Dictionary of Pali Proper Names v2.c29.493

v2.c29.493

The two suttas mentioned above speak of the circumstances obtaining during the time spent by the child in his mother’s womb. It is said²⁵ that the Bodhisatta is born when his mother is in the last third of her middle age. This is in order that the birth may be easy for both mother and child. Various miracles attend the birth of the Bodhisatta. The Commentaries expound, at great length, the accounts of these miracles given in the suttas. Immediately after birth the Bodhisatta stands firmly on his feet, and having taken seven strides to the north, while a white canopy is held over his head, looks round and utters in fearless voice the lion’s roar: “*Aggo ’ham asmi lokassa, jeṭṭho ’ham asmi lokassa, seṭṭho ’ham asmi lokassa, ayam antimā jāti, natthi dāni punabbhavo.*”²⁶ To the later Buddhists,²⁷ not only these acts of the Bodhisatta, but every item of the miracles accompanying his birth, have their symbolical meaning. There seems to have been a difference of opinion among the Elders of the Saṅgha as to what happened when the Bodhisatta took his seven strides northwards. Did he walk on the earth or travel through the air? Did people see him go? Was he clothed? Did he look an infant or an adult? Tipiṭaka Cuḷābhaya, preaching on the first floor of the Lohapāsāda, settled the question by suggesting a compromise: the Bodhisatta walked on earth, but the onlookers felt he was travelling through the air; he was naked, but the onlookers felt he was gaily adorned; he was an infant, but looked sixteen years old; and after his roar he reverted to infancy!²⁸