Download Life of the Buddha - College of the Holy Cross

The life of the buddha
The Buddha’s life provides a model for Buddhists
all over the world of how to walk the Buddhist path.
The eight great events in buddha’s life
Emperor Asoka had eight stupas built as reminders of the
most important actions of the Buddha. This stupa is at
Vaishali in India, where the story of the monkey’s gift of
honey is said to have happened.
QUEEN MAYA’S DREAM
Siddhartha Gautama’s mother dreamed about a white
elephant
Birth of the Buddha
He was born out of his mother’s side as she gripped a tree
branch overhead
taming mara’s armies
to claim a witness to his ability to defend himself against mara’s assault,
siddhartha touches the earth. this is one way to identify buddha in art--he is
touching the earth.
The Four encounters: Poverty, Disease,
old age & death
Buddha’s enlightenment
The tree the Buddha sat under when he “woke up”--it is
called the bodhi tree in Bodh Gaya, India
The first turning of the wheel of the
dharma at sarnath, India
Descent from tusita heaven
Taming the wild elephant,
nalagiri
a monkey’s gift of honey
Sanchi, India
miracle at sravasti
Note the flames
coming out of
Buddha’s shoulders
and water shooting
out of his feet. Indra
and Brahma are
protecting him by
holding a parasol
over his head.
Parinirvana: Buddha’s death