Maha Buddhavamsa - Explanations of the thirty-two major marks

Maha Buddhavamsa
The Great Chronicle of The Buddhas
by Tipitakadhara Mingun Sayadaw

Edited and Translated by
U Ko Lay and U Tin Lwin

Explanations of the thirty-two major marks

1. The mark of the level soles of the feet which, when put on the ground, touch it fully and squarely.

      When other persons set foot on the ground, the tip of the foot or the heel or the outer part of the sole touches the ground first, but the middle portion of the sole does not. So also when the foot is lifted from the ground, the tip or the heel or the outer part of the sole comes up first.
      But when a superb man like the Bodhisatta puts down his foot on the ground, the entire sole touches it evenly the way the sole of a soft golden shoe does when placed on the ground. In the same manner, when his foot is raised, the different parts of the foot come up simultaneously.
      In case the noble Bodhisatta wants to set his foot on the uneven ground, with holes, trenches, deep crevices, ditches, pits, banks and the like, all the concave parts of the earth rise at that very moment like an inflated leather bag and the ground become even, like the face of a drum.
      If he lifted his feet with intent to put it down at a distance, even the royal Mount Meru appeared underneath the sole of his feet in a moment.

2. The mark of the figures in the one hundred and eight circles on the sole of each foot together with the wheel having a thousand spokes, the rim, the hub and all other characteristics.

      The figures in the one hundred and eight circles are: (1) a large spear, (2) a house of splendour, srivatsa, (3) a buttercup flower, (4) three horizontal lines on throat, (5) a head-ornament, (6) a laid out meal, (7) a royal couch, (8) a hook, (9) a palace, (10) an arched gateway, (11) a white umbrella, (12) a double-edged sword, (13) a round fan of toddy palm-leaf, (14) a fan of a peacock's tail, (15) a head-band like forehead, (16) a ruby stone, (17) a lustrous eating bowl, (18) a festoon of sumana flowers, (19-23) the five kinds of lotus, namely, blue, red, white, paduma and pundarika, (24) a jar full of mustard seeds, etc., (25) a bowl similarly full, (26) an ocean, (27) a cakkavala mountain, (28) the Himalayas, (29) Mount Meru, (30-31) the disc of the sun and the disc of the moon;
      (32) the planets, (33-36) the four island-continents with two thousand minor surrounding islands, (37) a Universal Monarch with flowers and seven treasures, (38) a white conch with a clockwise spiral shell, (39) a couple of golden carps, (40) a missile weapon;
      (41-47) seven great rivers. (48-54) seven surrounding mountain ranges, (55-61) seven rivers (between the seven mountain ranges), (62) a garuda king, (63) a crocodile, (64) a banner, (65) a streamer, (66) a golden palanquin, (67) a yak-tail fly-flap, (68) Kelasa the silver mountain, (69) a lion king, (70) a tiger king, (71) a Valahaka horse king, (72) an Uposatha elephant king or a Chaddanta elephant king, (73) Basuki the Niga king, (74) a golden hamsa king, (75) a bull king, (76) Eravana the elephant king, (77) a golden sea-monster, (78) a golden boat, (79) a Brahma king, (80) a milch cow with her calf;
      (81) a kinnara couple (male and female), (82) a karavika (bird) king, (83) a peacock king, (84) a crane king, (85) a cakkavaka (ruddy-goose) king, (86) a jivajiva or partridge (pheasant) king, (87-92) the six planes of celestial sensual existence, (93 -108) the sixteen planes of Rupavacara Brahma existence.
      These are the figures in the one hundred and eight circles on the Bodhisatta's soles.

      (Then the author quotes the enumeration of these figures composed in verse form by the Taunggwin Sayadaw, Head of the Sangha, as it appeared in his Gulhatthadipani, Vol. I. We do not translate it, for it will be a repetition.)

3. The mark of the projecting heels

      By this is meant all-round developed heels. To elaborate: with other persons the forepart of the foot is long; the calf stands right above the heel; and so the heel looks cut and hewn. That is not the case with the noble Bodhisatta. The sole of his foot may be divided into four equal parts, of which the two front ones form the foremost sector of the sole. The calf stands on the third part. The heel lies on the fourth, looking like a round top (toy) placed on a red rug as though it has been treated on a lathe. (As for ordinary people, since the calf is situated on the top of the heel, the heel looks ugly as though it were cut and hewn unsymmetrically. In the case of the Bodhisatta, however, the calf is on the third part of the sole. The rounded heel which occupies the fourth sector and which is conspicuous against the reddish skin is accordingly elongated and graceful.)

4. The mark of the long and tapering fingers and toes

      With other people, some fingers and toes are long and others short. Their girths also differ from one another. But that is not so in the case of the Bodhisatta. His fingers and toes are both long and even. They are stout at the base and taper towards the tip, resembling sticks of realgar made by kneading its powder with some thick oil and rolling it into shape.

5. The mark of the soft and tender palms and soles

      The palms and soles of the Bodhisatta are very soft and tender like a layer of cotton wool ginned a hundred times and dipped in clarified butter. Even at an old age they never change but remain soft, tender and youthful as when young.

6. The mark of the regular fingers and toes like finely rounded golden rail posts of a palace window; there is narrow space between one finger and another as well as between one toe and another.

      The four fingers (excluding the thumb) and the five toes of the Bodhisatta are of equal length. (If the reader raises his right palm and looks at them, he will see that his fingers are not equal in length.) The Bodhisatta Prince's eight fingers of both left and right hands are of the same measurement; so are his ten toes of both left and right feet. Accordingly, the somewhat curved lines on the joints taking the shape of barley seeds show no variation in length; in fact, they seem to form a row of curves, one touching another. The marks of these barley seeds are like uniformly and vertically fixed balusters. Therefore his fingers and toes resemble a palace window with a golden lattice created by master carpenters.

7. The mark of the slightly higher and dust-free ankles

      The ankles of other people lie close to the back of the feet. Therefore their soles appear to be fastened with cramps, small nails and snags; they cannot be turned at will. This being the case, the surface of the soles of their feet is not visible when they walk.
      The ankles of the Bodhisatta are not like that: they are about two or three fingers' length above the soles like the neck of a watering jar. Therefore the upper part of the body from the navel upwards maintains itself motionlessly like a golden statue placed on a boat: only the lower part of the body moves, and the soles turn round easily. The onlookers from the four directions—front, back, left and right—can see well the surface of his soles. (When an elephant walks, the surface of the sole can be seen only from behind. But when the Bodhisatta walks, his soles can be seen from all four quarters.)

8. The mark of the legs like those of an antelope called eni

      (Let the reader feel his calf. He will find the hardness of his shin bone at the front and see the muscles loosely dangling on the back.) But the Bodhisatta's calves are different; like the husk that covers the barley or the paddy seed, the muscles evenly encase the shin bone making the leg round and beautiful; it is thus like that of an antelope known as eni.

9. The mark of the long palms of the hands which can touch the knees while standing and without stooping

      Other persons may be hunch-backed or bandy-legged or both hunch backed and bandy-legged. Those who are with bent backs have no proper, proportionate frame because the upper part of the body is shorter than the lower part, nor do those with bandy legs because the lower part of the body is shorter than the upper part. (It means that the former are shorter in their upper part and the latter are shorter in the lower part of the body.) Because of the improper, disproportionate development of the frames, they can never touch their knees with their palms unless they lean forward.
      It is not so in the case of the Bodhisatta. Neither the upper part of his body is bent nor the lower part crooked; both the upper and the lower parts are properly and proportionately formed. And so, even while standing and without stooping, he can touch and feel the knees with both the palms of his hands.

10. The mark of the male organ concealed in a sheath like that of a Chaddanta elephant

      The male organ of the Bodhisatta is hidden in a lotus-like sheath, bearing resemblance to that of the king of bulls or to that of the king of elephants and so forth. It is the organ that has a cover as if it were placed in a felt, velvet or thick-cloth pouch that is made to measure.

11. The mark of the yellow and bright complexion as pure singinikkha gold

      The Bodhisatta naturally has a complexion of smooth solid gold like a golden statue which has been polished with the powder of red oxide of lead (vermilion) and rubbed with the canine tooth of a leopard and treated with red ochre.
      (With reference to this characteristic, even though the Pali Texts and their Commentaries stated " .. suvannavanna kancanasannibhattaca .. ", of which suvanna and kancana mean ordinary gold, the translation by noble teachers into Myanmar of these words is " like singinikkha gold...". This is due to the fact that the word singinikkha savanno' meaning 'having the colour of singinikkha pure gold' is contained in the gathas uttered by Sakka in the guise of a youth when the Bodhisatta entered the city of Rajagaha for alms-food, and also due to the fact that singistands out as the best kind of gold: among the different kinds of gold used by people, rasaviddha gold is superior to yuttika gold, akaruppanna gold is superior to rasaviddha gold, the gold used by Devas is superior to akaruppanna gold; among the variety of gold used by Devas, satakumbha gold is superior to camikara gold; jambunada gold is superior to satakumbha gold; and finally singigold is superior to that Jambunada gold. It is said so in the exposition of the Pathama Pitha in the Vimanavatthu Commentary, and the exposition of the chapter on Bimbisarasamagama, Mahakhandhaka of the Vinaya Mahavagga, Terasakanda Tika.)

12. The mark of the smooth skin (so smooth that no dust can cling to it.)

      The skin of the Noble One is so soft and smooth in texture that both fine and gross dust cannot cling to it. Just as a water drop that falls on a lotus leaf cannot stay on it but falls away, even so all the dust that touches the Bodhisatta slips off instantly.
      If he is thus dust-free and clean, why does he wash his legs and hands or bathe? He does so for the purpose of adjusting himself to the temperature of the moment, for the purpose of enhancing the merit of the donors, and for the purpose of setting an example by entering the monastery after cleansing himself as required by the disciplinary rules so that his disciples might follow.

13. The mark of the body-hairs, one in each pore of the skin

      Other people have two or three or more body-hairs growing in each pore. But it is different in the case of the Bodhisatta: only a single hair grows in each pore.

14. The mark of the body-hairs with their tips curling upwards as if they were looking up the Bodhisatta's face in devotion

      The Bodhisatta's body-hairs, one in each pore, are blue like the colour of a collyrium stone. These hairs curl upwards clockwise three times as if they were paying homage by looking up the Bodhisatta's face, fresh and graceful like a new paduma lotus bloom.

15. The mark of the upright body like a Brahma's

      Just as a Brahma's body which never inclines forward or backward or sideways even slightly but assumes an upright attitude, even so the Bodhisatta's body is perfectly straight upwards. He has a body which is tender and beautiful as though it were cast in singinikkha gold.
      As for others, their bodies generally lean or bend in one way or the other at one of these three places: the nape, the waist and the knees. Of these three places, if it bends at the waist, the body leans backwards; if it bends at the nape and the knees, the body stoops forwards. Some very tall people tend to lean sideways, either left or right. Those who lean backwards have their faces turned upwards as if they were observing and counting the constellations in the sky, those who bend down have their faces turned downwards as if they were studying the characteristics of the earth. Some people are lean and emaciated like spikes or sticks because they have not sufficient blood and flesh.
      The Bodhisatta, however, is not like that; as he has an upright body, he resembles a golden post of the arched gateway erected at the entrance to a celestial city.

      In this matter, such features as an upright body like a Brahma's and some other characteristics of a Great Man are not yet fully manifest in his infancy to an ordinary person of average intelligence. But, by examining the marks, features, and conditions as they existed at the time of his birth, the learned Brahmins, because of their expert knowledge in the Vedanga Mantras of the Suddhavasa Brahmas, have come to believe: "When the Bodhisatta Prince grows older with greater intelligence, the characteristics of his body such as being upright like a Brahma's and so forth will become manifest and seen by all" Therefore they pondered and reckoned and offered their readings as though the marks were then already visible fully to them. (In the same way, the growth of exactly forty teeth, their being regular and such other features did not come into existence in his infancy yet: but since the Brahmins foresaw that these features would appear later on at an appropriate time, they could predict by means of their learning in the mantras of the Suddhavasa Brahma's.)