Physical characteristics of the Buddha


There are no extant representations of the Buddha represented in artistic form until roughly the 2nd century CE, partly due to the prominence of aniconism in the earliest extant period of Buddhist devotional statuary and bas reliefs. A number of early discourses describe the appearance of the Buddha, and are believed to have served as a model for early depictions. In particular, the "32 signs of a Great Man" are described throughout the Pali Canon, and these are believed to have formed the basis for early representations of the Buddha. These 32 major characteristics are also supplemented by another 80 secondary characteristics.
In Mahāyāna Buddhism, including the traditions of Esoteric Buddhism, the 32 major characteristics and 80 minor characteristics are understood to be present in a buddha's sambhogakāya, or reward-body. In contrast, a buddha's physical form is understood to be a nirmāṇakāya, or transformation-body.

Early history

The earliest surviving phase of Buddhist art was generally aniconic, with the Buddha being represented as symbols such as a footprint, an empty chair, a riderless horse, or an umbrella. Later, iconic sculptural traditions were established, with two of the most important being in the regions of Gandhara and Mathura.
The first statues and busts of the Buddha were made in the Gandhara region of modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan. Many statues and busts exist where the Buddha and other bodhisattvas have a mustache.
In the Pali Canon a paragraph appears many times recording the Buddha describing how he began his quest for enlightenment, saying:
After examining the cult of the Buddha image in India, Gregory Schopen concludes that followers of Mahāyāna at this time played little to no role in introducing statuary and other physical depictions of the Buddha. Mahāyāna sūtras from this period such as the Maitreyasiṃhanāda Sūtra, only address the image cult as an object of criticism, if it is mentioned at all. Schopen states that followers of Mahāyāna were generally uninterested in worshipping buddhas, but rather in becoming buddhas, and their outlook toward Buddhist practice was "profoundly conservative."

The 32 Signs of a Great Man

The Buddha is traditionally regarded as having the Thirty-two Characteristics of a Great Man. These thirty-two characteristics are also regarded as being present in cakravartin kings as well.
The Digha Nikaya, in the "Discourse of the Marks" enumerates and explains the 32 characteristics. These are also enumerated in the Brahmāyu Sutta of the Majjhima Nikāya.
The 32 major characteristics are:
  1. Level feet
  2. Thousand-spoked wheel sign on feet
  3. Long, slender fingers
  4. Pliant hands and feet
  5. Toes and fingers finely webbed
  6. Full-sized heels
  7. Arched insteps
  8. Thighs like a royal stag
  9. Hands reaching below the knees
  10. Well-retracted male organ
  11. Height and stretch of arms equal
  12. Every hair-root dark colored
  13. Body hair graceful and curly
  14. Golden-hued body
  15. Ten-foot aura around him
  16. Soft, smooth skin
  17. Soles, palms, shoulders, and crown of head well-rounded
  18. Area below armpits well-filled
  19. Lion-shaped body
  20. Body erect and upright
  21. Full, round shoulders
  22. Forty teeth
  23. Teeth white, even, and close
  24. Four canine teeth pure white
  25. Jaw like a lion
  26. Saliva that improves the taste of all food
  27. Tongue long and broad
  28. Voice deep and resonant
  29. Eyes deep blue
  30. Eyelashes like a royal bull
  31. White ūrṇā curl that emits light between eyebrows
  32. Fleshy protuberance on the crown of the head

    The 80 secondary characteristics

The 80 minor characteristics of the Buddha are known to be enumerated a number of times in the extant Āgamas of the Chinese Buddhist canon. According to Guang Xing, the 80 minor marks are related to the 32 major marks, and are merely a more detailed description of the Buddha's bodily features. In the Sarvāstivādin Abhidharma Mahāvibhāṣa Śāstra, the question is posed about the relationship between the major and minor marks, and it is said that the minor marks are among the major marks, but not mixed with them, just as flowers in the forest make the trees distinctive. These 80 minor characteristics became significant as well, as were adopted by Buddhist traditions including both Mahāyāna and Theravāda traditions. In Pali literature, the 80 minor characteristics are found in the Apadāna and the Milindapañha. Some scholars believe the 80 minor characteristics were an early development in the Buddhist tradition, but held as important mostly by the Sarvāstivāda school.
The eighty minor characteristics are:
  1. He has beautiful fingers and toes.
  2. He has well-proportioned fingers and toes.
  3. He has tube-shaped fingers and toes.
  4. His fingernails and toenails have a rosy tint.
  5. His fingernails and toenails are slightly upturned at the tip.
  6. His fingernails and toenails are smooth and rounded without ridges.
  7. His ankles and wrists are rounded and undented.
  8. His feet are of equal length.
  9. He has a beautiful gait, like that of a king-elephant.
  10. He has a stately gait, like that of a king-lion.
  11. He has a beautiful gait, like that of a swan.
  12. He has a majestic gait, like that of a royal ox.
  13. His right foot leads when walking.
  14. His knees have no protruding kneecaps.
  15. He has the demeanor of a great man.
  16. His navel is without blemish.
  17. He has a deep-shaped abdomen.
  18. He has clockwise marks on the abdomen.
  19. His thighs are rounded like banana sheaves.
  20. His two arms are shaped like an elephant's trunk.
  21. The lines on the palms of his hands have a rosy tint.
  22. His skin is thick or thin as it should be.
  23. His skin is unwrinkled.
  24. His body is spotless and without lumps.
  25. His body is unblemished above and below.
  26. His body is absolutely free of impurities.
  27. He has the strength of 1,000 crore elephants or 100,000 crore men.
  28. He has a protruding nose.
  29. His nose is well proportioned.
  30. His upper and lower lips are equal in size and have a rosy tint.
  31. His teeth are unblemished and with no plaque.
  32. His teeth are long like polished conches.
  33. His teeth are smooth and without ridges.
  34. His five sense-organs are unblemished.
  35. His four canine teeth are crystal and rounded.
  36. His face is long and beautiful.
  37. His cheeks are radiant.
  38. The lines on his palms are deep.
  39. The lines on his palms are long.
  40. The lines on his palms are straight.
  41. The lines on his palms have a rosy tint.
  42. His body emanates a halo of light extending around him for two meters.
  43. His cheek cavities are fully rounded and smooth.
  44. His eyelids are well proportioned.
  45. The five nerves of his eyes are unblemished.
  46. The tips of his bodily hair are neither curved nor bent.
  47. He has a rounded tongue.
  48. His tongue is soft and has a rosy-tint.
  49. His ears are long like lotus petals.
  50. His earholes are beautifully rounded.
  51. His sinews and tendons don't stick out.
  52. His sinews and tendons are deeply embedded in the flesh.
  53. His topknot is like a crown.
  54. His forehead is well-proportioned in length and breadth.
  55. His forehead is rounded and beautiful.
  56. His eyebrows are arched like a bow.
  57. The hair of his eyebrows is fine.
  58. The hair of his eyebrows lies flat.
  59. He has large brows.
  60. His brows reach the outward corner of his eyes.
  61. His skin is fine throughout his body.
  62. His whole body has abundant signs of good fortune.
  63. His body is always radiant.
  64. His body is always refreshed like a lotus flower.
  65. His body is exquisitely sensitive to touch.
  66. His body has the scent of sandalwood.
  67. His body hair is consistent in length.
  68. He has fine bodily hair.
  69. His breath is always fine.
  70. His mouth always has a beautiful smile.
  71. His mouth has the scent of a lotus flower.
  72. His hair has the colour of a dark shadow.
  73. His hair is strongly scented.
  74. His hair has the scent of a white lotus.
  75. He has curled hair.
  76. His hair does not turn grey.
  77. He has fine hair.
  78. His hair is untangled.
  79. His hair has long curls.
  80. He has a topknot as if crowned with a royal flower garland.

    Causal relations of the 32 signs of perfection of the Tathagata

The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra expounds the causal relations of the 32 signs of perfection of the Tathagata. These causal relations are cultivated by followers of Mahāyāna Buddhism on their path to buddhahood.
The table below summarizes the causal relations from which each of the 32 signs come about:
Sign of perfectionCausal Relation
Flat solesThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva is immovable in his upholding of the precepts, in his mind of giving, and is like Mount Sumeru in abiding in the true word.
Thousand spokesThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva fittingly offers things to his parents, the honoured ones, elders, and animals.
Long fingers
Long heels
A square and upright body
The Bodhisattva-mahasattva takes joy in non-harming and non-stealing and is pleased regarding his parents, honoured ones and teachers.
Toe-membrane giving, 2) friendliness, 3) good actions, 4) transforming himself and co-existing with them as the beings themselves], and takes in beings.
Soft hands and feetThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva, when his parents, teachers and elders are ill, himself washes and wipes, holds and rubs their limbs.
Joints and ankles fully fleshed
Skin flows in one direction
The Bodhisattva-mahasattva upholds the precepts, listens to the sermons, and knows no end of giving.
Ankles of a deer-kingThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva single-mindedly gives ear to Dharma and expounds the right teaching.
Body rounded and perfect
Fingers reaching the knee
Usnisa
The Bodhisattva-mahasattva acquires no harming mind, is satisfied with his food and drink, and with giving, and attends to illness, and dispenses medicine.
Genital organ lies hiddenThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva, when he sees a person in fear, extends help , and when he sees a person without any footgear, gives him clothing.
Delicately soft skin
Bodily hair turns to the right-hand side
The Bodhisattva-mahasattva readily befriends wise men, segregating himself from the ignorant; he takes pleasure in exchanging views and sweeps the path along which he walks.
Body shines brightly in a golden colour and lightThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva always gives men clothing, food and drink, medicine, incense and flowers, and lights.
Full and right-set in the seven places of the bodyThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva gives, does not grudge at whatever is rare, and easily parts with such; he makes no distinction whatever between a field of weal or a nonfield-of-weal .
Boneless parts of the body are full
Elbows well-balanced and delicate
The Bodhisattva-mahasattva seeks wealth lawfully and gives this away .
40 teeth are white and pure, well-balanced and delicateThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva segregates himself from double-tongue , from ill-speaking and an angry mind.
Two-fanged faceThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva practises Great Loving-Kindness towards beings.
Lion’s cheeksThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva takes this vow: "Any may come and ask, and I shall give as they desire to have."
Taste that is the mid-upperThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva gives whatever kind of food beings desire to have.
Large and long tongue The Bodhisattva-mahasattva exerts himself in the 10 good deeds and thereby teaches others.
Buddha-VoiceThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva does not speak ill of the shortcomings of others and does not slander Wonderful Dharma.
Blue tone of the eyesThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva sees all enmities and gains a pleasant mind.
White hair on the browThe Bodhisattva-mahasattva does not conceal the virtues of others, but praises the good which they have.

Alternate depictions

Some have noted that in at least two discourses in the Pali Canon, the Buddha may be interpreted as being bald as if his head were shaven.