The author reveals that the Lalita vistara is one of the central texts of the Mah?y?na tradition, it tells part of the traditional story found in all the early schools of the life of the Buddha, and covers the period from when he is approached in his last life in the Tusita Heaven until the preaching of the first sermon in the Deer Park at Rsipatana near varanasi. The correct interpretation of the title is not known, as it is not explained in the text itself, but it seems to mean An Elaboration (Vistara) of the Play (Lalita) (of the Buddha?s life), either meaning that this is an elaborate telling of the story, a telling in extensio; or an elaboration, or enlargement, of an earlier telling of the story. The emphasis is on how the Bodhisattva attained Buddhahood and then started his teaching career, rather than on what happened after he began teaching. This corresponds to only a section of the story known to the early traditions, and omits his long career through many hundreds of lives as a Bodhisattva, and also his later life and teaching, and indeed his final Emancipation from the sorrowful world of samsara. Candi Borobudur is the largest Buddhist monument in the world, and one of the greatest cultural achievements of mankind, being a veritable library carved in stone illustrating some of the most important stories in the Buddhist tradition, and having no direct parallel found anywhere else. It is situated on the plains of central Java at the heart of presentday Indonesia, and is in the vicinity of the large and volcanoes of Merapi and Merbabu, the former being still active. The book is the product of extensive study of this stupa which illuminates Buddhist philosophy.
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