Brahmāyusutta

Majjhima Nikāya 91

With Brahmāyu · Translation: Bhikkhu Sujato, SuttaCentral

Parallels & more translations on SuttaCentral

Glosses: Fluent · Literal · Off
Translation: Hide · Show

Tap any word for its dictionary entry.

Atha kho bhagavā tathārūpaṁ iddhābhisaṅkhāraṁ abhisaṅkhāsi yathā addasa uttaro māṇavo bhagavato kosohitaṁ vatthaguyhaṁ.
Atha kho bhagavā jivhaṁ ninnāmetvā ubhopi kaṇṇasotāni anumasi paṭimasi; ubhopi nāsikasotāni anumasi paṭimasi; kevalampi nalāṭamaṇḍalaṁ jivhāya chādesi.

So the Buddha used his psychic power to will that Uttara would see his private parts sheathed in a foreskin. And he stuck out his tongue and stroked back and forth on his ear holes and nostrils, and covered his entire forehead with his tongue.

Atha kho uttarassa māṇavassa etadahosi:
“samannāgato kho samaṇo gotamo dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇehi.
Yannūnāhaṁ samaṇaṁ gotamaṁ anubandheyyaṁ, iriyāpathamassa passeyyan”ti.
Atha kho uttaro māṇavo sattamāsāni bhagavantaṁ anubandhi chāyāva anapāyinī.
Atha kho uttaro māṇavo sattannaṁ māsānaṁ accayena videhesu yena mithilā tena cārikaṁ pakkāmi.
Anupubbena cārikaṁ caramāno yena mithilā yena brahmāyu brāhmaṇo tenupasaṅkami; upasaṅkamitvā brahmāyuṁ brāhmaṇaṁ abhivādetvā ekamantaṁ nisīdi. Ekamantaṁ nisinnaṁ kho uttaraṁ māṇavaṁ brahmāyu brāhmaṇo etadavoca:
“kacci, tāta uttara, taṁ bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ tathā santaṁyeva saddo abbhuggato, no aññathā?
Kacci pana so bhavaṁ gotamo tādiso, no aññādiso”ti?
“Tathā santaṁyeva, bho, taṁ bhavantaṁ gotamaṁ saddo abbhuggato, no aññathā;
tādisova so bhavaṁ gotamo, no aññādiso.

Then Uttara thought, “The ascetic Gotama possesses the thirty-two marks. Why don’t I follow him and observe his deportment?” So Uttara followed the Buddha like a shadow for seven months. When seven months had passed he set out wandering toward Mithilā. There he approached the brahmin Brahmāyu, bowed, and sat down to one side. Brahmāyu said to him, “Well, dear Uttara, does the worthy Gotama live up to his reputation or not?” “He does, sir.

Samannāgato ca so bhavaṁ gotamo dvattiṁsamahāpurisalakkhaṇehi.

The worthy Gotama possesses the thirty-two marks.

He has well-planted feet. On the soles of his feet there are thousand-spoked wheels, with rims and hubs, complete in every detail. He has stretched heels. He has long fingers. His hands and feet are soft and tender. He has serried hands and feet. The tops of his feet are arched. His calves are like those of an antelope. When standing upright and not bending over, the palms of both hands touch the knees. His private parts are sheathed in a foreskin. He is golden colored; his skin shines like lustrous gold.

He has delicate skin, so delicate that dust and dirt don’t stick to his body. His hairs grow one per pore. His hairs stand up; they’re blue-black and curl clockwise. His body is tall and straight-limbed. He has bulging muscles in seven places. His chest is like that of a lion. He is filled out between the shoulders. He has the proportional circumference of a banyan tree: the span of his arms equals the height of his body. His torso is cylindrical. He has ridged taste buds.

His jaw is like that of a lion. He has forty teeth. His teeth are even. His teeth have no gaps. His teeth are perfectly white. He has a large tongue. He has the voice of the Divinity, like a cuckoo’s call. His eyes are indigo. He has eyelashes like a cow’s. Between his eyebrows there grows a tuft, soft and white like cotton-wool. The crown of his head is like a turban. These are the thirty-two marks of a great man possessed by the worthy Gotama.

Lite mode — plain HTML for e-readers and old browsers. Full version