LALITAVISTARA SUTRA (Mahayana Buddhist, 3rd century CE)
The Lalitavistara Sutra is a 27-chapter Sanskrit Mahayana Buddhist text, and a partial "autobiography" of the historical Buddha from the time he came down from the Tushita heaven (where he resided before being reborn on Earth as Prince Siddhartha Gautama) until his first sermon (after his Enlightenment) in the Deer Park near Varanasi, which launched his public mission. It covers his (re)birth and childhood, education, courtship, palace life, departure and search, asceticism, temptation, and attainment. It is portrayed in a series of reliefs at Borobudur.
- The name has been translated "The Play in Full," hinting that the Buddha's last incarnation was a performance given for the benefit of the beings in this world.
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