QUEEN MAYA’S DREAM

During the Midsummer festival, on the day of the full moon, Queen Maya had a divine dream while she slept…

Four guardian angels took her in her bed up to the Himalaya mountains. There, they kept her under a huge sal tree, and stood respectfully to one side. Their wives took her to bathe in Anotatta Lake, to remove all her human stains. Then, they dressed her in divine garments, adorned her with celestial flowers, and sprinkled her with perfume. She was laid onto a divine couch pointing east, near a silver mountain containing a golden mansion.

The Bodhisatta approached, taking the form of a splendid white elephant. The elephant wandered over the Gold Hill and towards the Silver Hill. It plucked a white lotus with its trunk, and trumpeted loudly as it entered the golden mansion. The elephant circled Queen Maya three times, and then, striking her on her right side with his tusk, disappeared into her womb.

The next morning, the Queen told King Suddhodana about her dream. The King summoned wise Brahmans to interpret the dream. They determined that she had conceived a male child. If the child remained at home, he would be King, but if he chose the ascetic life, he would become a Buddha, the saviour of the world.

The instant the Buddha was conceived, 32 omens appeared, from the blind recovering their sight to music playing in the sky. In her womb, Queen Maya could distinguish the future Buddha like a white thread passed through a clear jewel.

The white lotus symbolises Bodhi (awakening), representing mental purity and spiritual perfection. The lotus is deemed the womb of the world.