Eight Great Events

Eight Great Events

The Eight Great Events are eight scenes from the life of Buddha Shakyamuni that became a standard part of his iconography in India and Nepal. The eight events are:

  1. The birth of the Buddha
  2. His awakening (enlightenment)
  3. His first sermon
  4. A monkey offers him honey
  5. He tames a wild elephant
  6. Descending from the Heaven of the Thirty-Gods
  7. Defeating heretical sects by miraculous displays
  8. The Buddha’s death (Skt. parinirvana)