32 marks of a Buddha

[zamotcr]

I don't know, but for me this sounds weird. At the end of the day the differenciation between men and women are illusory, but it appears that some sutras ignore this.
I don't like a religion where only men can do the best part. But that's my opinion, and I would like to know a better interpretation for this 32 marks.

[Simon E.]

I don't know, but for me this sounds weird. At the end of the day the differenciation between men and women are illusory, but it appears that some sutras ignore this.
I don't like a religion where only men can do the best part. But that's my opinion, and I would like to know a better interpretation for this 32 marks.

I can offer you one possible explanation.
The 32 Marks and variations are found in all religious systems that come from ancient Bharat, an area that contains modern India, Pakistan and various smaller countries.
The 32 Marks in some form are found in religious systems that are older than Buddhism.
In other words we are not talking literally here. We are talking about a common set of symbols, Common to the Vedic religions, to Jainism, and to Buddhism.
Literalists within each of these religious systems will claim that theirs is a unique understanding of the Marks, and that only THEIR candidate/s are the real thing.

[Aemilius]

There is a sutta in Sutta Nipata, and a similar sutta is found elsewhere of the Pali Canon also, in which a group of brahmins come to see the Tathagata in order to see if he really has the 32 marks of a Superman. In this sutta the brahmins find them all in the body of the Buddha Shakyamuni. There maybe some interpretation what these marks are like in an actual physical body, but thís shows that they were real physical marks. The marks are discussed in the Large Prajña Paramita sutra in the Mahayana, and in other Mahayana sutras and sastras.

[treehuggingoctopus]

I don't know, but for me this sounds weird. At the end of the day the differenciation between men and women are illusory, but it appears that some sutras ignore this.
I don't like a religion where only men can do the best part. But that's my opinion, and I would like to know a better interpretation for this 32 marks.

I can offer you one possible explanation.
The 32 Marks and variations are found in all religious systems that come from ancient Bharat, an area that contains modern India, Pakistan and various smaller countries.
The 32 Marks in some form are found in religious systems that are older than Buddhism.
In other words we are not talking literally here. We are talking about a common set of symbols, Common to the Vedic religions, to Jainism, and to Buddhism.
Literalists within each of these religious systems will claim that theirs is a unique understanding of the Marks, and that only THEIR candidate/s are the real thing.

What? Wot? Are you saying that I'm supposed to read only metaphorically things like

Well-retracted male organ

?

I don't want to be a Buddhist anymore...

[Simon E.]

Well, you may jest...

[Aemilius]

In the Blue Annals there is a story of a tibetan who developed an Ushnisha on his head after his death.

[dharmagoat]

In the Blue Annals there is a story of a tibetan who developed an Ushnisha on his head after his death.

You mean they tied his hair in a topknot?

[Nosta]

Sometimes i have a white single hair, and long, between my eyebrowns.

[Aemilius]

In the Blue Annals there is a story of a tibetan who developed an Ushnisha on his head after his death.

You mean they tied his hair in a topknot?

No, it means that an actual fleshy protuberance appeared on the head of the deceased person. As an outer sign of his attainment in the bardo.

[Aemilius]

The Marks are called 32 Marks of a Mahapurusha. According to Sutta Nipata they appear in vedic mantras. Mahapurusha has been translated as Superman, Cosmic man, etc..