Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi

1. BIRTH, YOUTH, RENUNCIATION 1

• Previous lives and the Heaven of the Contented
• The bodhisattva enters Mahamaya's womb
• Mahamaya's dream
• Birth
• The great rishi Asita's prophecy
• Death of Mahamaya
• Shuddhodana's protectiveness
• The plowing festival
• Siddhartha displays his prowess
• Siddhartha marries
• The four visions
• Siddhartha frees the slaves and oxen
• The palace women in disarray
• Siddhartha leaves the palace

2. HOMELESSNESS,TEACHERS, ASCETICISM 17

• Mara appears
• The bodhisattva doffs his finery
• The mendicant Gautama in Rajagriha
• King Bimbisara seeks out Gautama
• Gautama studies with Arada and Rudraka
• Gautama practices asceticism

3. ENLIGHTENMENT 29

• Gautama's dream
• Sujata's gift
• The night under the Bodhi Tree
• Buddhahood

4. TURNING THE WHEEL 37

• The Buddha meditates near the Bodhi Tree
• Muchalinda protects the Buddha
• The Buddha takes refuge in the Dharma but decides not to teach
• The god Sahampati
• Trapusha and Bhallika take refuge
• Upaka on the road
• The Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path
• The first five arhats
• The doctrine of nonself
• The conversion of Yasha and his friends
• The Buddha disperses the Sangha
• The pleasure outing
• The three Kashyapas

5. GATHERING THE SANCHA 57

• Mara and his three daughters
• The fire discourse
• The conversion of the Rajagrihan householders
• Bimbisara gives the Venuvana
• Conversion of Shariputra and Maudgalyayana
• Mahakashyapa's illumination
• Return to Kapilavastu
• Shakyan arrogance tamed with wonders
• King Shuddhodana's conversion
• Nanda and Rahula enter homelessness
• The Shakyan princes and Upali the barber

6. ESTABLISHING THE DHARMA 77

• Buddha permits the monks to live in shelters
• Conversion of Anathapindada
• Anathapindada outwits Prince Jeta
• Anathapindada gives the Jetavana
• The Buddha institutes the rainy-season retreat
• The Shakyans and Koliyans dispute
• The Buddha accepts women into the community
• Queen Khema and the phantasmic maiden
• The competition between the orders
• The Buddha teaches his mother
• Attempts to discredit the Buddha
• Father and Mother Nakula
• The great Kaushambi quarrel
• Tuskers serene
• The quarrel healed
• Simile for Bharadvaja
• Rahula instructed
• The famine at Veranja
• Supprabuddha's demise

7. COMPASSION'S RIPENESS 101

• Vishakha becomes Mrigara's mother
• Vishakha gives the Purvarama
• The Buddha appoints Ananda
• Conversion of Angulimala
• The Buddha dismisses and recalls the Sangha
• Sudinna's tryst
• The Buddha proclaims the monastic code
• The Buddha's daily routine
• The Buddha refuses to recite the pratimoksha
• Three robes are enough
• Instruction to Shrona
• Care for the sick

8. DEVADATTA 117

• Ajatashatru elevates Devadatta
• Devadatta asks the Buddha to retire
• The Buddha denounces Devadatta
• Ajatashatru and Devadatta plot
• Devadatta wounds the Buddha
• The Buddha tames Nalagiri
• A schism in the Sangha
• Devadatta's defeat

9. LAST YEARS 131

• King Prasenajit pays a visit
• The future Pataliputra
• The courtesan Amrapali and the godlike Licchavis
• The Buddha is gravely ill
• Death of the great disciples
• The earthquake at the Chapala Shrine
• The Buddha announces his parinirvana
• The meal at Chunda the goldsmith's
• Kusala presents the golden robes
• Conversion of Subhadra Parinirvana

Notes 153