A Brief Note on Baby Siddhartha's First Bath

Abstract

Although different Buddhist traditions share a great deal in terms of soteriological doctrine and ethical values, they differ in other numerous respects. Among them, a typical difference is the narration of the same event or story in the Buddha’s life. This paper takes the example of the scene of baby Siddhārtha’s first bath to illustrate the extent to which a single aspect of a shared story of the Buddha’s birth could vary between many Buddhist traditions. By demonstrating how various textual and artistic tradition of Buddhism differ in the source of the water that was used to wash the newly born Siddhārtha and in the people who did the washing, this article attests a generally known concept, that the acceptance of Buddhism and the translation of its scriptures in a new environment is heavily determined by the local culture.