DONALD LOPEZ: So, this shows four moments in the life of the Buddha chronologically being read from right to left.

NARRATOR: In the first medallion, we meet the Buddha who has decided to leave the castle where he’d been kept for the first twenty-nine years of his life.

DONALD LOPEZ: His father decided that he would try to distract him by having the women of the inner chamber, sometimes translated as “harem,” entertain him. They were singers and dancers. As the prince sat there passively the women became more and more tired, and until they finally just fell asleep on the floor.

NARRATOR: The second scene is known as The Great Departure.

DONALD LOPEZ: He’s leaving his wife and his newborn son to go out in search of enlightenment. From many perspectives we would see this as a very sad moment, the abandonment of wife and child. But in Buddhist history this is a fabulous moment and is celebrated in literature and in sculpture and painting.

NARRATOR: In the third medallion we see the Buddha in search of a tree.

DONALD LOPEZ: He sits down under that tree and says, “I’m going to achieve enlightenment tonight or die trying.” He begins to meditate, and he’s attacked by a god called Mara, the Buddhist god of desire and death. He brings his army of demons, to attack the Buddha—one of the most famous scenes in Buddhist art. They eventually give up finally deciding this person cannot be defeated. And the Buddha achieves enlightenment that night.

NARRATOR: The final medallion concludes this narrative of the Buddha’s life.

DONALD LOPEZ: What’s being shown here is later teaching [of] the Buddha, in which the audience seems to be primarily gods. Again, showing that the Buddha is superior to the gods. He’s a human, he’s a man. He’s not a god. And yet because he’s found the path to enlightenment, and is teaching it to others, he is necessary to the gods’ own salvation.