Manuscript cabinet with scenes from the last ten previous lives of the Buddha and of Phra Malai in Indra's heaven

The Buddha lived hundreds of previous lives during which he perfected himself and accumulated merit in order to attain Enlightenment and become a buddha. The stories of these previous lives are recorded in Buddhist literature and represented in art. The last ten of the stories were particularly popular in Thailand. On the front of this cabinet all ten are shown, though in an extremely abbreviated manner. The narratives were so familiar that a small slice of one episode could stand for an entire story. On the sides of the cabinet we see the heaven of Indra, king of the gods. The holy monk Phra Malai has traveled there to pay homage to the stupa containing a famous hair relic. Centuries ago, when the prince who would become the Buddha abandoned his princely life, he cut off his hair as a symbol of renunciation. The gods retrieved the hair and built this stupa to enshrine it. While Phra Malai is there, many heavenly deities, including, most importantly, Maitreya, the buddha of the future, also come to worship the hair-relic stupa. They can be seen hovering around the stupa and exchanging pious wisdom with Phra Malai.