“Friends, look upon the body of the Bodhisattva,
well-adorned with the signs of a hundred merits.
Look to toward the east, the south, the west, the north.
Look above and below, to all sides, to all the ten directions. Listen o friends. When the Bodhisattva is about to descend
from Tushita, he teaches the luminous doors of the Dharma,
which delight the gods. Listen well, friends.
The doors of the Dharma number one hundred and eight.
At the time of the Bodhisattva’s descent,
he explains them to the assembly of gods. The one hundred and eight are as follows....”(1)

The 120 bas-relief panels that line the upper register of the first gallery walls are based on "The Unfolding of the Play" (Lalitavistara), a Mahayana Buddhist text that describes the final birth story of the Bodhisattva’s career, in which he attains enlightenment underneath the great Bodhi Tree. The abbreviated rendition of the Lalitavistara Sutra that appears below is based on an abridged translation by N. J. Krom that originally appeared in two of his published works from the 1920s: “The Life of the Buddha on Barabudur” and “Barabudur: An Archaeological Description.” To fill in narrative gaps -- as well as to clarify certain key points of importance to the study of Borobudur -- the author has modifyed Krom’s approach by incorporating certain elements from the complete English translation of Lalitavistara Sutra (Berkeley: Dharma Publishing: 1983).

Relief 1.

The Bodhisattva in the Tushita Heaven. Prior to his final birth and enlightenment underneath the Bodhi Tree, the Bodhisattva resided in a great palace in the Tushita heaven that was full of the reverberations of eighty-four thousand musical instruments and perfumed by the scent of flower blossoms. After being consecrated, lauded, praised and glorified by a hundred thousand Devas, the voices of a hundred thousand million kotis of apsaras sang out in unison “Now is the time come; let it not pass unused.”

Relief 2. The Bodhisattva announces his approaching human birth. Upon departing the great hall, the Bodhisattva went to the heavenly palace called Dharmoccaya, where the bodhisattvas of the ten winds were engaged in pious meditation. As soon as the apsaras and lesser sons of the Devas had departed, it was announced that in twelve years time the Bodhisattva would descend into a mother’s womb.

Reliefs 3 and 4. The sons of the Devas visit the Holy Land of India. The sons of the Devas descended to the Holy Land of India disguised as brahman priests in order to instruct holy men concerning the manner in which the Bodhisattva--following his impending birth--would acquire the seven jewels of a ruler of the world (chakravartin).

“But, if the Bodhisattva forsakes the life of a householder and wanders the world as a homeless monk, he will become a Buddha--a teacher of Devas and men and a peerless guide who requires aid from no other,” the Deva-sons instructed.

At the same time, other Deva-sons visited the holy Pratyekabuddhas to inform them of the Bodhisattva’s decent from the Tushita heaven. To make way for the future Buddha, the Pratyekabuddhas flew up to the realm of Fire, where they entered Nirvana as if they had been extinguished like meteors. (2)

When the Devas asked the Great Being (Mahapurusha) into what jewel of a family would, in his final birth, the Bodhisattva be born, he replied that in his final existence he must be born into a family with the lineage of the rulers of the world, free from even the slightest of defects and endowed with sixty-four kinds of perfection. The Bodhisattva must also enter the womb of a woman free from all possible faults of the feminine sex and endowed with thirty-two kinds of good qualities. In addition, the Bodhisattva in his last existence must enter the womb of the mother on the fifteenth day of the lunar month when the Moon is full and in conjunction with the constellation Pusya (Cancer).

After the Bodhisattva had finished delineating the sixty-four kinds of perfection of the family into which he would be born, together with the thirty-two good qualities of the mother, the Devas realized that the Bodhisattva would be born into the family of Kapilavastu’s ruler King Suddhodana and his wife Queen Maya in the city of the Sakyas.

Relief 5. The Bodhisattva instructs the Devas in the Dharma. After the Bodhisattva had fixed the family for his final birth, he returned to the great crystal palace of the Devas and seated himself on a lion throne adorned with the stream of his ripened merits.

He thereupon began to expound the teaching called The Breath of Life to the gathering of Tushita deities.

“Friends, look upon the body of the Bodhisattva, well-adorned with the signs of a hundred merits. Look to toward the east, the south, the west, the north. Look above and below, to all sides, to all the ten directions. Listen o friends. When the Bodhisattva is about to descend from Tushita, he teaches the luminous doors of the Dharma, which delight the gods. Listen well, friends. The doors of the Dharma number one hundred and eight. At the time of the Bodhisattva’s descent, he explains them to the assembly of gods. The one hundred and eight are as follows....”

Relief 6. The Bodhisattva gives his tiara to his successor Maitreya. The Deva-sons all wept at the thought that their heavenly abode would be unable to shine in the Bodhisattva’s absence. To quell their tears, the Bodhisattva said: “Behold here the Bodhisattva Maitreya; he shall instruct you in the Dharma.” Removing the tiara from his own head, he placed it upon Maitreya’s brow and said, “After me, o noble Maitreya, shall thou attain the most high and perfect Wisdom.”

Relief 7. The Bodhisattva consults with the Devas concerning which form he shall assume. After the Bodhisattva had installed Maitreya in the Tushita palace, he asked the Devas which form he should assume for his descent into a mother’s womb.

“So it is given in the books of the brahmans,” replied the Deva-son Ugrateja, “the Bodhisattva must take the form of a mighty and splendid elephant with six tusks, as if he were enclosed in a golden net, brightly shining, and with a head colored red and most beautiful.”

Reliefs 8 and 9. Queen Maya’s conversation with the king and the visit of the Deva-daughters. Down on the Earth in the kingdom of Kapilavastu, the queen presented herself to her husband King Suddhodana and ask for his permission to perform a vow of self-denial and virtue (i.e., to abstain from having intimate relations with the king), to which the king agreed. Full of curiosity, the Deva-daughters of the Heaven of Desire descend to Earth to visit the most magnificent city of Kapila, which is adorned by a hundred thousand gardens, so that they might gaze upon the woman who had been chosen to give birth to the Bodhisattva.

Relief 10. The Devas decide to accompany the Bodhisattva during his descent.

“It would not be becoming of us, o worthy ones, and would be a token of ingratitude should we allow the Bodhisattva to depart along and unattended,” proclaimed the king of the Devas to the heavenly host. “Who among us is able to faithfully and continually attend the Bodhisattva?”

Upon hearing these words, the eighty four-thousand Devas of the Four Great Kings as well as hundreds and thousands of Devas from the East, South West and North gathered together.

“Hearken o rulers of the immortals to these words and consider this irrevocable decision,” spoke the highest of the Deva-sons to the heavenly host. “Forsaking riches, love and pleasure and the great happiness of meditation, we shall bind ourselves faithfully to this pure being.”

Relief 11. The Bodhisattvas of the Ten Winds render homage to the future Buddha. When the time of the Bodhisattva’s descent had arrived, many hundred thousand bodhisattvas from the East, as well as many hundred thousand bodhisattvas from the countries of the ten winds, all bound to only one more birth, gathered to render homage to the future Buddha.

Reliefs 12 and 13. The Descent of the Bodhisattva and the conception. After the Bodhisattva had placed himself on the lion-throne that originates from all his merits, he departed the Tushita heaven surrounded by a hundred thousand million kotis of bodhisattvas, Devas, nagas and yaksas.

When the winter was over in the month of Vaichakha (mid-April to mid-May), the Bodhisattva descended from the beautiful Tushita abode and entered the womb of his mother in the shape of a white elephant with six tusks, complete with all limbs and faultless in every organ. As she lay gently sleeping on her couch, the queen had the following dream: “Like unto snow and silver, with six tusks, beautiful legs, a fine trunk and a read head, a magnificent elephant has entered my womb, graceful of motion and with limbs strong as diamonds.”

That very same evening, a great lotus sprang from out of deep waters, split open the Earth, and ascended to the heaven of Brahma, the Lord of Creation. Every germ of the three-thousand great thousands of worlds--all their power and their essence--was contained in that lotus as if it were a drop of honey. Brahma gathered up its essence and power and placed it in a bowl of lapis-lazuli and offered it to the Bodhisattva, who drank it out of deference to the great Deva.

Panel 13: Queen Maya's Dream

Relief 14. The Devas pay homage to the Bodhisattva’s earthly abode. After he had entered his mother’s womb, a jeweled pavilion (Ratnavyuha) sprang up to house the Bodhisattva, who in his final existence does not have the nature of the fleshly substance of a fetus. Within the pavilion he was seated with crossed legs, complete with all his limbs and with all the requisite tokens.

Accompanied by a divine host and in possession of the drop of essence, Brahma approached the Bodhisattva’s jeweled palace to behold him, to adore him and serve him, and to hear the Dharma.

"The Bodhisattva’s jeweled sanctum is as indestructible as a diamond, yet as soft to the touch as a garment. Within is displayed everything to be found in the realm of desire." (2)

Relief 15. Queen Maya retires to the Asoka Wood. Queen Maya rose up from her splendid couch, cheerful in mind and body, and filled with joy, vitality and contentment. Surrounded by a company of women, she descended from the top of the palace and left for the Asoka Wood.

(1) Buddha. The Lalitavistara. Berkeley: Dharma Publishing (1983):55 [vol. I}.
(2) Ibid. p. 106.

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