman in Siddhartha's life, but not the last to follow in his footsteps. Why did he call his son "a hindrance" and believe women were a trap of desire and attachment not fit to follow or understand my teachings? How did Yasodhara and the nuns fight for equal treatment and rights? How could The Buddha have such compassion for others, yet be so scared of intimacy, emotion and love? What happened to sixteen-year-old Yasodhara and her two-day old son, Rahula, after her husband (Siddhartha) left her sleeping in the middle of the night to seek enlightenment?
As Yasodhara lies close to death and shares her experiences as a young girl, a wife, a parent and then a nun, her son Rahula, who has been in self-imposed exile in Sri Lanka, attempts a perilous journey, with his wife and child, to reach his mother before she dies and release the secrets about his father that he's kept buried inside. Will Rahula and Yasodhara's dharma sister, reach Yasodhara in time to ask for forgiveness? Can anyone ever forgive the unforgivable?
Book Review/s to share: Buddha's Wife tells a fascinating story, little known in the west, about the woman whom Buddha left behind. Gabriel Constans focuses the reader's attention on the strong and complicated women who surrounded Buddha and makes us re-think the nature of spiritual life.
Chitra Divakaruni, international best-selling author and American Book Award winner, whose books include Mistress of Spices, Sister of My Heart and Palace of Illusions.
This book is an awesome read, insightful, woman loving - a challenge to all spiritual seekers to rethink, re-vise, and dream anew.
Bell Hooks, professor, activist and author of national bestseller all about love.
A remarkable recreation of Yasodhara's life. It is very readable and engages readers in the complexity of issues many women have raised about Gotama the Buddha's life and practice.
Katherine Thanas, Abbot, Santa Cruz Zen Center.
Email to share: constans@gogabriel.com
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