The 12 great Deeds Questions

[Zippyg1109]

I was watching This Discovering Buddhism series on Youtube And they mentioned the 12 deeds and I cant quite rap my head around it and I had a couple of questions.
1) Did Svetaketu No he was going to become a buddha?
2) Did Shakyamuni buddha remember his past life as Svetaketu?
3) Did all buddhas Pass there crown In tushita before passing to the mothers womb?
4) After Buddha shakyamuni Passed his crown to Maitreya how did maitreya Know when to go down?

Thank you so much And I understand If you cant answer some of my questions. Thank you

[Aemilius]

Hi !
I have never heard of Svetaketu as a past incarnation of Buddha Gautama.
Svetaketu appears in the Upanishads. He is a youth who is also residing in the Tushita heaven, according to the Hindu teaching. There maybe some confusion in the series that You have seen (?)
You can find histories of Buddha Gautama's past lives in the Jatakas or Birth Stories. Yes, he remembered many hundreds and thousands of his past lives. He told some 500 past life stories to his followers, which exist scattered in the Sutras, and also as collected in Birth Stories or Jatakas. According to the Sutras Buddha Shakyamuni remembered his past lives after his enlightenment. Knowledge of past lives is an integral part of enlightenment itself.

[Zippyg1109]

I was looking at this webiste http://www.chinabuddhismencyclopedia.co ... /Svetaketu then I also looked at this website http://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/site ... 9-2001.pdf and the said Bodhisattva mahasattva gave up his crown and went down to his mothers womb so Im really confused and I am trying to figure this out.

[Malcolm]

Hi !
I have never heard of Svetaketu as a past incarnation of Buddha Gautama.

No confusion, Svetaketu was the bodhisattva's name while residing in Tushita heaven.

http://huntington.wmc.ohio-state.edu/pu ... D=30030924

[Aemilius]

Is Svetaketu mentioned in any of the Sutras?
As I remember, in the Lalitavistara sutra chapters, that describe the events before birth as Prince Siddhartha, he is called The Bodhisattva.

[Aemilius]

Har Dayal gives in his Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature following traditional sources for the 12 deeds of Buddha:
Lalita-Vistara, Mahavastu, Buddha-Carita, and Avadana-kalpa-lata. All of these exist as english translations.
There is an older Lalitavistara translation named Voice of Buddha: Beauty of Compassion.
Har dayal uses consistently the name and expression Bodhisattva for the person who incarnates on Earth as prince Siddhartha.
The person and name Svetaketu is found in three Upanishads.