Lalitavistara Sūtra

Buddha’s birth (Bharhut) Brahmi text: bhagavato rukdanta

The Lalitavistara Sūtra (Sanskrit Lalitavistara sūtra) is aMahayana Buddhist sutra that tells the story of GautamaBuddha from the time of his descent from Tushita untilhis first sermon in the Deer Park near Benares. The ti-tle Lalitavistara has been translated as “The Play in Full”or “Extensive Play,” referring to the Mahayana view thatthe Buddha’s last incarnation was a “display” or “perfor-mance” given for the benefit of the beings in this world.

1 Outline of the text

The sutra consists of twenty-seven chapters:[1]

Chapter 1 In the first chapter of the sutra, the Buddhais staying at Jetavana grove with a large gathering ofdisciples. One evening, a group of divine beings visitthe Buddha and request him to tell the story of hisawakening for the benefit of all beings. The Buddhaconsents.

Chapter 2 The following morning, the Buddha tells hisstory to the gathered disciples. He begins the storyby telling of his previous life, in which the fu-ture Buddha was living in the heavenly realms sur-rounded by divine pleasures. In this previous life,he was known as the Bodhisattva. The Bodhisattvais enjoying the immense pleasures of his heavenlylife, but due to his past aspirations, one day the mu-sical instruments of the heavenly palace call out to

him, reminding him of his prior commitment to at-tain awakening.

Chapter 3 Upon being reminded of his previous com-mitments, the Bodhisattva announces, to the despairof the gods in this realm, that he will abandon his di-vine pleasures in order take birth in the human realmand there attain complete awakening.

Chapter 4 Before leaving the heavenly realms, the Bod-hisattva delivers one final teaching to the gods.

Chapter 5 The Bodhisattva installs the bodhisattvaMaitreya as his regent in the heavenly realms, andthen sets out for the human realm accompanied bygreat displays of divine offerings and auspicioussigns.

Chapter 6 The Bodhisattva enters into the human worldvia the womb of Queen Māyā, where he resides forthe duration of the pregnancy within a beautiful tem-ple, enjoying the happiness of absorption.

Chapter 7 The Bodhisattva takes birth at the LumbinīGrove and declares his intention to attain completeawakening.

Chapter 8 The infant Bodhisattva visits a temple wherethe stone statues rise up to greet him.

Chapter 9 His father, King Śuddhodana, commissionsmarvelous jewelry for him.

Chapter 10 The Bodhisattva attends his first day atschool, where he far surpasses even the most seniortutors.

Chapter 11 On a visit to the countryside as a young boy,he attains of the highest levels of meditative concen-tration.

Chapter 12 As a young man, he demonstrates his in-credible prowess in the traditional worldly arts, andwins the hand of Gopā, a Śākya girl whose fatherrequires proof of the Bodhisattva’s qualities as aproper husband.

Chapter 13 The Bodhisattva reaches maturity and isable enjoy life in the palace, where he is surrounded

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2 1 OUTLINE OF THE TEXT

by all types of pleasure, including a large harem toentertain him. Seeing this, the gods gently remindhim of his vows to awaken.

Chapter 14 The Bodhisattva takes a trip outside of thepalace walls to visit the royal parks. On this trip, heencounters a sick person, an oldman, a corpse, and areligiousmendicant. Deeply affected by these sights,the Bodhisattva renounces his royal pleasures.

Chapter 15 The Bodhisattva departs from the palace tobegin the life of a religious seeker on a spiritual jour-ney.

Chapter 16 The Bodhisattva seeks out the foremostspiritual teachers of his day, and he quicklysurpasses each of his teachers in understandingand meditative concentration. His extraordinarycharisma also attracts many beings, such as the kingof Magadha, who requests the Bodhisattva to takeup residence in his kingdom, but without success.

Chapter 17 The Bodhisattva follows Rudraka, arenowned spiritual teacher. He quickly mastersthe prescribed trainings, but once again he isdisappointed with the teachings. The Bodhisattvaconcludes that he must discover awakening onhis own, and he sets out on a six-year journey ofextremely austere practices. These practices takehim to the brink of death.

Chapter 18 The Bodhisattva concludes that the austerepractices do not lead to awakening and, encouragedby some protective gods, he begins to eat a normaldiet once again, and regains his health.

Chapter 19 Sensing that he is on the verge of attain-ing his goal, the Bodhisattva sets out for the seatof awakening (bodhimaṇḍa), the sacred place whereall bodhisattvas in their last existence attain full andcomplete awakening.

Chapter 20 He arrives at the seat of awakening, andthe gods perform a variety of miraculous displays,transforming the area so that it resembles a divinerealm, fit for the epic achievement that awaits theBodhisattva.

Chapter 21 Māra, the most powerful demon in the de-sire realm, arrives with the aim of preventing theBodhisattva from attaining his goal. Māra attemptsto terrify the Bodhisattva with his powerful army,and to seduce him with his seductive daughters, buthe is unable to divert the Bodhisattva from his goal.Māra gives up, defeated.

Chapter 22 Now the stage is set for the Bodhisattvato attain awakening under the Bodhi tree, a grad-ual process that unfolds throughout the night untilhe fully and perfectly awakens at dawn to becomethe Awakened One (Buddha), or Thus-Gone One(Tathāgata), as he is known subsequent to his awak-ening.

Chapter 23 Recognizing his epic achievement, the en-tire pantheon of divine beings visits the Thus-GoneOne, making offerings and singing his praise.

Chapter 24 For seven weeks following his awakening,the Buddha remains alone in the forest and does notteach. He is concerned that the truth he has dis-covered might be too profound for others to com-prehend. Sensing this dilemma, the demon Māratries to trick the Buddha one last time. Māra visitsthe Buddha and suggests that perhaps this would bea suitable time to pass into parinirvāṇa! The Bud-dha rejects Māra’s advice, and finally Māra retreats.During these first seven weeks, the Buddha also en-counters some local passersby, but no teaching isgiven.

Chapter 25 The gods Brahmā, Śakra, and the other godssense the Buddha’s hesitation. They visit the Bud-dha and formally request him to teach the Dharma.They repeat the request four times before the Bud-dha eventually consents. Upon his consent to teach,the Buddha says, “O Brahmā, the gates of nectar areopened”.

Chapter 26 The Buddha determines that the most suit-able students for his first teaching are his five formercompanions from the days when he was practicingausterities. The Buddha travels to Deer Park, out-side of Varanasi, to meet his former companions.Initially, the companions are suspicious of the Bud-dha for having given up their austerity practices, butthey are soon rendered helpless by his majestic pres-ence and request teachings from him. The five com-panions instantly receive ordination and, in a semi-nal moment, the Buddha teaches them the Four No-ble Truths: suffering, the origin of suffering, thecessation of suffering, and the path that leads to thecessation of suffering. Thus this occasion consti-tutes the birth of the Three Jewels: the Buddha, theDharma, and the Saṅgha.

Chapter 27 This marks the end of the teaching proper.Finally, in the epilogue, the Buddha encourages hisretinue of gods and humans to take this sūtra as theirpractice and propagate it to the best of their abilities.

Thus, the story ends at the very moment when the Buddhahas finally manifested all the qualities of awakening and

2.3 Episode 2: The Birth and Early Life of Buddha (panels 16-45) 3

is fully equipped to influence the world, as he did over thenext forty-five years by continuously teaching the Dharmaand establishing his community of followers.

2 The Borobodur reliefs

2.1 Overview

The Borobodur reliefs contain a series of panels depictingthe life of the Buddha as described in the LalitavistaraSutra.[2] In these reliefs, the story starts from the gloriousdescent of the Buddha from the Tushita heaven, and endswith his first sermon in the Deer Park near Benares.As an example of how widely the sutra was disseminated,it is said that the Lalitavistara Sutra was known to theMantranaya[lower-alpha 1] stonemasons of Borobodur.

2.2 Episode 1: The Prelude to the Birth ofBuddha (panels 1-15)

The Bodhisattva in Tushita Heaven before his birth as SiddharthaGautama. Borobudur

Queen Maya reclining. Borobudur

The Buddha lives among the clouds above Indra’s palaceon the peak of Mount Sumeru. The future Buddha tellsthe gods he has decided to be reborn on earth. Aroundhis waist there is wrapped a cord that supports his rightknee. This is a convention used in Borobudur to denotepeople of high status. In honor of his upcoming birth,a few gods go to earth to teach Brahmans. The Buddhateaches the “Introduction of the Law” to the gods, andgives his crown to a bodhisattva named Maitreya, who is

his successor-designate. The Buddha then asks the godswhat form he should take in his mother’s womb. Somerecommend the figure of a human, but others tell himthat in the Brahmans’ books, the Buddha is described asan elephant with six tusks, brightly shining, with a redhead oozing sap.Queen Maya and King Suddodana live in a palace in thecity of Kapilavastu. The king grants her request to un-dertake a vow of self-denial. Queen Maya is seated inher quarters awaiting the Buddha’s descent. During the“Great Descent”, the Buddha sits on a throne in a pavil-ion, accompanied by an uncountable number of gods,nymphs, and other supernatural beings. While QueenMaya sleeps, the Buddha enters her womb in the shapeof the elephant. That night a lotus grows from the oceansto Brahma’s heaven. The lotus contains the essence ofall creation. Brahma collects the essence in a bowl, andgives the Buddha the essence to drink as a mark of honor.This is one of themost popular scenes in ancient Buddhistart. Queen Maya decides to go to a forest of ashoka trees.She arrives and sends a servant to ask the king to meet herthere.

2.3 Episode 2: The Birth and Early Life ofBuddha (panels 16-45)

Maya dream of the Birth of Gautama Siddharta

The king arrives at the edge of the forest but is not allowedto go any further. The queen tells him of her dream, inwhich an elephant enters her womb. She asks him to getbrahmans to interpret the dream. The brahmans tell thecouple that the queen will bear a son who will becomeeither a universal ruler or a buddha. Indra and other godsoffer for the queen to stay in their palace during her preg-nancy. The unborn Buddha creates the illusion that thequeen is in all palaces to prevent any of the gods or kingsto be disappointed. During her pregnancy, the queen ac-quires certain powers, such as the ability to restore peo-ple possessed by supernatural beings to their normal stateby letting them view her, and also the power to heal dis-eases. The king lives as a hermit during her pregnancy.Queen Maya asks the king to be allowed to give birth in

4 2 THE BOROBODUR RELIEFS

Queen Maya leaves to go to Lumbini to give birth. Borobudur

the Lumbini Pleasure Garden. The queen sets out for thegarden in a carriage. When she arrives, she walks until shecomes to an ashoka tree which magically bends down forher. She grasps the limb, and the Buddha emerges fromher right side. The baby takes seven steps in each of thefour compass directions, and at each step a lotus springsup. After Sakyamuni’s birth, Indra and Brahma disguisethemselves as brahmans to congratulate King Suddhod-hana along with many other gods. A week after the Bud-dha is born, Queen Maya dies and becomes a goddess.Her sister, Gautami, becomes the baby prince’s guardian.Somemembers of the Sakya tribe suggest the child shouldbe taken to the temple. When the prince arrives, the stat-ues in the temple come to life and kneel before him.Sakyamuni is sent to school when he is old enough. Theschoolmaster is Visvamitra, and a god named Subhanggais also there. The story skips a few years and then de-scribes a visit to a rural village. This is where the sceneof the first meditation takes place. The prince sits downunder a guava tree to meditate.The king wishes Sakyamuni to marry because he remem-bers the prophecy that his son is to become a buddha ora great ruler. The prince tells him he will give his answerin seven days. The prince consents and chooses Gopa ashis wife. Only she can bear to look at him without be-ing blinded by his radiance. Gopa’s father is not certainthe prince is suitable for his daughter, so he requires theprince undergo some tests to prove his mental and physi-cal abilities.

2.4 Episode 3: Buddha’s Marriage andRenunciation of His Earlier Life (pan-els 46-75)

Sakyamuni and 500 other princes go out to the city todemonstrate his powers. He sets a problem that only hecan solve. The next test is an archery competition. Sakya-muni used an ancient bow which had been preserved ina temple since his grandfather’s time. He shot an arrow

The prince Siddhartha Gautama cuts his hair and becomes andrenunciant. Borobudur

through seven trees, and through other various targets in-cluding an iron boar. Gopa’s father agrees to the mar-riage. Various gods including Indra and Brahma congrat-ulate him on his marriage and ask when he will begin hisquest for enlightenment.The king dreams of the prince’s departure and tries toattract him to remain by building three more palaces toamuse him. The king posts guards around the prince’spalace and sends young women to entertain him. Thisis one of the most successful compositions on the monu-ment.One day the prince decides to go to a royal pleasure gar-den. Suddenly an old man appears to him, and the princegoes back to the palace. This is the first of the Four En-counters which motivate the prince to begin his quest forenlightenment. The second encounter the prince againsets out for the pleasure garden, but sees a sick man. An-other occasion occurs where the prince sees a dead mansurrounded by grieving relatives. The last encounter isagain created by the gods, and involves a monk. He isat peace compared to the grief and suffering felt by theothers. The prince meditates based on the example of themonk and on the path of salvation from suffering.Sakyamuni comforts Gopa that night who had a baddream, then the next day went to the king and asked per-mission to leave. After the prince says goodbye to godsand other supernatural beings, he cuts off his hair. Thenhe discards his royal robes and puts on orange robes ofa passing hunter. The prince goes to two places wherebrahman female hermits offer him food. Sakyamuni em-barks on a life as a wandering monk.Eventually he reaches a kingdom called Vaisali where heasks permission to become a pupil of a brahman namedArada Kalapa. After some time Arada acknowledgesthe prince as his equal, and Sakyamuni also becomes ateacher. Later Sakyamuni decides to resume his travels,and comes to the city of Rajagrha to beg. The people arein awe of his appearance and think Brahma himself hascome to beg. The next day a bright shining light comesfrom Mount Pandava where Sakyamuni is staying. Theking asks him to stay and take half the kingdom. Sakya-muni later visits a teacher in Rajagrha named Rudraka

2.6 Episode 5: The Preaching of the First Sermon (panels 106-120) 5

and is invited to join him.

2.5 Episode 4: Buddha’s Enlightenment(panels 76-105)

After a while the prince goes to Magadha. Five men fromRudraka’s group decide to follow him, and they meditateon Gayasirsa Mountain. Then the prince and his new dis-ciples go to meditate beside the Nairanjana River. This iswhere Sakyamuni practices such harshness that he nearlystarves himself. Because he is near death, Queen Mayacomes to see him and begins to cry. The gods offer toprovide him with magical strength so he will not have toeat, but he is scared the people will believe he can livewithout food. He abandoned his fast, and the five disap-pointed disciples leave him.The prince then goes to a place called Uruvila. Sakya-muni decides to put on a new robe, and takes a shroudfrom a dead woman named Radha. He washes it on astone by a pond. When Sakyamuni tries to leave the pond,the demon Mara makes the banks rise enormously high.The goddess of a tree beside the pond bends her branchand saves Sakyamuni. Another god gives the prince areddish robe.The village chief’s daughter, Sujata, invites the princeto her house and feeds him. Sakyamuni returns to theNairanjana River to bathe, and takes a golden bowl whichSujata gave him. Gods come to him and attend him. Theprince sits down and finishes the food Sujata gave him.When he is finished, Sakyamuni throws the bowl into theriver. Indra desired it, and turned into a garuda to take itfrom the naga king who saved the bowl. The prince thensets out for the enlightenment tree.Brahma and a group of gods go to pay homage to theprince. It is now time for Sakyamuni to seek a tree tomeditate under. The demon Mara attacks the prince ina final effort of preventing him to seek enlightenment.Mara failed to defeat Sakyamuni by force, so he sendshis beautiful daughters to try to arouse him, but this failsalso.Sakyamuni reaches Supreme Enlightenment, and be-comes Buddha, the “EnlightenedOne.” Buddha remainedin the same position for seven days, but arises to walktwice to far distances. Both times however, he returnedto the sacred Bodhimanda.Four weeks after enlightenment, Buddha goes to stay witha naga king named Mucilinda. The weather was poor sothe naga king protects Buddha while he meditates. Af-ter five weeks, Buddha leaves Mucilinda’s palace to walkto a banyan tree. On the way he meets frugals who askhim how he has borne such a week of bad weather. Bud-dha goes to meditate under another tree, and merchantspass by who are frightened by the portents, but a goddessreassures them. The merchants offer Buddha food. Hewould like a bowl to put it in, and the four gods, “Great

Kings,” each offer him bowls. Afraid to offend them hetakes them all and combines them into one.

2.6 Episode 5: The Preaching of the FirstSermon (panels 106-120)

Gautama Buddha after his enlightenment, along with the five as-cetics. Borobudur

That same night, the gods including Brahma and Indra,ask Buddha to preach the Law. By morning he agreesto preach, and asks to whom he should first preach theLaw. He asks for Rudraka, but he has been dead for aweek. Next he asks for Arada Kalapa, but he is also dead.Buddha then asks for the five disciples he had earlier, andhe sees they are in the Deer Park at Benares. Buddha setsoff for Benares, and on the way he meets a monk whoasks where he is going. He goes through several cities,and is honored in each of them. Buddha comes to theRiver Ganges, and the ferryman refuses to row him acrosswithout payment. Buddha flies across the river, and theboatman faints.Buddha arrives in Benares, and begs for food. He findsthe five former disciples, and they are awed by his radi-ance and arise to serve him. The disciples ceremoniallybathe Buddha. Then Buddha preaches his first sermon,which sets the “Wheel of the Law” in motion.[4]

3 Historical context

In the early 20th century, P. L. Vaidya believed that thefinished Sanskrit text dated to the 3rd century.[5]

The text is also said to be a compilation of variousworks by no single author and includes materials from theSarvastivada and the Mahayana traditions.Concerning the origins of the text, the DharmachakraTranslation Committee states:[6]

This scripture is an obvious compilation ofvarious early sources, which have been strungtogether and elaborated on according to theMahāyāna worldview. As such this text is afascinating example of the ways in which theMahāyāna rests firmly on the earlier tradition,yet reinterprets the very foundations of Bud-dhism in a way that fit its own vast perspec-tive. The fact that the text is a compilation

6 11 EXTERNAL LINKS

is initially evident from the mixture of proseand verse that, in some cases, contains stratafrom the very earliest Buddhist teachings and,in other cases, presents later Buddhist themesthat do not emerge until the first centuries ofthe common era. Previous scholarship on ThePlay in Full (mostly published in the late nine-teenth and early twentieth centuries) devotedmuch time to determining the text’s potentialsources and their respective time periods, al-though without much success. [...] Althoughthis topic clearly deserves further study, it is in-teresting to note that hardly any new researchon this sūtra has been published during the lastsixty years. As such the only thing we can cur-rently say concerning the sources and origin ofThe Play in Full is that it was based on sev-eral early and, for the most part, unidentifiedsources that belong to the very early days ofthe Buddhist tradition.

4 Translations into English• The Play in Full: Lalitavistara (2013), translated bythe Dharmachakra Translation Committee. Trans-lated from Tibetan into English and checked againstthe Sanskrit version.[web 1]

• Voice of the Buddha: The Beauty of Compassion(1983), translated by Gwendolyn Bays, DharmaPublishing (two-volume set). This translation hasbeen made from French into English and thenchecked with the original in Tibetan and Sanskrit.

5 Numerals

In the Lalitavistara, the Buddha explains to a mathemati-cian named Arjuna the system of numerals in multiplesof 100, starting from a koti (in later literature 10^7 butthis is uncertain) to a tallakshana (10^53 then).

6 See also• Buddhacarita

• Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta

• Miraculous births

7 Notes[1] Note that Mantranaya is not a corruption or mis-

spelling of mantrayana, although it is largely synony-mous. Mantranaya is the earlier term for the esoteric

Mahayana teachings emphasizing mantras. The clearlySanskrit sounding Mantranaya is evident in Old Javanesetantric literature, particularly as documented in the old-est esoteric Buddhist tantric text in Old Javanese, theSang Kyang Kamahayanan Mantranaya see Kazuko Ishii(1992).[3]

8 References[1] Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2013, p. iii-x.

[2] Soekmono (1976), pp 21-22.

[3] Ishii Kazuko (1992). “The Correlation of Verses ofthe 'Sang Kyang Kamahayanan Mantranaya' with Vajra-bodhi’s 'Japa-sutra'" (PDF). Area and Culture Studies 44.Retrieved 2010-12-13.

[4] Miksic, J. (1990). Borobudur: Golden Tales of the Bud-dhas. Singapore: Periplus Editions Ltd.

[5] L. A. Waddell. “The So-Called “Mahapadana” Suttantaand the Date of the Pali Canon”. The Journal of the RoyalAsiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland: 661–680. Re-trieved 2011-06-29.

[6] Dharmachakra Translation Committee 2013, p. xii.

9 Web references[1] A Play in Full: Lalitavistara (2013), translated by the

Dharmachakra Translation Committee (complete transla-tion from Tibetan into English)

10 Sources• Dharmachakra Translation Committee (2013), APlay in Full: Lalitavistara, 84000

• Soekmono (1976). “Chandi Borobudur: A Monu-ment of Mankind” (PDF). Paris: The Unesco Press.Retrieved 17 August 2008.

11 External links• Digital Sanskrit Buddhist Canon: Lalitavistara (thetext in Sanskrit)

• The Lalitavistara and Sarvastivada

• Lalitavistara

• The Buddha’s Encounters with Mara the Tempter:Their Representation in Literature and Art

7

12 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

12.1 Text• Lalitavistara Sūtra Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lalitavistara_S%C5%ABtra?oldid=672106039 Contributors: Eequor, Ogress,Rjwilmsi, Eu.stefan, B9 hummingbird hovering, Randy Kryn, Dakinijones, Addbot, Tengu800, Lightbot, Yobot, Cuziyam, RjwilmsiBot,EmausBot, ZéroBot, ChuispastonBot, Helpsome, LutherVinci, Gerard van Novaloka, Dorje108, JimRenge, Arlene47, andAnonymous: 5

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• File:Bhagvato_bharhut.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Bhagvato_bharhut.JPG License: Publicdomain Contributors: British Library Original artist: Beglar, Joseph David, 1875

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