"Drawing on both visual and textual materials, these insightful essays will be a valuable resource for research scholars, but accessible and lively enough to be assigned to students in introductory classes on Buddhism as well. Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers." -- S. Cohen, Choice"This edited volume comprises ten essays by prominent scholars of Buddhism on various aspects of the life story of the Buddha.Drawing on both visual and textual materials, these insightful essays will be a valuable resource for research scholars, but accessible and lively enough to be assigned to students in introductory classes on Buddhism as well." -- Choice"Drawing on a wide variety of textual and visual sources, this collection offers a nuanced account of the Buddha's life, both individually and collectively, in the context of the supporting cast of characters and the broader Buddha lineage." -- Cao Nhut Quang Huynh, Religious Studies Review"In this volume, readers find a magisterial, practical application of narrative research methods using literary and visual materials applied to one of the core constituents of Buddhist literature and practice-the Buddha's biography.

Superbly edited and internally cohesive, this collection of thematic essay or "tellings"-provides a foundation for an analysis of Buddhist narrative and a reflection on the Buddha's biography between its human and miraculous nature, between the microcosm and the macrocosm, and which goes beyond its uniqueness, individuality, and singularity and which points to its interconnectivity, collectivity, and expansiveness." -- Carlos Garcia-Jane, Reading Religion.