Few people think about what happened at home after Siddhartha left for a life to explore suffering and eventually come into realization. His wife, Princess Yasodhara, had just given birth the day before and felt totally lost.

Siddhartha’s stepmother Pajapati (the sister of Siddhartha’s birth mother who died in child birth) was there to build a support group.

This book, “The Buddha’s Wife, The Path of Awakening Together” by Janet Surrey and her husband Samuel Shem, builds a rich story derived from the historical documents of the time. We’re in a time now when our spiritual paths must join more together to evolve. Princess Yasodhara also needed a spiritual community to hold her suffering rather than go off on a solo retreat as her husband did.

This is a wonderful book about rising above our suffering through listening, sharing and holding compassion together. A spiritual community is very empowering and is the path to “awakening together”.