The concept of birth of the Buddha through the Lalitavistara.

The Lalitavistara is a huge sutra, which depicts the life of the Buddha with the divinities, one of the most important sutras of the Mahāyāna sect.

However, the opening of this sutra depicts the life of the Buddha with many similarities with that of the Sarvastivada; This is a Hinayana school.

Bathing Buddha

The Pontifical Bible published by S. Lefmann was the first to offer a translation of this canon in Berlin in 1875. The great Bengali scholar Bajendralal Mitra prepared an English translation of the Bibliotheca Indica collection. Three books have been born. (Calcutta, 1881 to 1886). He also gave an incomplete version. A French translation of Foucaux appeared in Paris in Annals du Musee Guimet, vol. VI, XIX, (Paris, 1887-1892). The Chinese version of this sutra depicts the life of the Buddha in line with the description of the One. Beal's Romantic Legend is a shortened version of the Abhinish-Kramana Sutra, whose Sanskrit version is no longer available, but it was translated into Chinese very early in 587 BC.

However, the Mahayana thought was immediately reflected in the title "Lalitavistara" (narrative of the miraculous miracle of the Buddha) of this sutta. Thus the life of the Buddha on earth is described as the miracle of a supramundane human being.
In the opening chapter, the Buddha appears as the supreme angel, though it is preached in the classical form as in the Pāli canon with the words "So I hear, a Buddha at Sāpāja, in Jiao Hoan's quintessential, Mr. Grace Garden. "

Transfiguration

But at that time, in the Pā ti system, the Buddha was introduced to a similar stereotype beginning with the expression and there were some disciples around, or at least a full mass of '500 billion' Then the official sutra conference begins. In the Lalitavistara, as in the Sutra is a solemn scene, covered by divine aura. He is surrounded by masses of 12,000 monks and over 32,000 Bodhisattvas, all of whom are born of the Bodhisattva system, all born with the fullness of a Bodhisattva, all They have the wisdom of a Bodhisattva, all have miraculous powers ... In meditation at midnight, the Buddha's fervor releases the aura through the heavens and the heavens. The gods. A moment later, the song immediately praised Lord Buddha and immediately after, Isvara (goddess) appeared with the gods before the Buddha, kneeling at the feet of the Buddha and asked him to say the words of the Enlightenment called Laxity to save and happy for the world. The highlight of this sutra is the great praise of the gods and gods of miraculous miracles of the Buddha; The past Buddhas also praised this, Thich Tun agreed with the silence. After this detailed introduction, the sutra begins to describe the Buddha's life, which is the main and penetrating content of this work. This sutra describes his life in line with the content of Part II of the Nidanakath Sutta, of the Birthplace. The highlight of this sutra is the great praise of the gods and gods of miraculous miracles of the Buddha; The past Buddhas also praised this, Thich Tun agreed with the silence. After this detailed introduction, the sutra begins to describe the Buddha's life, which is the main and penetrating content of this work. This sutra describes his life in line with the content of Part II of the Nidanakath Sutta, of the Birthplace. The highlight of this sutra is the great praise of the gods and gods of miraculous miracles of the Buddha; The past Buddhas also praised this, Thich Tun agreed with the silence. After this detailed introduction, the sutra begins to describe the Buddha's life, which is the main and penetrating content of this work. This sutra describes his life in line with the content of Part II of the Nidanakath Sutta, of the Birthplace.

The birth of Buddha

Bodhisattva abiding in the heavenly palace in a magnificent palace. Bodhisattva is offered more than a hundred noble titles, and dozens of celestial beads for Him to live. Under the sound of the heavenly music of eight thousand four thousand drums, he appeared in the world to initiate the prayer of saving sentient beings. After a long period of study among the elite and poor families, the royal family was carefully considered, and finally the Bodhisatta decided to take birth in the family of King Sri Soudhothana, in the fetus queen Maya. . Empress is the qualified mother of a Buddha. Her perfect beauty is described in every detail, virtue and virginity. In addition, in all Indian women, she was the only one chosen for the future Buddha to incarnate, as she had the harmony of elephants. This concept was developed with the blessings of the gods after the Bodhisatta decided to enter the womb in the form of an elephant. The gods prepared not only a heavenly paradise for Maya to live in during her pregnancy, but also to build a jeweled palace inside her belly so that the Bodhisatta could not be stained in the womb. During 10 months of pregnancy. In the electricity, the Bodhisattva sit in a gentle way. But his body emitted splendid glitter, and it was the light that spread miles from his mother's womb. A pain came to Queen Maya and was surrendered as soon as she reached over her head. And whenever she looked to her right, she saw the Bodhisattva in her womb as one who saw her face in the mirror.

The concept of the birth of the Bodhisattva is the same. It is happening with miracles and good omens. In Lhinat, the Bodhisattva is descended in the manner we have known through countless architectural patterns, unlike the ordinary human being that an Exalted Being, a Mahapurusha, The Great Spirit ". The lotus underneath the steps of the newborn prince informs everyone of his majesty by taking seven steps toward the six main directions.

Unfaithfulness

Here the story is interrupted by the conversation between A-nan and the Buddha, including those who do not believe in the miracles of the Bodhisatta's birth (chapter vii, p. 87-9). Faith in the Buddha, taught as an essential part of the creed:
"To all who believe in the Tathagata, the Tathagatas bring good to them. Like friends, they come to the Tathagata to seek shelter. And there are many friends that Tathagatas have done so. And for those friends Tathagata just tell the truth, not false ... To believe, A-nan should try his best, this is what Tathagat commissioned him. "

Why this dialogue appears right here is not accidental, but it is based on the fact that it is related to the story of the Buddha's birth, Pay attention from other schools of Buddhism in transcendence as to the magical nature that is not so long in the future direction of the story. Indeed, there is often a great deal of harmony with the oldest description of the Pā ti, that is, in the Mahavagga of the Vinayapiṭaka, although it is perhaps accidentally noted that the The Lalitaventara is more ancient than the Pali canopy. (In comparison to the Pali tradition of Olden in OC, V, 1882, vol. 2, pp. 117 to 122 and Windisch in Mara and Buddha 's and Buddha' s Birth as well as by Kern in SBE, vol. 21, P. Xi ff.)

Pāli and Sanskrit
when back to an older source

Two texts in the two organs in each case are not interdependent; But they both go back to a more ancient tradition. But even here the Lalitavistara has many things not present in ancient texts. Two particular circumstances are not worth the attention. One episode in these places (chapter 8) is very meticulous when the Bodhisatta was young, he was raised by his stepmother, about the temples and devotional gods, placing him on top How to worship at his feet. Another chapter (chapter 10) recounts the Buddha's first visit to the school.

Buddha went to school

With an entourage of 10,000 boys with good displays, attended by 8000 goddesses, at the same time scattered flowers before him - the adolescent Bodhisattva greeting ceremony was admitted to the school. . The principal does not endure the glory of an angelic being and he falls unconscious to the ground. An angel lifted him up and restored him to the explanation that the Bodhisattvas were the Noble Truths and did not need to study any more, but they went to school only for the sake of worldly progress. Then the Bodhisatta stunned the principal with the question of the 64 letters he would teach him. And he told us all 64 letters, including the Chinese and Huns' characters-even the teacher did not even know the name. Finally, with ten thousand boys, He began the study with letters.

According to E. Kuhn's Gurupuja Kaumudi (p. 116 f.), These two legends of the Buddha's adolescence are probably in line with the Gospels Apocrypha, similar narrative of Jesus' adolescence . Chapters 12 and 13 also contain details not found in the Buddha's biography. (Winternitz, WZKM 1912, p. 237 f.)
The virtue of the Buddha

On the other hand, in the further course of the narrative in the Lalitavistara (chapters 14-26), the deviation is not only a bit of the legend that we know from other sources; The main event in the Buddha's life is the four encounters, through which the Bodhisattva learns of birth, old age, sickness and death; The escape from the palace, the encounter with King Qin-sa-la. The years of study of Gautama and the practice of ascetic in vain; Fight with the king; And the final enlightenment and teaching the teachings to all sentient beings in the world at the request of Brahma.

Elements of the Lalitavistara

Much of this verse is a classic classical chorale that has the same ancient origins as the recitation of the Pā Kinhi Suttanipata as mentioned above. Examples include the birth legend and the story of Asita in chapter VII, the history of King Bimbisara in chapter XVI, the dialogue with the magi In chapter XVIII. They belonged to first century religious poetry after the Buddha. But there are also some scriptures, like the Benares sermon in Chapter XXVI, which is perhaps the oldest in the Buddhist tradition. On the other hand, new content elements are found not only in prose but also in the gatha, in which many poems are composed of highly artistic poetry.

Translated into Chinese and Tibetan

We do not know when the final edition of the Lalitavistara was made. Previously, a false assertion that this work was translated into Chinese at the beginning of the first century TL. Because of the fact that we do not know anything about the Buddha's biography, Phuyau-king, was published around 300 BC, which is cited as the 'second translation of the Mahāyātra Sutra'. It is actually the textual translation we are using (Winternitz, WZKM 1912, p. 241 f.). An accurate Sanskrit translation of the Tibetan language, to the 5th century was born. This edition was edited and translated by Foucaux into French. It is certainly possible that there is a translation other than the one we are known for. The 850-900 paintings are decorated by famous artists at the famous Boro-Budur temple. Java. Because these magnificent suttas present the landscapes of the Buddha-style legend as if the artists were creating with the Lalitavistara in their hands. And Pleyte simply sums up the entire contents of the Lalitavistara as an interpretation of the sculptures.

Contact with Buddhist art

But the artists decorated the Greco-Buddhistic monuments in northern India with scenes of the life of the Buddha who are also familiar with the Buddhist lore described in the Prussian kite. They have created the statues that are certainly not according to the scriptures, but in accordance with the lively word of mouth. However, the harmony between sculpture and Sanskrit texts is not uncommon as a feature that we must assume is the literary tradition at that time influenced by art. Fine arts and literature often have a reciprocal effect.

There is no image in Theravada Buddhism

In the ancient Buddhist art of the Aśoka period, Bharhut's or Bhikkhu's art of relief, Sanchi, etc. did not carve Buddha's image, but only the symbol (meaning wheel of Dharma) For the personality of the religious founder. The image of the Buddha appears only in the art of Gandhara. Could there be no connection with this in the centuries when the Buddha became a bhakti and the worship of the Buddha made up the center of his religion? So there is the current testimony of the era of Gandhara art, from the florist era that declined in the second century BC, also the period of the Mahayana sutras, which refers to the legend of the Buddha. . 

General assessment of the Lalitavistara

Therefore, it can be said that the Lalitavistara contains content depicting the life of the Buddha recorded over several centuries of two phases of buddhist and buddhist Buddhism. A very important source of ancient Buddhism is here, where there is a coincidence with Pāli texts and Sanskrit scriptures such as the Mahāvastu. But from the literary and historical standpoint, the Lalitavistara is one of the most important works in Buddhist literature. Indeed, not only the life of the Buddha is epic, but also the jewel of the only one. It is from the songs and stories maintained in the most ancient detail of the Lalitavistara, not to say that it is from the Lalitavistara, that the great Buddhist poet, Aśvaghosa, The creation of the magnificent epic is Buddha-caritakāvya, Praising the deeds of the Buddha. END=NAM MO AMITABHA BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).VIETNAMESE TRANSLATE ENGLISH BY=THICH GIAC TAM.THE MIND OF ENLIGHTENMENT.VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUN=GOLDEN AMITABHA PURELAND=AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.18/4/2017.