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Universal Worthy Bodhisattva expounds upon the Buddhas’ marks of Greatness and characteristics.
Annotation
The World Honored One has the thirty-two hallmarks of Greatness and eighty subsidiary characteristics. In the Sutra on Upasaka Precepts, the Buddha told Sujata,
Good son, the Bodhisattva always greatly benefits sentient beings during innumerable kalpas, and earnestly and diligently does all good deeds. Therefore, the Tathagata perfects innumerable virtues. The thirty-two marks are the rewarding result of Great Compassion. Although a universal monarch also has these marks, they are not as perfect. It is actions of body, speech, and mind that result in these marks…
The Buddha’s thirty-two marks are:
- Level feet
- Thousand-spoke wheel sign on feet
- Long, slender fingers
- Pliant hands and feet
- Toes and fingers finely webbed
- Full-sized heels
- Arched insteps
- Thighs like a royal stag
- Hands reaching below the knees
- Well-retracted male organ
- Height and stretch of arms equal
- Every hair root dark colored
- Body hair graceful and curly
- Golden-hued body
- A ten foot aura around him
- Soft, smooth skin
- Two soles, two palms, two shoulders, and crown well rounded.
- Below the armpits well filled
- Lion-shaped body
- Body erect and upright
- Full, round shoulders
- Forty teeth
- Teeth white, even and close
- Four canine teeth pure white
- Lion-jawed
- Saliva improving the taste of all food
- Tongue long and broad
- Voice deep and resonant
- Eyes deep blue
- Eyelashes like a royal bull
- A white urna or curl between the eyebrows emitting light.
- A fleshy protuberance on the crown.
That does not imply that the Buddha resembles certain animals, but that, the World Honored looks majestic, magnificent, lordly and supremely adorned.
© 2000 Soo Hoong Liung. All Rights Reserved.
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