妙法蓮華經玄贊 5.38

5.38

Regarding the thirty-two marks, according to the *Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra*, fascicle 381: 'The Buddha said: "Subhūti! What are the Tathāgata's thirty-two marks? Subhūti! First, the soles of the Bhagavat's feet have the mark of being flat and full, staying well and wonderfully placed like the bottom of a box; though the ground may have highs and lows, wherever his feet step it is entirely level, with nothing that does not touch evenly. Second, beneath the soles of the Bhagavat's feet are markings of thousand-spoked wheels, complete with rims and hubs, without any mark that is not fulfilled. Third, the Bhagavat's hands and feet are completely soft and supple, like cotton, surpassing all else. Fourth, between each of the Bhagavat's fingers and toes, as on a king of geese, there are webbed nets of golden interlaced lines resembling fine embroideries. Fifth, all the Bhagavat's fingers and toes are rounded, slender, and long, extremely delightful. Sixth, the Bhagavat's heels are broad, long, and rounded, matching the insteps and surpassing other sentient beings. Seventh, the Bhagavat's insteps are high-arching and full, soft and wonderful, matching the heels. Eighth, the Bhagavat's calves are gradually slender and rounded, like the calves of the aineya deer king. Ninth, the Bhagavat's arms are long, straight, fleshy, and rounded, like the trunk of an elephant king, touching his knees while standing erect. Tenth, the Bhagavat's male organ is concealed in a sheath, like that of a dragon-horse or an elephant king. Eleventh, a single hair grows from each of the Bhagavat's pores, soft, glossy, deep blue, and curling clockwise. Twelfth, the tips of the Bhagavat's body hairs all slant upward and curl clockwise, soft, glossy, deep blue, adorning his golden body and being extremely delightful. Thirteenth, the Bhagavat's skin is subtle, thin, and smooth, so that dust, dirt, water, and the like do not cling to it. Fourteenth, the Bhagavat's skin is purely of golden hue, shining and radiant like an exquisite golden terrace, adorned with all manner of jewels and delightful for all to behold. Fifteenth, the Bhagavat's seven places are full—the two feet, the two palms, the neck, and both shoulders. Sixteenth, the Bhagavat's shoulders and neck are rounded and extraordinary. Seventeenth, his armpits are entirely filled out. Eighteenth, the Bhagavat's demeanor is vast, full, upright, and straight. Nineteenth, the Bhagavat's body is tall, broad, dignified, and majestic. Twentieth, the Bhagavat's physical frame has equal height and width, fully proportioned all around like a nyagrodha tree. Twenty-first, the Bhagavat's jaw, chest, and upper half of the body are vast and majestic like a lion king. Twenty-second, the Bhagavat's aura extends one fathom on each side. Twenty-third, the Bhagavat has forty teeth, even and flat, clean, close-set, deeply rooted, and whiter than conch shells and snow. Twenty-fourth, the Bhagavat's four canine teeth are bright white and sharp. Twenty-fifth, the Bhagavat always attains the supreme among tastes: because the throat channels are straight, they can draw the supreme tastes from all the channels of the limbs and joints in the body, without wind, bile, or phlegm disorders adulterating them; because they are unadulterated, the channels are free from sinking, floating, stretching, shrinking, damaged, congested, or crooked defects, swallowing properly with fluids flowing freely, bringing contentment to body and mind, and always obtaining the supreme taste. Twenty-sixth, the Bhagavat's tongue is thin, clean, broad, and long, capable of covering the disc of his face up to the ears and hairline. Twenty-seventh, the Bhagavat's brahma-voice has harmonious and elegant tone and rhythm, heard equally by all regardless of the assembly's size; its sound resonates mightily like a celestial drum, and its speech is pleasing like the voice of a kalaviṅka. Twenty-eighth, the Bhagavat's eyelashes are like those of a bovine king, deep blue, neat, and unkempt. Twenty-ninth, the Bhagavat's eyes are deep blue and pure white, accented with red circles, bright and distinctly clear. Thirtieth, the disc of the Bhagavat's face is like the full moon, and his eyebrows are pure and bright like the bow of the Lord of Devas. Thirty-first, between the Bhagavat's eyebrows is the mark of a white curl, turning clockwise, soft like cotton, radiant, clean, and surpassing conch shells and snow. Thirty-second, the uṣṇīṣa atop the Bhagavat's crown is high, prominent, and completely rounded like a heavenly canopy. Subhūti! These are called the thirty-two marks of a great being.'
Based on this sūtra text, the summary verse states:
'Level, spoked, soft, webbed, slender,
Heels, insteps, calves, arms, sheathed;
Hairs grow, slant up, smooth,
Skin gold, seven [places] and shoulders full;
Armpits, demeanor, tall, broad, equal,
Lion, aura, complete teeth;
Canines, taste, tongue, voice, lashes,
Eyes, [face] disc, white curl mark, canopy.'
If based on the *Yogācārabhūmi*, it differs from this. In the *Yogācārabhūmi*, the causal karmas are also explained, but fearing verbosity, I will omit them for now. According to it, the verse should state:
'Level, spoked, slender, heels, thin,
Webbed, touches [knees], shoulders, unbent;
Sheath, body, aura, slanting up,
[Single hair] grows, gold, smooth, seven places;
Lion, shoulders full and straight,
Complete teeth, gapless, bright;
Jaw, broad, taste, voice, blue,
Bovine king, crown, white curl mark.'
These [marks] generally take the bases of the four faculties—eye, ear, body, and male organ—together with the tongue faculty as their substance. The ten powers and liberations have already been explained above. Śāriputra laments for himself that, though sharing the very same Buddhadharma, he failed to obtain these things.