Notes from Day One - Atanatiya Suttam
The Seven most recent Buddhas to have arisen are:
Vipassi - the glorious one with the eye of wisdom.Sikhi - compassionate to all beings.Vessabhu - cleansed of impurities, ardent in meditation.Kakusandha - vanquishewr of Mara's army.Konagamana - of pure life, the perfected one.Kassapa - liberated in every respect.Siddhatta Gotama (son of Sakyas) - who taught this Dhamma, which dispels all suffering.All are endowed with the Ten Strengths and have Perfect Confidence. The Ten Strenghts of Tathagata consist of perfect comprehension of Ten fields of Knowledge. They are:1. First, the Tathāgata cognizes, in accordance with reality, the possible as possible and the impossible as impossible.
That the Tathāgata cognizes, in accordance with reality, the possible as possible and the impossible as impossible is the first power of the Buddha, endowed with which, the Tathāgata, the holy One, the fully and completely enlightened One who claims the noble place, the place of the bull, turns the wheel of Brahmā and utters the true Lion’s Roar in the assembly.
2. Furthermore, the Tathāgata cognizes, in accordance with reality, actions of the past, future and present according to their place, their cause, their object and their retribution.
3. Furthermore, the Tathāgata cognizes, in accordance with reality, the defilement, the purification, the types and the purity of the trances, liberations, concentrations and absorptions.
4. Furthermore, the Tathāgata cognizes, in accordance with reality, the degree of the moral faculties of other beings, other individuals.
5. Furthermore, the Tathāgata cognizes, in accordance with reality, the diverse aspirations of other beings, other individuals.
6. Furthermore, the Tathāgata cognizes, in accordance with reality, the world with its various acquired dispositions, with its many acquired dispositions.
7. Furthermore, the Tathāgata cognizes, in accordance with reality, the route that leads to the various destinies.
8. Furthermore, the Tathāgata remembers many previous abodes, for example; one lifetime, two, three, four, five, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty lifetimes, one hundred lifetimes, one thousand lifetimes, one million lifetimes, one hundred million lifetimes, several hundred lifetimes, several thousand lifetimes, several hundreds of thousands of lifetimes, one period of disappearance, one period of creation, one period of disappearance-creation, several periods of disappearance, several periods of creation, several periods of disappearance-creation, several periods of creation, several periods of disappearance-creation. He thinks: “I had such and such a name, such and such a family, such and such a clan, such and such food among beings at that time; I experienced such and such happiness and such and such pain. I had such and such longevity, such and such a duration, such and such a life-span. When I left that place, I was reborn in that other place. And from that other place I was born here.” Thus the Tathāgata remembers his many previous abodes with their aspects, their origins and their details.
9. Furthermore, the Tathāgata, with his divine eye, purified, surpassing that of men, sees beings dying and being born and recognizes them in reality as beautiful, ugly, lowly or excellent, going towards a good or a bad destiny, according to the results of their actions. He thinks: “These beings laden with bodily misdeeds, laden with misdeeds of speech and mind, slandering the saints, having false views, acting wrongly out of their wrong views, for this cause and this reason, at the dissolution of the body after death are born in a miserable state, in a bad destiny, in the hells. On the other hand, these beings endowed with good bodily actions, endowed with good actions of speech and mind, not slandering the saints, having right views, acting well due to their right views, for this cause and this reason, at the dissolution of the body after death are born in a good destiny, the heavens, among the gods.”
10. Furthermore, the Tathāgata, by the cessation of the impurities, having realized in the present existence by means of his own wisdom the pure liberation of mind and the pure liberation by wisdom, takes his stand and knows: “Birth is exhausted by me, the religious life has been practiced, that which had to be accomplished has been accomplished, I see no further existence for myself.”
The four subjects of Confidence of a Buddha are:That he has recognise the obstacles on the path; That he has rightly taught the way to liberartion; That he has attained the highest knowledge; That he is freed from all defilements.
These leaders are endowed with Eighteen virtues of a Buddha. They are:Seeing all things past; Seeing all things present; Seeing all things future; Propriety of physical actions; Propriety of speeech; Propriety of thought; Firmness of intuition; Firmness of memory; Firmness of Samadhi; Firmness of energy; Firmness of emancipation; Firmness of wisdom; Freedom from fickleness; Freedom from noises; Freedom from confusion; Freedom from hastiness; Freedom from heedlessness; Freedon from inconsiderateness
They bear the Thirty-Two major marks [are the physical characteristics that distinguish a Buddha] Ref Digha Nikaya, III.7 (Lakkhana Sutta). They 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[8]
30 Eyelashes like a royal bull
31 White ūrṇā curl that emits light between eyebrows
32 Fleshy protuberance on the crown of the head
They bear the Eighty minor signs [of a Buddha]. They are not listed in the Tipitika although the term (anubyanjana) accurs. Apparently they were listed at a later date in works by Myanmar writers. They 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.
“In speech and thought, I pay respects to the Tathāgatas,
Reclining, seated, standing, walking, at all times.
May the Buddhas, who show the way to real peace, always keep you happy,
Protected by them, may you be freed of all fears.”
Tathāgatas is a Pali and Sanskrit word; Gotama Buddha uses it when referring to himself in the Pāli Canon. The term is often thought to mean either "one who has thus gone" (tathā-gata) or "one who has thus come" (tathā-āgata). This is interpreted as signifying that the Tathāgata is beyond all coming and going – beyond all transitory phenomena. There are, however, other interpretations and the precise original meaning of the word is not certain.Pic 2 Tathagata, Lord Buddha amidst clouds and hills in Sikkim, India.