[Buddha-l] Buddhist stupa to be moved from NM Petroglyph Park

[Richard Hayes]

On Sep 30, 2012, at 8:59 AM, "Jo" <ugg-5 at spro.net> wrote in response to my facetious question whether there is any kind of cowpoke other than the drunken variety:

> Yes there is or was, but he wasn't Buddhist: Krishna of the gopis and gopas. Those terms are often translated cowgirls and cowboys.

According to some later texts, the Buddha's wife was named Gopā. And of course his clan name was Gotama, which also has bovine associations.

When my wife got involved in Vedānta in her teenage years, her swami named her Gopā and told her that was the Buddha's wife's name. In Vedānta circles ma femme is called Gopā to this very day. For reasons I have not been able to learn, the Vedānta crowd does not call me by the name of Gopā's husband. Seems unfair somehow.

Still plain old Richard