The Spread of Buddhism

early buddhism in china: daoist reactions 215

The bodhisattva transformed himself, and riding a white elephant,

descended [like] a ray of sun. Because his mother was asleep during

the day, [he] manifested himself [as] a dream to her and entered her

through her right  ank.^66

Laozi’s vita has:

His mother felt a great meteor enter her, and thus conceived.^67

Despite the differences in detail, what both have in common is the
fact that it was a heavenly appearance (elephant descending as ray
of sun vs. meteor) that made the mother pregnant. Then the birth is
described as follows:

Then My grasped hold of the branch of a tree, and the baby issued

forth from her right  ank and came down to the ground.^68 He slipped

to the ground, took seven steps, raised his hand, and, in a lion’s voice,

cried: “Among all divine beings, only I am lord [.. .].”^69

The relevant part in Laozi’s Life reads:

[.. .] when he was born he emerged by piercing through her left armpit;

[.. .] some say that his mother gave birth to him under a plum tree and

that, being able to speak at birth, he pointed at the tree and said: “I’ll

take this as my surname”.^70

Both biographies share the motif of birth from the mother’s armpit
and under a tree. While the Buddha leaves through the right, Laozi
emerges through the left armpit. Then both babies are immediately able
to speak at birth and both perform a hand gesture. Note that this topos
of miraculous birth from any part of the mother’s body but the womb
has a long Indian history—cognate with Athena’s birth from Zeus’
head, thus re ecting a common Indo-European heritage—, as Aurva
was born from the thigh,^71 P thu from the hand^72 and Mndht , like
Indra himself, either, according to one tradition, from the forehead^73
or, according to another, from his father’s left side,^74 and Kakvat from

(^66) Taizi ruiying benqi jing 473b21ff.; Eichenbaum Karetzky 1992, p. 9.
(^67) Campany 2002, p. 194.
(^68) Xiuxing benqi jing 463c11, Eichenbaum Karetzky 1992, p. 15.
(^69) Xiuxing benqi jing 463c13, Eichenbaum Karetzky 1992, p. 16.
(^70) Campany 2002, p. 194.
(^71) Mahbhrata I. 2610, as quoted in Cowell 1969, p. 6 n. 1.
(^72) Vi u-Pura I.13, as quoted in Cowell 1969, p. 6 n. 2.
(^73) Vi u-Pura IV.2, as quoted in Cowell 1969, p. 6 n. 3.
(^74) Mahbhrata III.l.10450, as quoted in Cowell 1969, p. 6, n. 3.