The story tells of a young prince who renounced his palace life to seek spiritual liberation. After years of searching, he attained it and taught others the path. Most sources agree that the Buddha’s teachings and the biographical accounts of his journey toward the goal of spiritual awakening were originally recounted orally. The exact dates of the Buddha’s life are still debated, but he is believed to have lived sometime between the sixth and fourth century BCE. His full life story was not written down until the second century CE, but visual narratives of numerous episodes from his life and previous lives have been the main subject of Buddhist art from its very beginning and continue to be represented in various sculptural and painted forms in all Buddhist cultures up to the present.

Tibetan depictions related to the life of the Buddha vary and can be found in murals as well as scroll paintings. Among the earliest such scrolls is this rare painting (FIG. 2) that shows the scenes of the eight great events of the Buddha’s life. The representations of the eight events as a visual convention developed in India during the fifth through the ninth century and became prominent in the medieval art of numerous Buddhist countries, from the Indian kingdoms of Pala and Sena, to Newar city states, to Central Asian empires, to Tibetan and Burmese kingdoms. This scroll shows the scenes of the eight events within architectural structures but does not represent the events as occurring within the structures. It visually refers to commemorative stupa shrines at the sites where the events occurred.

Integral to this visual tradition of representing the eight events was an oral, or literary, tradition recorded in the Praises (stotras) to the Caityas at the Eight Great Places of the Buddha found in Tibetan and Chinese translations from Sanskrit made around the tenth to eleventh century. In addition to praising the monuments associated with the Buddha, these texts promoted the reproduction of the related images. The events depicted and mentioned in the Praises are shown here.

The astrologer Asita was invited to divine the child’s future and revealed that he would become either a great ruler or a spiritual teacher.

The Great Departure relates the future Buddha’s leaving the palace with the help of gods and in the company of his charioteer/ groom, whom he sends back to the palace with his horse, shown here by a riderless horse.

The Buddha-to-be cuts his own hair, exchanges his clothing with a beggar, and begins his ascetic life.

The Teasing of the Buddha-to-be occurred when he sat motionless for a long time, and some shepherd boys took him for an earth spirit (yaksa) statue and tried to put sticks in his ears.

The episode of Sujata’s Gift took place after six years of austerities, when the Buddha-to-be was nearing death from starvation, realized that the severe physical asceticism is not the path, and accepted the gift of food from a girl, Sujata.

During one of the Buddha’s contemplative sessions, when torrential rain was falling, the king of serpents (Muchalinda) opened his multiheaded hood to form a protective canopy above the seated Buddha.

The demon Mara’s army attacks the Buddha with a bow and arrow and his three daughters are in seductive dancing poses

The Buddha is victorious over the demon Mara. Mara is seated in acceptance of his defeat. His three daughters are raising their arms in adoration.