The illustrated life of the Lord
Buddha!

The Devās request the Bodhisatta
in Tusita
Heaven to descend and become a Buddha.

Queen Mahāmāyā
dreams a white elephant
enters her side during the conception.

King
Suddhodana
and the Brahmin soothsayers examines
the newborn Bodhisatta.

The Seer Kāladevala
also called Asita
explains that the Bodhisatta
will become Buddha.

The Bodhisatta
meditates during his father's plowing
festival.

The Bodhisatta
uses his arching skills to win his future wife Yasodharā
Rāhulamātā.



The Bodhisatta
sees the 4
signs: An old, sick & dead man and a calm wandering
recluse.

The Bodhisatta
observes his dancing girls & realizes the vanity and depravity
of luxury.

He decides to leave his wife
and newborn son Rāhula
and become a wandering recluse.

He
leaves his palace at night on his horse Kanthaka
followed by his driver Channa.

He crosses the river Anomā,
cuts his topknot, throws it up, where Sakka
catches it.

Gotama
then strives and starves himself for six years without result. The
5 leaves him.

The maiden Sujātā
offers the last milk-rice meal on the morning of his
Enlightenment.

The Buddha
throws the plate into the river Nerañjarā,
where Nāga
Mahākāla
hears it.

Gaining the 6
higher powers he sees the rebirth
of beings and recalls all his prior
lives.

He is indifferent to the temptations of
Māra's
3 daughters: Rāga,
Tanhā and Aratī.

Under the Ajapala-nigrodha banyan tree
Buddha spent a week cross-legged in Jhāna
.

The Mahābrahmā Sahampati
requests the Buddha
to open the doors to Deathlessness...

The Nāga
King Mucalinda
protects the fasting Buddha
in 3rd week after enlightenment.

Descending in Sankassa
after having spoken the Abhidhamma
to the assembled Devās.

The Buddha
explains the true Dhamma
to the many beings for their long-term welfare.

The Buddha
compassionately
attends to the sick and dying to guide them through it.

The Buddha
visits his home and his former wife Yasodharā
in the city of Kapilavatthu.

He meets his father the Sākyan
King Suddhodana.

There he brings his son Rāhula
to the Sangha,
who ordains him. Rāhula
later awakens.

He shows his half brother Nanda
the beauty of the divine nymphs & ordains him as
monk.

The Buddha
dispels the manifold doubts
of many of the elder Brahmin chiefs.

The Buddha
explains Breathing
Meditation Ānāpāna-sati
on the full-moon
of November

He realizes that his long prepared
mission has finally been completed & renounces
life.

He deliberately accepts some
accidentally poisoned food from Cunda
& gets very sick.

Soon after the Lord Buddha
dies and attains Parinibbāna
in the small town of Kusinārā.
See
also:
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/g/gotama.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/b/buddha.htm
http://What-Buddha-Said.net/library/DPPN/b/bodhisatta.htm

BBC Video series on the Life of
Buddha:
The Life of Buddha Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WiswuYO1cE
The
Life of Buddha Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlZmbjqLPCU
The
Life of Buddha Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcD9O_E-xec
The
Life of Buddha Part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xuE53jhlXk
The
Life of Buddha Part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ypFmNfPLng

More on the
Buddha:
Sammá-sambodhi,
SammaSamBuddho!!!,
The_10_Future_Buddhas,
Metteyya,
Next
Buddha, How-2-Meet_Buddha_Metteyya?,
Buddha_Contemplation,
Sumedhas_Similes,
Well_Gone,
Master_Presence,
The_Blessed_One.
The 2 Best Book sources on the life of
the Buddha are:
1: The story of Gotama Buddha. Tr.
by N.A. Jayawickrama, Pali Text Society 1990.
http://www.pariyatti.org/Bookstore/productdetails.cfm?sku=132935
2:
Life of the Buddha according to the Pali Canon. Translated
by: Bhikkhu Nanamoli
http://www.pariyatti.org/Bookstore/productdetails.cfm?PC=555
Thanx for the nice pictures kindly
forwarded by our friend Rohitha Samarakoon.
The Life of the
Buddha!