Lalitavistara
Topic: Buddhism, Jainism and Heterodox Traditions · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Lalitavistara is a Sanskrit Buddhist text about the life of the Buddha. Its title means roughly "the full account of the play", meaning the Buddha's life seen as a graceful divine play. Its story runs from his descent from heaven to be born on earth up to his first sermon. The text shows the Buddha as a wondrous, more-than-human figure. This fits later Mahāyāna ideas rather than early Buddhism, which saw him as a human teacher. Like other hagiographies (praise-filled lives of saints), it tells us more about what followers believed than about exact facts.
Example
Scenes from the Lalitavistara are carved in stone panels at Borobudur in Java, Indonesia, built in c. the 9th century CE. This shows how far Buddhist texts and art travelled across the seas.
Don't confuse with
- Tipitaka: this is the older Pali canon of "three baskets" of teachings and rules. The Lalitavistara is a later Sanskrit life-story of the Buddha.
Related concepts
- Gautama Buddha
- Sakya clan
- Kapilavastu
- Lumbini
- Great Departure
- Bodh Gaya
- Bodhi tree
- Mahabodhi Temple
- Kushinagar
- Mahaparinibbana Sutta