Siddharta. Le prince qui devint Bouddha

This volume is divided into two parts: the first describes the events that marked the life of the Buddha, portrayed in the masterpieces of ancient Buddhist art, and consists of eight chapters. This is not a randomly chosen number: although the life of the Enlightened One is traditionally divided into "twelve steps" - his life among the Tushita gods, his decision to descend to Earth, his entrance into his mother's womb, his birth, his ability tests, his life in the gynaeceum, the great renunciation, the ascesis, his sitting under the tree of enlightenment, the temptation of Mara, the enlightenment, the revolving of the Wheel of Doctrine and the nirvana - there are eight main precepts that lead to ultimate freedom from pain, represented by the eight spokes of the dharmacakra wheel, symbol of Buddhism. In the second part of the volume we have tried to convey the human side of the Buddha and the echoes of his doctrine through inclusion of recent pictures of the same streets that this tireless pilgrim crossed a long time ago, supported by quotations from canonical texts.