Buddha Tarot - Buddha & Sakti (XIX. The Sun)

Buddha & Sakti - The Sun



I suppose this card takes on some of the meaning that's left over by Place's changes to the Lovers card, which in this deck depicts the Buddha's ambivalence about his attachment to his family, a meaning not exactly implied by Adam and Eve. The Sun card, meanwhile, depicts the Buddha in a naughty little tryst in which we wouldn't typically imagine him. She is a goddess, I guess, so it's a bit different than the kind of lust that the Buddha taught was wrong, but it's still pretty naughty.

In a reading for typical humans, I can understand reading this card as, you know, awesome, but I can't help but be a little upset when I think about the Buddha in this position, given that he left his wife and son and all. That's my problem with it. The Buddha left his family. What kind of enlightenment is that? Is the Sun in this image thinking the same thing?

JonMAblaze said:

Buddha & Sakti - The Sun



I suppose this card takes on some of the meaning that's left over by Place's changes to the Lovers card, which in this deck depicts the Buddha's ambivalence about his attachment to his family, a meaning not exactly implied by Adam and Eve. The Sun card, meanwhile, depicts the Buddha in a naughty little tryst in which we wouldn't typically imagine him. She is a goddess, I guess, so it's a bit different than the kind of lust that the Buddha taught was wrong, but it's still pretty naughty.

In a reading for typical humans, I can understand reading this card as, you know, awesome, but I can't help but be a little upset when I think about the Buddha in this position, given that he left his wife and son and all. That's my problem with it. The Buddha left his family. What kind of enlightenment is that? Is the Sun in this image thinking the same thing?

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You see, this is why I'm really more of a Theravada than a Mahayana kind of a gal.

However, I think there is a way to read this card less literally than you are without doing violence to Place's take on the card.

I think that even if you consider this event as occurring the morning after the events depicted in the Moon card in this deck take place, this is the Vairocana now who is being depicted, radiating the light of the truth. Vajradharisvari is the space that embraces the light. Vairocana and Vajradharisvari appear to be two separate entities, but they are simply the love and wisdom aspects of Buddhahood. To interpret this as Buddha violating of one of the Five Precepts as one of his first acts as a Buddha, well, just doesn't seem quite right. The representation of the yab-yum is just symbolic.

You raise a really good point, however, inherent in the story of the life of the Buddha, which is whether Siddhartha was violating the Five Precepts (not yet developed) by leaving his role as a householder in the scene depicted in the Lovers card. History does not record what Yasodhara thought of all this at the time (just as history does not record what Sarah thought of Abraham taking Isaac up to the mountain in order to slaughter him). Yeah, Yasodhara was a new mom, although I suspect she had a lot of household help. Strictly speaking, I would like to think that he would have consulted with her and obtained a release from his marriage vows before he left. History suggests he did not do so.

I have always suspected that Siddhartha snuck out that wat because of his controlling dad (and his own desire to stay with his wife and son) more than anything else, and we know that eventually his wife and son as well as his parents (well, dad and stepmother) became his disciples. So eventually all was forgiven. Still, it's not very satisfying from a human point of view.

M~