Scene 1
(The Buddha with his disciples. Enter Rahul, his son. The disciples are all excited to see the Buddha’s young son.)RAHUL: Father?
BUDDHA: Yes, my son?
RAHUL: Mother says that you have given joy to hundreds of people. Now I also want to have joy from you.
BUDDHA: My son, tell me what kind of joy you want from me.
RAHUL: I want my share of your wealth, your property. Everybody has become rich with your wealth. Now I want to be rich, too.
BUDDHA: My son, my wealth is of a different type. I have no money. I have no material wealth. I have only inner wealth, which is Peace, Light and Bliss.
RAHUL: Father, I know Mother has told me about your wealth. You have Infinite Peace, Infinite Love, Infinite Joy, Infinite Bliss. I want to have my share. I am your son. I want to follow your path.
BUDDHA: But you are a child, you are a little boy. How can you accept the path right now?
RAHUL: Father, what is wrong? Is your spirituality meant only for grown-up people and not for children? Is the Truth you have achieved only for the elderly? Is Truth not for everybody? Is God not for everybody, Father?
BUDDHA: Wonderful, my child, wonderful, my son! I accept my defeat. Truth is for all. And my Love, my Peace, my Light you can share, as others already share. I share with you my Joy, my Peace, my Illumination.
RAHUL: Father, have you accepted me as your disciple?
BUDDHA: Yes, I have accepted you with all my heart and soul, my son.
RAHUL: Then you have to accept another also. There is one more seeker you have to accept as your disciple.
BUDDHA: Who? Whom have I to accept, my son?
RAHUL: My mother. My mother wants to be your disciple.
BUDDHA (pauses): My son, I do not accept women as my disciples, my real disciples.
RAHUL: Father, why not? Are women not meant to realise the highest Truth? Your heart is big. Everybody says the Buddha’s heart is as vast as the infinite ocean. If your heart is so big, how then do you deny women the Truth that you have realised? Father, that is unfair. You have to accept my mother. And the day you accept her, you must accept all women.
BUDDHA: My son, I am truly proud of you. You are still a child, you have not yet seen even eleven summers, but your inner knowledge is profound. My son, your knowledge of Truth has given me enormous joy and pride. The world listens to me. I have hundreds of disciples and they listen to me with devotion. I listen to you with my heart’s pride and my soul’s joy. Go and tell your mother that I have accepted her also as my true disciple. Today I take both of you into the sangha, my spiritual community.
