Dialogues of the Buddha, Part II — trans. T. W. and C. A. F. Rhys Davids (1910)

31. [16] 'When the boy Vipassi, brethren, was born, they brought word to Bandhuman the raja saying : — " A son, my lord, is born to you ! May it please you to see him?" Now when Bandhuman the raja had seen the babe, he sent for the brahmin soothsayers1, saying: — " Let the reverend brahmin soothsayers see the child." Then, brethren, when the brahmin soothsayers had seen the child, they said to Bandhuman the raja : — " Rejoice, lord, for one of the Mighty Ones is born thy son ! Fortune is thine, my lord, good fortune is thine, in that in thy family such a son has come to birth ! For this babe, my lord, is endowed with the thirty-two marks of the Great Man ; and to one so endowed two careers lie open, and none other. If he live the life of the House, he becomes Lord of the Wheel2, a righteous Lord of the Right 3, ruler of the four quarters, conqueror, guardian of the people's good, owner of the Seven Treasures. His do those seven treasures become, to wit, the Wheel treasure, the Elephant treasure, the Horse treasure, the Gem treasure, the Woman treasure, the Steward treasure, the Eldest Son treasure making seven 4. More than a thousand sons will be his, heroes, vigorous of frame, crushers of the hosts of the enemy. He, when he has conquered this earth to its ocean bounds, is established not by the scourge, not by the sword, but by righteousness. But if such a boy go forth from the life of the House into the Homeless state 5, he becomes an Arahant, a Buddha Supreme, rolling back the veil from the world.

1 Literally, mark-men, or augurs. See 'Dialogues,' I, 16, n. 1.

2 Turner of the Wheel, the now well-known Indian symbol of empire.

3 Dhamma-raja.

4 For details of each of these see below in the Maha-Sudassana
Suttanta, No. XVII.

5 This vigorous and picturesque idiom — agarasma anagariyam pabbajati — has been here and elsewhere rendered as literally as possible.

p. 14

32. '"And what, my lord, are the thirty-two marks of the ' Great Man V wherewith endowed this child hath two careers open to him, and only two : — that of the Lord of the Wheel . . . that of Buddha Supreme ?

[17] ' " This babe, my lord, has feet with level tread2.
That this is so counts to him as one of the marks of
a Great Man.

"'On the soles of the babe's feet wheels appear with a thousand spokes, with tyre and hub, in every way complete. That this is so counts to him as one of the marks of a Great Man.

' " This babe has projecting heels 3,

He is long in the fingers and long in the toes4,

Soft and tender in hands and feet,

With hands and feet like a net 5.

His ankles are like rounded shells 6 ;

His legs are like an antelope's 7.

Standing and without bending he can touch and rub his knees with either hand.

His male organs are concealed in a sheath.

His complexion is like bronze, the colour of gold.

[is] His skin is so delicately smooth that no dust cleaves to his body 8.

1 Given also at M. II, 136, 137. Comp. the note above Vol. I, p. no. The whole theory is pre-Buddhistic.

2Suppa///nta-pado: literally, 'well-planted feet.' The traditional meaning is, that the whole under-surface touched the ground at once. The Great Man was ' flat-footed,' and did not toe or heel the ground in walking.

3 If the foot of a ' Great Man ' be measured in four parts, two are taken up by the sole and toes, one is under the leg, and one is the heel projecting rearward.

4 And all four, fingers and toes, are of equal length, like a monkey's.
Cy.

6 Like a lattice, says the Cy., and explains this to mean that there is no 'webbing' between fingers and toes, but that these are set in right lines, like the meshes of a net.

6 Ensuring the maximum of flexibility. Cy. This is desirable in sitting cross-legged.

7 With protuberant well-modelled joints, like an ear of rice or barley. Cy.

8 Hence the Buddhas only wash as an example to their followers. Cy.

p. 5

The down on it grows in single hairs, one to each pore,

The small hairs on his body turn upward, every hair of it, blue-black in colour like eye-paint, in little curling rings, curling to the right.

' " This babe has a frame divinely straight x.

He has the seven convex surfaces 2.

The front half of his body is like a lion's 3.

There is no furrow between his shoulders 4.

His proportions have the symmetry of the banyantree 5 : — The length of his body is equal to the compass of his arms, and the compass of his arms is equal to his height.

His bust is equally rounded 6.

His taste is supremely acute7.