“Wherefore, o rishi, do you weep, shed tears, and heave deep sighs? inquired the king. “Does any danger threaten the Prince?”

“No danger threatens him, my lord,” replied the sage. “I weep because I am full of years and worn with age. The Prince will without doubt attain the highest and most perfect Wisdom and turn the wheel of the matchless Dharma. But as I shall not live long enough to see this come to pass. So it is for this reason that I weep.”

Return to: Lalitavistara Reliefs - First Gallery, Southeast walls Panels 16- 30

Relief 31. The visit of the holy man Asita. At that time there lived on the slopes of the Himalayas a great sage named Asita. Perceiving from afar the many miraculous and supernatural apparitions that had preceded the Bodhisattva’s birth, the sage transformed himself into a swan and flew to Kapilavastu. After paying his respects to the king, Asita asked to inspect the prince’s body. Upon noting that the Bodhisattva bore the thirty-two signs of the Great Being, Asita wept and heaved a deep sigh. (3)

“Wherefore, o rishi, do you weep, shed tears, and heave deep sighs? inquired the king. “Does any danger threaten the Prince?”

“No danger threatens him, my lord,” replied Asita. “I weep because I am full of years and worn with age. The Prince will without doubt attain the highest and most perfect Wisdom and turn the wheel of the matchless Dharma. But as I shall not live long enough to see this come to pass. So it is for this reason that I weep.”

Reliefs 32 through 35. The Devas render homage to the Bodhisattva. When the king took the Bodhisattva to visit the temple, the statues of the Devas came to life as soon as the boy placed the sole of his right foot upon the temple floor, after which the Devas threw themselves at his feet in adoration.

Relief 36. The offering of mundane jewels and their inexplicable loss of brilliance. the king commands five hundred ornaments to be made to adorn the body of the Bodhisattva. But as soon as they are placed on the young boy’s body, their brilliance is immediately dimmed.

“The radiance of the Sun, Moon and stars grows dim in the effulgence of his splendor,” a goddess told the king. “What need does he have of worthless adornments made by the hands of others?”

Reliefs 37 and 38. The Bodhisattva’s first day at school. On the first day that the Bodhisattva attended school, the schoolmaster he fell forward and buried his face in the ground because he was so overwhelmed by the Great Being’s shining radiance. After picking up a writing tablet, the Bodhisattva asked the schoolmaster the following question.

“Well, schoolmaster, which of the 64 writing scripts will you teach me today?” said the Bodhisattva.

The prince then recited the names of the 64 scripts, many of which the schoolmaster himself did not know.

“How could I instruct one who has attained an unsurpassed knowledge of scripts, who through his power shall instruct even the wise?” exclaimed the schoolmaster.

As the school children began to sound the first syllable of the alphabet “ah,” through the Bodhisattva’s blessing the sound was transformed into a phrase that expounded one of the teachings of the Dharma. Then as the children sounded each of the alphabet’s other eleven vowels and the thirty-three consonants, each of the sounds was transformed into another Dharma phrase. By the time that the children produced the forty-sixth and final syllable, the entire Dharma of the future Buddha had been expounded.

Reliefs 39 and 40. The Bodhisattva journeys to a village where he meditates underneath a jambu-tree.

Relief 41. The Sakya clan requests that the Bodhisattva marry. When members of the Sakya clan observe the young prince meditating underneath a jambu tree, they hasten to remind the king of the prophecy.

"The prince will either become a ruler of the world or an Enlightened One--a Buddha," they said to the king. "As the former is more desirable in our eyes, it would be well to bind the young man to this world through marriage."

Dismayed at the thought that his son might forsake the kingdom to pursue the life of a spiritual wanderer, the king summons the Bodhisattva before him.

"Who is the maiden that finds most favor in your eyes?" asked the king.

"In seven days, father, you shall know my answer," replied the Bodhisattva.

Relief 42. The Bodhisattva offers his ring to Princess Gopa. All the young and eligible maidens in the kingdom gather in the assembly hall to meet the Bodhisattva. As each girl is formally presented, the Bodhisattva gives her a magnificent ornament. But unable to endure his magnificent radiance, each girl hastens to depart as soon as she receives her gift.

The last woman to greet Prince Siddhartha is Princess Gopa, who comes up to the Bodhisattva and gazes into his eyes without drawing away or closing her eyes. By that time, however, the Bodhisattva had already given away all the magnificent ornaments.

"Prince, what have I done to make you despise me so?" said Gopa with a merry look.

”I despise you not, but you did come last of all,“ answered the Bodhisattva.

He then took from his finger a ring of great value and gave it to her, indicating to the king that here was the maiden who had found most favor in his eyes.

Panel 42: The Bodhisattva offers his ring to Princess Gopa.

Relief 43. The Bodhisattva agrees to demonstrate his proficiency in learning and sports. Gopa's father declares that he will only give his daughter’s hand in marriage to one who is skilled in both learning and athletics. The Bodhisattva proclaims himself ready to demonstrate his proficiency.

Reliefs 44 and 45. Devadatta kills the elephant and the Bodhisattva hurls the elephant’s body away. Filled with jealousy and proud of his Sakya strength, the Bodhisattva’s cousin Prince Devadatta kills an elephant with a single blow of his hand. When the Bodhisattva encounters the elephant’s carcass at the gateway to the city, he grabbed it by the tail and hurled it outside the gates so that its rotting body would not fill the whole city with stench.

FOOTNOTES

(3) The 32 signs of a Mahapurusa: A protuberance on the top of the skull; his hair curls to the right, is curly and blue-black, brilliant like a peacock’s neck; broad and smooth forehead; a tuft of hair in between his eyebrows as bright as snow or silver; eyelashes like a heifer; deep black eyes; forty uniform teeth, closely set and perfectly white; a voice like Brahma’s; (an excellent sense of taste; long and slender tongue; the jaw of a lion; the seven principle parts of the body are soft; broad chest and shoulders; fine, golden skin; an upper body like a lion’s; a figure like the trunk of a tree; his hairs grow one by one and curl to the right at the tip; his private parts are hidden in a sheath; well developed thighs; the legs of the king of gazelles; long fingers, broad soles of the feet that are adorned with two wheels, beautiful, luminous, brilliant and while, each with a thousand spokes; a long stride; hands and feet are soft and delicate; toes and fingers are joined by a membrane up to the first joint; and the feet are even and well placed.

copyright 2002 borobudur.tv. All Rights Reserved.