The Legend of Buddha

Last updated

The Legend of Buddha
The Legend of Buddha.jpg
DVD cover
Directed byShamboo Falke
Written by Sujatha
Produced byDr. Chandrasekaran V.
Starring Bridgit Mendler
CinematographyAnanthan A.
Edited by V. T. Vijayan
Music by Bharadwaj
Production
company
Distributed byKingdom Animasia Inc.
Release date
  • 22 October 2004 (2004-10-22)
Running time
90 minutes [2]
CountryIndia
LanguageEnglish

The Legend of Buddha is a 2004 Indian English-language animated film directed by Shamboo Falke. [3] The film tells the story of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, who leaves his kingdom to become the spiritual leader, Buddha. [4] The film was submitted for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 77th Academy Awards but was not nominated. [5] [6]

Contents

Plot

Mahamaya has a dream where a white elephant visits her and she miraculously becomes pregnant. An astrologer tells Suddhodana and Mahamaya that they will have a son. Mahamaya gives birth to the baby boy in the garden under a tree. The astrologer says the boy will be a different leader who will save mankind. Suddhodana says he would rather the child rule the kingdom and promises to provide him a life of luxury. The boy is named Siddhartha.

Asita bursts into tears upon seeing baby Siddhartha, saying he will save humankind. He also predicts that Mahamaya will die soon. Mahamaya dies in her sleep, and Siddhartha grows up having a sheltered life of a prince. Suddhodana sends Siddhartha to Vishwamitra to prepare him for eventually becoming king. When Vishwamitra begins teaching Siddhartha, he is surprised that he already knows how to recite scriptures and is skilled in counting and arithmetic, as well. He bows down to Siddhartha in reverence.

Once, Siddhartha's friend shoots his arrow at a swan, and Siddhartha says they must nurse it back to health and let it back into the sky. Asita says the bird belongs to Siddhartha because he had mercy and protected it. On a stroll around the countryside with his father, Siddhartha is initially mesmerized by the beauty of nature. Then, he also sees pain in nature, such as several animals being preyed upon by others, and hunters killing animals. He becomes sad at this sight of power and exploitation.

As Siddhartha grows up, he continues to think about the suffering. Suddhodana does not understand why Siddhartha is not happy even though he has all the luxuries of a prince. Suddhodana arranges a festival to find Siddhartha a suitable woman. Siddhartha chooses Yashodhara, the daughter of King Suprabuddha. Siddhartha wins the warrior competition, proving himself worthy of Yashodhara's hand in marriage. They get married in an extravagant ceremony. Suddhodana tells Yashodhara that no mention of death, pain, or sickness should be made to Siddhartha to keep him happy. At night, Siddhartha has strange dreams about a larger purpose. In the morning, Siddhartha asks his maid what lies beyond the palace gates. He resolves to journey into the city to experience the world beyond his palace for the first time. Suddhodana orders that Siddhartha only see good in his visit so weak populations like the blind and elderly are ordered locked in their homes for the day. Siddhartha is flattered to see so many happy people under his rule until he sees an old man and someone explains to him that everyone becomes old and dies eventually. He becomes disturbed upon learning this reality of life.

Siddhartha realizes that happiness and comfort are temporary. That night, Suddhodana has a dream about Siddhartha's future role. Siddhartha asks Suddhodana to stop sheltering him and the next day goes back into the city disguised as a common man. He witnesses a sick man die and is shocked to learn that everyone experiences illness and eventually dies. He sees funerals and realizes that life is only temporary. During the visit, a servant tells Siddhartha that he's had a baby boy. Siddhartha tells the servant to name the boy Rahula, which stands for snake or a rope that ties him back. Siddhartha decides to give up his comforts in his life for the happiness of mankind. He quietly leaves the palace on Kanthaka in the middle of the night. At the gate, he is stopped by Mara, who tries to tempt him, but Siddhartha is no longer bound by desire. Halfway through his journey, Siddhartha leaves Kanthaka behind in his goal to renounce everything. Siddhartha meets some ascetics, who follow him as he meditates under a tree. He meditates until he reaches the brink of death.

A woman named Sujata offers Buddha some milk upon seeing him emaciated. He realizes that he needs to maintain a healthy mind and that he needs to find The Middle Path, a balance between asceticism and indulgence. The ascetics who had followed him leave him, upset that he gave up his renunciation. Mara appears again to try and prevent Siddhartha from spreading his knowledge to mankind, but he fails. Siddhartha reveals the Eightfold Path as the way to Nirvana. The ascetics come back and ask to be his disciples. Now known as Buddha, he travels across the country to spread his knowledge about enlightenment. He stops a king's sacrifice of 100 lambs, teaching him to protect all life. He advises the king to ban all slaughter in his kingdom. Buddha meets a human flesh-eating monster, but teaches him that harming others does not bring peace of mind.

Buddha visits the palace and realizes that the bonds tying him too Yashodhara and Rahula are too strong. He shares his knowledge with Suddhodana, Yashodhara, and Rahula. He tells Yashodhara he must return to seek truth. He preached about compassion and good deeds, founding the Buddhist religion.

Voice cast

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Buddha</span> Founder of Buddhism

Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia, during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic. After leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation, he attained nirvana at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The Buddha then wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order. Buddhist tradition holds he died in Kushinagar and reached parinirvana.

<i>Siddhartha</i> (novel) 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse

Siddhartha: An Indian novel is a 1922 novel by Hermann Hesse that deals with the spiritual journey of self-discovery of a man named Siddhartha during the time of the Gautama Buddha. The book, Hesse's ninth novel, was written in German, in a simple, lyrical style. It was published in the United States in 1951 by New Directions Publishing and became influential during the 1960s. Hesse dedicated the first part of it to the French writer Romain Rolland and the second part to Wilhelm Gundert, his cousin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Four sights</span> Event in the life of the Buddha

The four sights are four events described in the legendary account of Gautama Buddha's life which led to his realization of the impermanence and the ultimate dissatisfaction of conditioned existence. According to this legend, before these encounters Gautama Siddhartha had been confined to his palace by his father, who feared that he would become an ascetic if he came into contact with sufferings of life according to a prediction. However, his first venture out of the palace affected him deeply and made him realize the sufferings of all, and compelled him to begin his spiritual journey as a wandering ascetic, which eventually led to his enlightenment. The spiritual feeling of urgency experienced by Siddhārtha Gautama is referred to as saṃvega.

Rahul (Pāli) or Rāhula was the only son of Siddhārtha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, and his wife, princess Yaśodharā. He is mentioned in numerous Buddhist texts, from the early period onward. Accounts about Rāhula indicate a mutual impact between Prince Siddhārtha's life and the lives of his family members. According to the Pāli tradition, Rāhula was born on the day of Prince Siddhārtha's renunciation, and was therefore named Rāhula, meaning a fetter on the path to enlightenment. According to the Mūlasarvāstivāda tradition, and numerous other later sources, however, Rāhula was only conceived on the day of Prince Siddhartha's renunciation, and was born six years later, when Prince Siddhārtha became enlightened as the Buddha. This long gestation period was explained by bad karma from previous lives of both Yaśodharā and of Rāhula himself, although more naturalistic reasons are also given. As a result of the late birth, Yaśodharā needed to prove that Rāhula was really Prince Siddhārtha's son, which she eventually did successfully by an act of truth. Historian H.W. Schumann has argued that Prince Siddhārtha conceived Rāhula and waited for his birth, to be able to leave the palace with the king and queen's permission, but Orientalist Noël Péri considered it more likely that Rāhula was born after Prince Siddhārtha left his palace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Śuddhodana</span> Father of Siddhartha Gautama

Śuddhodana, meaning "he who grows pure rice," was the father of Siddhartha Gautama, better known as the Buddha. He was a leader of the Shakya, who lived in an oligarchic republic, with their capital at Kapilavastu.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maya (mother of the Buddha)</span> Queen of Shakya and mother of the Buddha

Maya, also known as Mahāmāyā and Māyādevī, was the queen of Shakya and the birth mother of Gautama Buddha, the sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. She was the wife of Śuddhodana, the king of the Shakya kingdom. She died days after giving birth and the Buddha was raised by her sister, Mahāpajāpatī Gotamī, who became the first Buddhist nun ordained by the Buddha.

<i>Buddha</i> (manga) Manga by Osamu Tezuka

Buddha is a manga drawn by Osamu Tezuka and is Tezuka's unique interpretation of the life of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. The critically acclaimed series is often referred to as a visually explicit yet humorous and thought-provoking portrayal of the Buddha's life; the series itself has become a staple text in Buddhist temples for young adults and teens to learn about the Buddha's life. The series began in September 1972 and ended in December 1983, as one of Tezuka's last epic manga works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yaśodharā</span> Wife of Prince Siddhartha (Gautama Buddha)

Yaśodharā or Yashodhara (Pali: Yasodharā, Sanskrit: यशोधरा, romanized: Yaśodharā, originally known as Bhaddakaccānā or Bhadrakātyāyani was the wife of Prince Siddhartha, the mother of Rāhula, and the sister of Mahaprajapati Gautami. She later became a Bhikkhunī and is considered an arahatā.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Channa (Buddhist)</span> Servant and charioteer of Prince Siddhartha

Channa, also written as Chhanna, was a royal servant and head charioteer of Prince Siddhartha, who was to become the Buddha. Channa later became a disciple of the Buddha (bhikkhu) and achieved arahantship, as is described in the 78th verse of the Dhammapada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaundinya</span> Indian monk, disciple of Lord Buddha

Kaundinya, also known as Ājñātakauṇḍinya, Pali: Añña Koṇḍañña), was one of the first five Buddhist monks (Pancavaggiya), disciple of Gautama Buddha and the first to attain the fruit of Arahant. He lived during the 5th century BCE in what are now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, India. According to traditional accounts, at the time of Gautama Buddha's birth, he predicted his future destination as an enlightened teacher. Kaundinya Gotra is Hindu Gotra or clan name, named after the rishi Kaundinya.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kanthaka</span> Horse used by Gautama Buddha prior to his renunciation

According to Buddhist legend, Kanthaka was an eighteen cubit long, favourite white horse and royal servant of Prince Siddhartha, who later became Gautama Buddha. Siddhartha used Kanthaka in all major events described in Buddhist texts prior to his renunciation of the world. Following the departure of Siddhartha, Kanthaka died of a broken heart.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assaji</span> Arahant of Gautama Buddha

Assaji was one of the first five arahants of Gautama Buddha. He is known for his conversion of Sariputta and Mahamoggallana, the Buddha's two chief male disciples, counterparts to the nuns Khema and Uppalavanna, the chief female disciples. He lived in what is now Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in northern India, during the 6th century BCE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sundari Nanda</span>

Princess Sundarī Nandā of Shakya, also known simply as Sundarī, was the daughter of King Suddhodana and Queen Mahapajapati Gotami. She was the half-sister of Siddhartha Gautama, who later became a Buddha. She became a nun after the enlightenment of her half-brother and became an arhat. She was the foremost among bhikkhunis in the practice of jhana. She lived during the 6th century BCE in what is now Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in India.

The Buddha was born into a noble family in Lumbini in 563 BCE as per historical events and 624 BCE according to Buddhist tradition. He was called Siddhartha Gautama in his childhood. His father was king Śuddhodana, leader of the Shakya clan in what was the growing state of Kosala, and his mother was queen Maya. According to Buddhist legends, the baby exhibited the marks of a great man. A prophecy indicated that, if the child stayed at home, he was destined to become a world ruler. If the child left home, however, he would become a universal spiritual leader. To make sure the boy would be a great king and world ruler, his father isolated him in his palace and he was raised by his mother's younger sister, Mahapajapati Gotami, after his mother died just seven days after childbirth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asita</span> Ascetic who predicted that prince Siddhartha (later Buddha) would become a great religious leader

Asita or Kaladevala or Kanhasiri was a hermit ascetic depicted in Buddhist sources as having lived in ancient India. He was a teacher and advisor of Suddhodana, a sage and seer, the father of the Buddha, and is best known for having predicted that prince Siddhartha of Kapilavastu would either become a great chakravartin or become a supreme religious leader; Siddhartha was later known as Gautama Buddha.

Buddha — Rajaon Ka Raja is an Indian drama series which aired on Zee TV and DD National, produced by Bhupendra Kumar Modi, under the banner Spice Global. The programme stars Kabir Bedi in a cameo role as Asita Muni, the sage who announces the coming of Gautama Buddha. The story of the serial is based on the life of Gautama Buddha that shows how a prince, Siddhartha, became a Buddha. The role of Mayadevi – scheduled to be played by Sameksha Singh – was replaced with Deepika Upadhyay. Himanshu Soni played the lead role of Buddha, while Kajal Jain played Siddhartha Gautama's wife Yaśodharā. Earlier, Ashutosh Gowariker wanted to collaborate with Shekhar Kapur for a television series on Buddha.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivory carved tusk depicting Buddha life stories</span> Ivory carved Buddha statue in India

Carved elephant tusk depicting Buddha life stories is an intricately carved complete single tusk now exhibited at the Decorative Arts gallery, National Museum, New Delhi, India. This tusk was donated to the Museum. This tusk, which is nearly five foot long, illustrates forty three events in the life of the Buddha and is thought to have been made by early 20th century craftsmen from the Delhi region.

<i>Sri Siddhartha Gautama</i> (film) 2013 Sri Lankan film

Sri Siddhartha Gautama is a 2013 Sinhalese epic biographical film based on the life of the Buddha. Directed by Saman Weeraman Written by, Dr Edwin Ariyadasa, Saman Weersman, Navin Gunarathne and George Paldona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Renunciation</span> Event in the life of Gautama Buddha

The Great Renunciation or Great Departure is the traditional term for the departure of Gautama Buddha from his palace at Kapilavastu to live a life as an ascetic. It is called the Great Renunciation because it is regarded as a great sacrifice. Most accounts of this event can be found in post-canonical Buddhist texts from several Buddhist traditions, which are the most complete. These are, however, of a more mythological nature than the early texts. They exist in Pāli, Sanskrit and Chinese language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Life of Buddha in art</span>

Narrative images of episodes from the life of Gautama Buddha in art have been intermittently an important part of Buddhist art, often grouped into cycles, sometimes rather large ones. However, at many times and places, images of the Buddha in art have been very largely single devotional images without narrative content from his life on Earth.

References

  1. "Pentamedia Graphics' animation film to compete at Oscar 2005". Indian Television Dot Com. 18 November 2004. Archived from the original on 19 March 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2020.
  2. "The Legend of Buddha (review)". The Hindu . 22 October 2004. Archived from the original on 15 December 2004. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  3. "Movie: "The Legend of Buddha"". Buddhist Channel. 30 May 2011. Archived from the original on 14 October 2011. Retrieved 4 June 2011.
  4. Lenburg, Jeff (2009). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons (3rd ed.). New York: Checkmark Books. p. 195. ISBN   978-0-8160-6600-1.
  5. "Chords and Notes: THE LEGEND OF BUDDHA". The Hindu. 13 January 2007. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  6. "The Buddha goes to the Oscars". The Hindu. 4 December 2004. Archived from the original on 4 January 2022. Retrieved 4 January 2022.