How would Buddha vote?
While Siddhārtha was a young man, his father, King Śuddhodana, shielded him from the outside world and arranged for him to marry at 16 the beautiful Yaśodharā, who bore him a son, Rāhula. However, sometime later for the first time Siddhārtha saw an old man, then a sick person, a corpse and a religious monk. These prompted him decide he would pursue truth by leaving behind his wife, son and kingdom.
He would write later: “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”
He also wrote: “He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.” So, we will deduce that while he was not a family man, the Buddha would support all Americans’ right to “the pursuit of happiness.”
