觀彌勒上生兜率天經贊 2.123

2.123

The Eulogy says: Fifth, the marks, minor characteristics, and light. The white curl between the eyebrows is the thirty-first mark. That all Buddhas have the white curl between the eyebrows is because it is supremely dignified. The face is the highest and most revered, and 'between' signifies the middle between two [sides], revealing that the Buddha constantly honors residing in the Middle Way. If the mark of the white curl unrolls, it is immeasurably long; if rolled up, it is round and bright like the autumn moon with pure light, white like snow and conch-shell, illuminating all scenes. White is the root of colors, signifying that it serves as the reliance for sentient beings; having times of rolling and unrolling reveals manifestation in accord with conditions. Emanating manifold lights reveals the proclamation of the Three Vehicles as the most supreme among the marks; hence it is specifically explained; the lower sages do not possess it, and therefore it is uniquely set forth. Regarding the thirty-two marks, they are based on fascicle 381 of the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra. The Buddha said: 'Subhūti! What are the Tathāgata's thirty-two marks? Subhūti! The World-Honoured One has the mark of level and full soles of the feet, wonderfully well-established like the bottom of a cosmetic box; though the ground may be high or low, wherever his feet tread is completely flat and evenly touched without exception: this is the first. The World-Honoured One has the mark of thousand-spoked wheels on the soles of his feet, whose rims, hubs, and all features are complete without lack: this is the second. The World-Honoured One's hands and feet are completely soft like tūla cotton, surpassing all others: this is the third. Between each of the World-Honoured One's fingers and toes there is webbing, just like that of the king of geese, interlaced with golden color and patterned like brocade: this is the fourth. All the fingers and toes of the World-Honoured One's hands and feet are round, slender, and long, extremely delightful: this is the fifth. The World-Honoured One's heels are broad, long, and rounded, matching his insteps and surpassing other sentient beings: this is the sixth. The World-Honoured One's insteps are high, gracefully curved, and full, soft and wonderfully handsome, matching his heels: this is the seventh. The World-Honoured One's calves are gradually slender and round, like the calves of the aiṇeya king of deer: this is the eighth. The World-Honoured One's arms are long, straight, plump, and round, like an elephant king's trunk, touching his knees while standing upright: this is the ninth. The World-Honoured One's male organ is concealed in a sheath, dense and hidden, like that of a dragon-horse or an elephant king: this is the tenth. From each of the World-Honoured One's pores a single hair grows, soft, moist, dark blue, curling gracefully to the right: this is the eleventh. The tips of the World-Honoured One's body hairs all slant upward and curl to the right, soft, moist, and dark blue, adorning his golden body, all delightful: this is the twelfth. The skin of the World-Honoured One's body is fine, thin, moist, and smooth, so that dust, dirt, water, and the like do not adhere to it: this is the thirteenth. The skin of the World-Honoured One's body is all of genuine golden color, bright and radiant like an exquisite golden terrace adorned with manifold jewels, pleasing to the eyes of all: this is the fourteenth. The World-Honoured One's two feet, two palms, head, and two shoulders—these seven places—are completely filled out: this is the fifteenth. The World-Honoured One's shoulders and neck are rounded and remarkably wondrous: this is the sixteenth. The World-Honoured One's armpits are completely filled: this is the seventeenth. The World-Honoured One's posture and bearing are grand, full, upright, and straight: this is the eighteenth. The World-Honoured One's bodily form is tall, broad, upright, and dignified: this is the nineteenth. The World-Honoured One's physical form is equal in height and span, fully rounded all around, like a nyagrodha tree: this is the twentieth. The World-Honoured One's jaw, chest, and upper half of the body are of vast and majestic appearance, like a lion king: this is the twenty-first. The constant light of the World-Honoured One extends one fathom on each side: this is the twenty-second. The World-Honoured One's teeth number forty, completely even, clean and closely set, deep-rooted, whiter than conch or snow: this is the twenty-third. The World-Honoured One's four canine teeth are pure white and sharp: this is the twenty-fourth. The World-Honoured One constantly obtains the supreme among tastes; because the channels in his throat are straight, they can draw the channels of all the limbs and joints in his body, so that whatever supreme tastes there are cannot be mixed with the diseases of wind, bile, or phlegm; because they are unmixed, the channels are free from the faults of sinking or floating, extending or shrinking, damage or obstruction and bending; he can swallow properly and his bodily fluids flow unimpeded, so that his body and mind are comfortable and he constantly experiences the supreme taste: this is the twenty-fifth. The World-Honoured One's tongue is thin, clean, broad, and long, capable of covering the disc of his face up to his ears and hairline: this is the twenty-sixth. The World-Honoured One's brahma-voice is melodious and refined in its phrasing and rhyme, heard equally whether the assembly is large or small; his voice resounds grandly like a divine drum, and his speech is gentle like the call of the kalaviṅka: this is the twenty-seventh. The World-Honoured One's eyelashes are like those of a bull king, dark blue, neat, and unmingled: this is the twenty-eighth. The World-Honoured One's eyes are dark blue and pure white, with reddish rings adorning them, bright and distinct: this is the twenty-ninth. The disc of the World-Honoured One's face is like the full moon, and the form of his eyebrows is bright and clean like the bow of the King of the Gods: this is the thirtieth. Between the World-Honoured One's eyebrows is the mark of a white curl, turning to the right, soft as tūla cotton, pure white, bright, and clean, surpassing conch, snow, and the like: this is the thirty-first. Upon the World-Honoured One's crown is an uṣṇīṣa, elevated, conspicuous, and fully rounded like a celestial canopy: this is the thirty-second. Subhūti! These are called the thirty-two marks of a great man. Subhūti! What are the eighty minor characteristics of the Tathāgata, Arhat, and Samyaksambuddha? Subhūti! The World-Honoured One's fingernails and toenails are narrow, long, thin, moist, bright, clean, and pure, like red copper blossoms: this is the first. The fingers and toes of the World-Honoured One's hands and feet are round, slender, long, plump, straight, soft, and their joints do not protrude: this is the second. The World-Honoured One's hands and feet are each equal and without divergence, and between all his fingers and toes they are completely filled and compact: this is the third. The World-Honoured One's hands and feet are rounded as one would wish, soft, pure, lustrous, and colored like lotus flowers: this is the fourth. The World-Honoured One's sinews and veins are firmly coiled, deeply hidden, and do not show: this is the fifth. Both ankles of the World-Honoured One are hidden and do not show: this is the sixth. The World-Honoured One's walking proceeds straight, measured and stately like an elephant king or dragon king: this is the seventh. The World-Honoured One's walking is majestic and composed like a lion king: this is the eighth. The World-Honoured One's walking is steady, calm, measured, neither exceeding nor falling short, like a bull king: this is the ninth. The World-Honoured One's movements in walking and stopping are elegant in bearing, like a swan king: this is the tenth. Whenever the World-Honoured One looks back, he always turns to the right, his whole body turning together like an elephant king or dragon king: this is the eleventh. The World-Honoured One's limbs and joints are gradually plump and round, wonderfully well-arranged: this is the twelfth. The World-Honoured One's joints are closely joined without gaps, like a coiling dragon: this is the thirteenth. The World-Honoured One's kneecaps are wonderfully well-arranged, firm, and fully rounded: this is the fourteenth. The markings on the World-Honoured One's private parts are wondrous, complete in majesty, fully rounded, and pure: this is the fifteenth. The limbs of the World-Honoured One's body are moist, smooth, soft, radiant, pleasing, pure, and clean, unsoiled by dust or dirt: this is the sixteenth. The World-Honoured One's bodily demeanor is grave, composed, fearless, and never timid: this is the seventeenth. The limbs of the World-Honoured One's body are firm, dense, and well-knit together: this is the eighteenth. The limbs of the World-Honoured One's body are steady, solemn, and weighty, never wavering, complete and indestructible: this is the nineteenth. The World-Honoured One's bodily form is like a king of seers, dignified all around, bright, pure, and free of defects: this is the twentieth. The World-Honoured One's body has an aura that surrounds him in a circle, constantly illuminating him when walking and in other postures: this is the twenty-first. The shape of the World-Honoured One's belly is square, upright, and without deficiency, soft, not protruding, and adorned with all marks: this is the twenty-second. The World-Honoured One's navel is deep, coiling to the right, round, wondrous, pure, and lustrous: this is the twenty-third. The World-Honoured One's navel is thick, neither concave nor convex, and wondrously handsome all around: this is the twenty-fourth. The World-Honoured One's skin is free of scabies and ringworm, and is without defects such as black spots or warts: this is the twenty-fifth. The palms of the World-Honoured One's hands are full and soft, and the soles of his feet are flat and stable: this is the twenty-sixth. The lines on the World-Honoured One's hands are deep, long, distinct, straight, moist, and unbroken: this is the twenty-seventh. The color of the World-Honoured One's lips is lustrous with a cinnabar glow, matching above and below like a bimba fruit: this is the twenty-eighth. The opening of the World-Honoured One's face is neither long nor short, neither large nor small, proportionate and dignified: this is the twenty-ninth. The World-Honoured One's tongue is soft, thin, broad, and long, colored like red copper: this is the thirtieth. The World-Honoured One's voice resounds with majesty, deep and far-reaching, clear and resonant like the roar of an elephant king: this is the thirty-first. The resonance of the World-Honoured One's voice is complete in beauty, like the echo in a deep ravine: this is the thirty-second. The World-Honoured One's nose is high, long, and straight, and its apertures do not show: this is the thirty-third. All the teeth of the World-Honoured One are square, even, and pure white: this is the thirty-fourth. All the canine teeth of the World-Honoured One are round, white, bright, clean, and gradually sharp: this is the thirty-fifth. The pupils of the World-Honoured One's eyes are distinctly blue and white: this is the thirty-sixth. The form of the World-Honoured One's eyes is long and broad, like the petals of a blue lotus, extremely delightful: this is the thirty-seventh. The World-Honoured One's upper and lower eyelashes are even, dense, and not grey: this is the thirty-eighth. The World-Honoured One's eyebrows are long and not crooked, fine and soft: this is the thirty-ninth. The World-Honoured One's eyebrows are elegant, smooth, sequential, and colored like dark lapis lazuli: this is the fortieth. The World-Honoured One's eyebrows are high, prominent, and lustrous, shaped like the crescent moon: this is the forty-first. The World-Honoured One's ears are thick, broad, long, and perfected with earlobes: this is the forty-second. Both ears of the World-Honoured One are beautiful, even, and free of all faults: this is the forty-third. The World-Honoured One's demeanor causes those who behold him to give rise to love and reverence without harm or defilement: this is the forty-fourth. The World-Honoured One's forehead is broad, round, flat, even, and wondrous in form: this is the forty-fifth. The upper half of the World-Honoured One's body is fully rounded, peerless in majestic dignity like a lion king: this is the forty-sixth. The hair on the World-Honoured One's head is long, dark blue, dense, and not grey: this is the forty-seventh. The hair on the World-Honoured One's head is fragrant, clean, fine, soft, lustrous, and curling: this is the forty-eighth. The hair on the World-Honoured One's head is neat, orderly, and not tangled: this is the forty-ninth. The hair on the World-Honoured One's head is firm, unbroken, and never falls out: this is the fiftieth. The hair on the World-Honoured One's head is glossy, wondrous, and unsoiled by dust or dirt: this is the fifty-first. The World-Honoured One's body is firm and solid, surpassing Nārāyaṇa: this is the fifty-second. The World-Honoured One's body is tall, large, upright, and straight: this is the fifty-third. All the World-Honoured One's bodily apertures are pure, round, and fine: this is the fifty-fourth. The strength of the World-Honoured One's limbs is extraordinary, with none equal to it: this is the fifty-fifth. Sentient beings delight in beholding the World-Honoured One's bodily form, never tiring of it: this is the fifty-sixth. The disc of the World-Honoured One's face is appropriately long and broad, bright, clean, and pure like the autumn full moon: this is the fifty-seventh. The World-Honoured One's countenance is relaxed, luminous, and radiant; smiling before speaking, he only faces forward and never turns away: this is the fifty-eighth. The World-Honoured One's facial expression is lustrous and joyful, free of frowning, redness, paleness, or other flaws: this is the fifty-ninth. The limbs of the World-Honoured One's body are pure, undefiled, and constantly free of foul odors: this is the sixtieth. From all the pores of the World-Honoured One there constantly issues an exquisite fragrance pleasing to the mind: this is the sixty-first. From the World-Honoured One's mouth there constantly issues a supreme, extraordinary fragrance: this is the sixty-second. The World-Honoured One's head is round and wondrous, like a madana fruit and also like a celestial canopy: this is the sixty-third. The hair on the World-Honoured One's body is dark blue, bright, and clean like a peacock's neck, adorned with red radiance, colored like red copper: this is the sixty-fourth. The World-Honoured One's Dharma voice neither increases nor decreases in accord with whether the assembly is large or small, matching principle without deviation: this is the sixty-fifth. No one can see the mark of the World-Honoured One's crown: this is the sixty-sixth. The lines on the fingers and toes of the World-Honoured One's hands and feet are distinct, wonderfully adorned, and colored like red copper: this is the sixty-seventh. When the World-Honoured One walks, his feet are four finger-breadths above the ground, yet leave imprint markings: this is the sixty-eighth. The World-Honoured One supports himself without relying on others for protection, and his body does not lean or sway: this is the sixty-ninth. The World-Honoured One's majestic virtue resounds far and wide among all beings; those with evil minds rejoice upon seeing him, and those who are terrified find safety: this is the seventieth. The World-Honoured One's voice is neither too high nor too low; he speaks pleasantly in accordance with the minds of the assembly: this is the seventy-first. The World-Honoured One can preach the Dharma in accordance with the vocal sounds and music of all kinds of sentient beings: this is the seventy-second. The World-Honoured One proclaims the true Dharma with a single voice, enabling each kind of sentient being to understand: this is the seventy-third. When the World-Honoured One expounds the Dharma, he always follows proper sequence, must have a cause and condition, and his words are never unwholesome: this is the seventy-fourth. The World-Honoured One views all sentient beings with equanimity, praising the good and blaming the bad without love or hatred: this is the seventy-fifth. In whatever he does, the World-Honoured One observes first and acts afterward, complete in deportment so as to make their consciousness wholesome and pure: this is the seventy-sixth. No sentient being can fully observe the World-Honoured One's marks and minor characteristics: this is the seventy-seventh. The crown bone of the World-Honoured One is solid, firm, and fully rounded: this is the seventy-eighth. The World-Honoured One's facial appearance is perpetually youthful and never ages, and he delights in revisiting former places: this is the seventy-ninth. On the World-Honoured One's hands, feet, and in front of his chest, there are the virtuous marks of the auspicious wheel of joy, patterned like brocade and colored like vermilion cinnabar: this is the eightieth. Subhūti! These are called the eighty minor characteristics. Subhūti! Because the Tathāgata, Arhat, and Samyaksambuddha has accomplished such marks and minor characteristics, the light of his body naturally illuminates the great trichiliocosm completely without exception; when he directs his intention, he can illuminate immeasurable, boundless, and innumerable world realms. Yet, out of pity for sentient beings, he draws in his light to constantly illuminate one fathom on each side of his face. If he were to give free rein to his bodily light, all the light of the sun, moon, and the like would constantly fail to appear, and sentient beings would not know day, night, fortnights, months, seasons, or years, and the undertakings they perform could not be accomplished. The Buddha's voice naturally pervades the great trichiliocosm; when he directs his intention, it can fill immeasurable, boundless, and innumerable world realms. Yet, to benefit and delight sentient beings, his voice accords with the size of the assembly, neither decreasing nor increasing. Subhūti! Such merits and supreme benefits were already accomplished when I previously practiced the perfection of wisdom at the bodhisattva stage; therefore, my marks and minor characteristics are now fully complete and adorned. All sentient beings who see them rejoice, and all attain extraordinary benefit, peace, and happiness. Thus it is. Subhūti! When a bodhisattva-mahāsattva practices the deep perfection of wisdom, he can gather in sentient beings through the two kinds of giving—material goods and the Dharma. This is an extremely marvelous and rare phenomenon.' The thirty-two marks are brought about through practicing the five cultivations: first, generating the mind [for awakening]; second, long duration; third, uninterruptedness; fourth, earnestness; and fifth, without remainder. As stated in the thirty-seventh fascicle of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra, each individual mark therefore has fifty billion rays of light. Among the eighty minor characteristics, they are brought about through practicing the eighty-four thousand doctrinal practices to adapt to the causes of eighty-four thousand faculties and ailments; therefore, from each individual minor characteristic there radiates eighty-four thousand clouds of bright light. 'Yàn' (radiance) carries the meaning of beauty, not the meaning of 'flame' (yàn). 'Cloud' carries the meaning of producing and overspreading. The three hundred and fifty dharmas are all practiced through the six perfections, making two thousand one hundred; eradicating greed, anger, ignorance, and their equal proportion, this further makes eight thousand four hundred; and each can further eradicate the faults produced by the four great elements and six sensory dusts; hence, combining them, they make eighty-four thousand.