When Buddha was conceived, there were signs that he would become the teacher of everybody, someone who could lead everybody. His mother Mahamaya told her husband the king, “Now we have to release the prisoners.”
Releasing prisoners does not mean releasing them all on the street to do crazy things. Many prisoners at that time were in prison for small crimes. Some were not criminals, but had been misjudged. Sometimes they could not clarify what they did, and sometimes they were ignorant, caused a problem, and went to prison. After that, they realized they were wrong, but still, they were stuck. Sometimes, prisoners were not just locked up but also tortured.
Therefore, Mahamaya said, “Since we are going to have a great baby, we should release the prisoners as much as we can.” Also, she wanted to open care centers at all the corners of the kingdom to support the weak, the blind, the poor or stingy. She wanted to build these kinds of care centers. That was her wish, and she made that request to Buddha’s father. That was Buddha’s Mother’s dream. The father always wanted Buddha to become a great king, one who makes wars and controls countries all over. But his mother did not want that. She wanted to help people and release prisoners. This could be a metaphor. Releasing prisoners from a small house was her wish and what Buddha did was release people from the samsaric prison by teaching them how to confront the problem and come up from under the problem.
Sometimes, we are wandering around and it looks like we are free and not prisoners. But if you look at your mind, sometimes you are a prisoner in there, because you have very strong rules set up in your mind and they are torturing you and you cannot be free. Whenever you can’t be flexible, it means you are in prison. Sometimes people are very stubborn. Also, a prison, if it is very small and strong, you cannot move anything. You are stuck there. For example, if you believe very strongly in a philosophy without reason, that becomes your prison too. If you have a reason, if you are aware of things, that’s different.
When Buddha came, he said, “No, you are your own master. You have to solve your own problems. You have to find your own happiness.” That is like releasing a lot of people from that constructed prison. Even if you don’t believe in some kind of thing but you have feelings that you can’t change – like you hate someone strongly and you could not change that – or you are attached to something, and you cannot change it. Then that is like being in prison. Attachment is like a leash around your neck. It’s a long wire or chain. You can go far but you cannot go further than 20 feet. Sometimes you are attached to something, and it hurts you, and until you die you remember those things and still feel pain. You say, “A long time ago I had a very nice, beautiful cup and then he broke it.” The cup is long gone, you are still eating food, you are still sleeping and breathing, but still you feel pain from 20 years ago. You are tied to that kind of chain and you cannot get freedom.
Their kids’ well-being is the most important thing for a mother. Most mothers want their kids to do well, to have a good life and want them to be good persons. They are wishing that their kids could learn something meaningful for their lives.Why? If you become very professional at something and you make money, that doesn’t mean you will find happiness. But if you learn how to be kind, how to handle your negative emotions, how to be happy, then, wherever you go in your life, in any situation, you will be happy. Nobody needs to worry about you. If their kids are decent human beings who have ethics in their practice, who understand how to be satisfied with things, how to be less greedy, how to let things go when they are supposed to go – then the mother will be much happier and knows there is no need to worry about her kid.
On Mother’s Day, when we think of mothers, always think about the mind that cares about others more than ourselves, especially not fake but sincerely. On Mother’s Day, we should recall our mother and also think about all mother sentient beings. In a small window, mothers are one or two. In a big window, they are all the people who live near you, who are connected in your life. They are your mothers in way.
A Mother’s Dream – Release from Samsara’s Prison – (Demo Rinpoche – Ancient Wisdom. Modern Times. #241 May 11, 2025)