Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c29.475

v2.c29.475

Thirty facts are mentioned as being true of all Buddhas (samatimsavidhā dhammatā). In his last life every Bodhisatta is conscious at the moment of his conception; in his mother’s womb he remains cross-legged with his face turned outwards; his mother gives birth to him in a standing posture; the birth takes place in a forest grove (araññe); immediately after birth he takes seven steps to the north and roars the "lion's roar"; he makes his renunciation after seeing the four omens and after a son is born to him; he has to practise austerities for at least seven days after donning the yellow robe; he has a meal of milk-rice on the day of his Enlightenment; he attains to omniscience seated on a carpet of grass; he practises concentration in breathing; he defeats Māra's forces; he attains to supreme perfection in all knowledge and virtue at the foot of the Bodhi-tree; Mahā Brahmā requests him to preach the Dhamma; he preaches his first sermon in the Deer Park at Isipatana; he recites the Pātimokkha to the fourfold assembly on the full-moon day of Māgha; he resides chiefly in Jetavana, he performs the Twin Miracle in Sāvatthi; he preaches the Abhidhamma in Tāvatimsa; he descends from there at the gate of Saṅkassa; he constantly lives in the bliss of phalasamāpatti; he investigates the possibility of converting others during two jhānas; he lays down the precepts only when occasion arises for them; he relates Jātakas when suitable occasions occur; he recites the Buddhavamsa in the assembly of his kinsmen; he always greets courteously monks who visit him; he never leaves the place where he has spent the rainy season without bidding farewell to his hosts; each day he has prescribed duties before and after his meal and during the three watches of the night; he eats a meal containing flesh (mamsarajabhojana) immediately before his death; and just before his death he enters into the twenty-four crores and one hundred thousand samāpatti. There are also mentioned four dangers from which all Buddhas are immune: no misfortune can befall the four requisites intended for a Buddha; no one can encompass his death; no injury can befall any of his thirty-two Mahāpurisalakkhaṇa or eighty anubyañjana; nothing can obstruct his aura.¹⁴