Prince Gautama, the last Buddha, is born from Maha Maya's side. The Brahman Sudasa is prepared to catch him with a golden net.

She had a dream in which she saw a white elephant come down from the mountains and walk three times around her, after which it suddenly entered her body through her right side and disappeared inside her. This was the future Buddha.

Inside his mother during those ten months of her pregnancy, he was seated on a golden throne. He remained unsoiled by any impurities and freely devoted himself to meditation.  Meanwhile, his mother felt neither pain nor heaviness, nor did she lose her graceful figure.

Prince Gautama was born without causing any pain.  He leaped from his mother’s side like a roebuck leaping out of its hiding place in the forest.  This great event happened while his mother, walking among shady trees, stretched out her hand to pick a flower. She was on her way to visit her parents in Tevalongka. When he came forth, the faithful Sudasa spread out a golden net so that the baby did not fall on the ground.  The boy could walk at once, however.  He took seven steps, faced the four wind directions, and spoke: “This has been my last birth in any world,” he announced.  “I will not be born again after this life.”

His father Suddhodana called a learned Brahman and asked him to read the stars for the infant. The scholar spoke:  “Sire, your son will be king of kings.  The kings of this world will bow before him, or his image, many centuries from now.  Accept his words and obey his commandments.”

On the same day that the Buddha was born, Yasodhara, his future wife, was also born, as was Ananda, his favorite disciple; Channa, his faithful servant; and his horse Kandhaka.  At the same time the seed of a fig tree germinated and the first shoot grew up.  One day, when it had grown large, the Buddha meditated in its shade and there found bodhi (enlightenment).  He called it the Bodhi tree, and it is still known by that name.

Jan Knappert, a frequent contributor and special adviser to the Culture section of THE WORLD & I since the magazine’s inception, has published more than thirty books.