Monday, December 14, 2015
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Enlightened Being
According to most schools of Buddhism, an enlightened being will tend to manifest a set of thirty-two major physical signs regardless of which sub-category of Buddha it might be. There are also eighty or more minor physical characteristics by which one might determine the specific type of Buddha. Here, we concern ourselves only with the thirty-two major characteristics, some of which overlap each other. These marks are symbolic of certain characteristics of enlightenment or of the historical Buddha's situation. As such they are yet another variety of skillful means, as is the broader project of depicting Buddhist entities. For reference, here is a list of all thirty-two marks of a "great man" (i.e., an enlightened being) according to the Lakshana Sutra:
(1) His feet have a level tread; (2) There are wheels on the soles of his feet; (3) He has projecting heels; (4) He has long fingers and toes; (5) His feet are soft and tender; (6) His hands and feet are webbed; (7) His ankles are like rounded shells; (8) His legs are like an antelope's; (9) His arms are so long that he can touch his knees with his hands without bending; (10) His male organs are concealed within a sheath; (11) His complexion is golden; (12) His skin is so delicate that no dust adheres to his body; (13) The down on his skin grows in single hairs, one to each pore; (14) The down is blue-black and turns upwards in little rings curling to the right; (15) His frame is divinely straight; (16) His body has seven convex surfaces; (17) The font half of his body is like a lion's; (18) There is no furrow between his shoulders; (19) His proportions have the symmetry of a Banyan tree; (20) His bust is equally rounded; (21) His taste is supremely acute; (22) His jaws are like a lion's; (23) He has forty teeth; (24) He has regular teeth; (25) He has continuous teeth; (26) His eye teeth are very lustrous; (27) His tongue is very long; (28) He has a divine voice, like the karavika bird's; (29) His eyes are intensely blue; (30) His eyelashes are like a cow's; (31) Between his eyebrows is a hairy mole (urna), white and soft like cotton down; (32) His head is like a royal turban, with a bump in the middle (ushnisha). (Quoted in Meher McArthur, Reading Buddhist Art: An Illustrated Guide to Buddhist Signs & Symbols [ London: Thames and Hudson, 2002]: p. 95.)
Sunday, July 12, 2015
Monday, July 6, 2015
Thursday, July 2, 2015
Monday, June 22, 2015
Monday, June 15, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Sunday, May 10, 2015
Jataka
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jataka_tales
Illustrated
http://ignca.nic.in/jatak.htm
Tube
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jataka
Edu
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/jataka.html
Slides
http://www.slideshare.net/search/slideshow?searchfrom=header&q=Jataka
Sacred
http://sacred-texts.com/bud/j1/index.htm
Tales
http://mocomi.com/fun/stories/jataka-tales/
Mitra
http://www.balmitra.com/StoryBook/jataka/JatakaTales.asp
Katha
http://www.jatakkatha.com/
Illustrated
http://ignca.nic.in/jatak.htm
Tube
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jataka
Edu
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/jataka.html
Slides
http://www.slideshare.net/search/slideshow?searchfrom=header&q=Jataka
Sacred
http://sacred-texts.com/bud/j1/index.htm
Tales
http://mocomi.com/fun/stories/jataka-tales/
Mitra
http://www.balmitra.com/StoryBook/jataka/JatakaTales.asp
Katha
http://www.jatakkatha.com/
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Monday, May 4, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Saturday, January 31, 2015
Recycling the Buddha way
One of the disciples approached him and said humbly “Oh my teacher! While you are so much concerned about the world and others, why don’t you look into the welfare and needs of your own disciples also?”.
Buddha: OK…Tell me how I can help you?
Disciple: Master, My attire is worn out and is beyond the decency to wear the same. Can I get a new one please?
Buddha found the robe indeed was in a bad condition which needed replacement. He asked the store keeper to give the disciple a new robe to wear on. The disciple thanked Buddha and retired to his room.
Though he met his disciple’s requirement, Buddha was not all that contended on his decision. He realized he missed out some point. A while after, he realized, what he should have asked the disciple? He went to his disciple’s place and asked him “Is your new attire comfortable? Do you need anything more?”
Disciple: Thank you my Master. The attire is indeed very comfortable. I need nothing more.
Buddha: Having got the new one, what did you do with your old attire?
Disciple: I am using it as my bedspread.
Buddha: Then…hope you have disposed off your bed spread.
Disciple: No…no…Master. I am using my old bedspread as my window curtain.
Buddha: What about your old curtain?
Disciple: Being used to handle hot utensils in the kitchen
Buddha: Oh…I see…Can you tell me what they did with the old cloth they
used in Kitchen?
Disciple: They are being used to wash the floor.
Buddha: Then, the old rug being used to wash the floor…????
Disciple: Master, since they were torn off so much, we could not find
any better use, but to use as a twig in the oil lamp, which is right
now lit in your study room….
Buddha smiled in contentment and left for his room.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Sunday, January 4, 2015
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