Rahula

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Buddha with Rahula

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Rahula (534 BC–?;) was the only son of the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama. This Pali and Sanskrit name translates roughly as "chain" or "chained one," an interesting philosophical contrast to Buddha, "the awakened one." It can also be translated as obstacle. Siddhartha Gautama named his son Rahula in recognizing that the child could be a tie that bound him to his wife Yashodhara and the comforts of the life of a householder. In the Dhammapada, the pleasure and joy that a man takes in his wife and children is called a 'soft fetter' that ties individuals to the life of suffering – possibly a reference to Siddhartha's own son.

In modern Indian languages, Rahul is now a common name in India and Nepal, its first use is probably correctly attributed to the above mentioned person.

Although Rahula was part of the family that Gautama essentially abandoned when he began his life as a monk, Rahula, according to several Buddhist sutras, eventually came to be a part of his father's new-founded religious order. He is seen in several anecdotes about Gautama, and he is exclusively portrayed as a student. According to the scriptures, Rahula was first ordained as a novice as a young boy, without his mother's knowledge. The distress this caused his mother prompted the Buddha to rule that no young man or woman should be ordained without the knowledge and consent of their parents.

Rahula subsequently became one among the many arhats through following the Buddha's teachings.