sara, donated land to establish the first permanent res-
idence for monks. When the Buddha passed away and
left the cycle of REBIRTH(SAMSARA), he was given the
funerary rites of a world conqueror, and his relics were
enshrined throughout the Buddhist world. His disci-
ples convened the first Buddhist Council shortly after
his death to compile his teachings, and the Buddhist
tradition began to take shape in the transition from the
founder’s charismatic life to the emerging institutional
history and doctrinal developments. For instance,
AS ́OKA’s cult of relics helped promote the institution-
alization of the Theravada monastic lineage. Doctrinal
interpretations of the bodies of the Buddha that are
specific to the major branches of the tradition also cor-
respond to their respective interpretations of the Bud-
dha’s sacred biography.
The story of the Buddha’s culminating life in
samsara illustrates central beliefs and doctrines of Bud-
dhism, including Gautama’s model for and path to en-
lightenment, his message, and the establishment of
Buddhist institutions. The story also legitimates the
veneration of the Buddha’s relics and the STUPASthat
enshrine them, as well as the veneration of icons and
images that embody his biography. These sacred ob-
jects are closely associated with the Buddha’s biogra-
phy and establish his presence in rituals. They remind
Buddhists of the Buddha’s enlightenment and of his
absence from the cycle of rebirth.
The jatakatradition
Central motifs of the sacred biography, especially the
Buddha’s remembrance of past lives in visions that cul-
minated in his enlightenment, eventually developed
into an elaborate genre of tales called JATAKA, which
are stories of the Buddha’s former lives. In the Pali tra-
dition, jatakaattained semicanonical status in compi-
lations containing up to 550 such stories that recount
the perfection of virtues by the buddha-to-be. These
tales about the Buddha’s past lives as a king, ascetic,
monkey, or elephant do not follow a systematized se-
quence, but they do share a similar narrative structure.
Generally, each story opens with a frame in the narra-
tive present, namely the final life of Gautama Buddha,
and identifies the place and occasion for the story
about a past rebirth about to be recounted. The ac-
count then unfolds events in a former rebirth of the
Buddha and concludes by explaining the outcome ac-
cording to universal laws of Buddhist causality. The
story of the former life becomes the dramatic stage
upon which the consequences of moral action are il-
lustrated. Jatakastories generally conclude by return-
ing to the time of the Buddha’s final life and identify-
ing companions of the Buddha with dramatis personae
in the story just recounted.Perhaps the best-known jatakain the THERAVADA
world is the Vessantara Jataka,in which the buddha-
to-be, in his life as Prince Vessantara (Sanskrit,
VIS ́VANTARA), perfects the virtue of generosity (dana).
Vessantara gives away everything a king or house-
holder might value: his prosperity, power, home, and
even his family, only to have it all restored at the con-
clusion of the tale.Jatakatales figure prominently in a variety of ways
in Buddhist cultures; they appear in temple paintings,
children’s stories, movie billboards and, most recently,
comic books. They offer abundant material for reli-
gious education. Central motifs in the biographies of
the Buddha elucidate moral principles, values, and
ethics, and certain well-known jatakatales serve a di-
dactic purpose in teaching younger generations about
the tradition. Jatakasare salient across Buddhist com-
munities and the themes they recount readily resonate
with other aspects of religious knowledge and practice.
As such, recounting certain jatakastories in public ser-
mons or even representing them in paintings can serve
as commentary on current social and political issues.
Stories about the Buddha’s former lives are also a form
of entertainment. In Burma, for example, these stories
have traditionally been the subject of popular theatri-
cal performances that continue through the night.Cultural contexts of the biographical genre
In visual art, biographical references can be found in
Buddhist architecture, in sculptures and icons of the
Buddha, and in the visual narratives of paintings and
stone carvings. Paintings of jatakastories can be seen
along walkways in monastery grounds and along the
staircases leading to pilgrimage sites. Jatakapaintings
also often decorate the inner spaces of Buddhist tem-
ples. Certain hand gestures (MUDRA) or poses displayed
in BUDDHA IMAGESrefer to particular moments in his
life, such as when he touched the earth as witness to
his meritorious deeds at the time of his enlightenment
or when he reclined at the moment of his departure
from the cycle of rebirth. At BOROBUDURin Java, a
magnificent MAHAYANABuddhist stupa from the sev-
enth to the ninth century C.E., carved stone plates along
the meditation path depict jatakascenes that have been
“read” by scholars in much the same way one would
read a textual narrative. Whatever the initial motiva-
tion for the creation of visual portrayals of events fromBIOGRAPHY