[Buddha-l] 'Sons of Brahma, sons of Buddha?'

[Richard P. Hayes]

On Mon, 2005-04-11 at 10:34 +0200, Stefan Detrez wrote:

> I have a vague recollection of a Hindu use to call brahmins 'sons of
> Brahma'. Is this correct? 

The term braahma.na is a patronymic derived from brahman, so it could be
understood that a member of the brahmin (braahma.na) var.na is a
descendant of Brahma. There is also, of course, the term Brahmaputra.

> Does this use extend to Buddhism?

Followers of the Buddha were often called Saugata, meaning disciples of
the Sugata.

> Is 'son' to be understood in the sense of 'pupil'?

In Buddhist monastic life, the bhikshu-sangha replaced the biological
family, so the son of a buddha was a disciple, except of course for
Rahula, who was both a biological son and a disciple.

-- 
Richard Hayes
Department of Philosophy
University of New Mexico