The Marks a Buddha Wears, and the Deeds Behind Them
Shansheng asks the question the previous chapter left open: when, exactly, is a bodhisattva's bodily power actually perfected? The Buddha's answer becomes this chapter's entire content — a patient, mark-by-mark account of the specific deed behind each of the thirty-two physical marks of a Buddha, from the flatness of the soles of the feet to the crown no one can see. What looks at first like a catalogue of anatomy turns out to be a catalogue of conduct: every mark is a stored record of some particular kindness, honesty, or reverence, practiced without limit across countless lifetimes.
1. Milestone: Shansheng's Question — When Is the Body of Power Perfected?
Picking up directly from where the previous chapter left off, Shansheng asks when the bodily power the Buddha has just described actually comes to completion. The Buddha's answer sets the terms for the entire chapter: this power is perfected precisely through cultivating the karma of the thirty-two marks, a karma that brings four concentrations and a very specific, countable structure of merit along with it.
善生言：「世尊！如佛所說菩薩身力，何時成就？」
Shansheng said, "World-Honored One, you have spoken of the bodhisattva's bodily power — when is it perfected?"
佛言：「善男子！初修三十二相業時。善男子！菩薩修集如是業時，得名菩薩，兼得二定：一、菩提定，二者、有定。復有二定：一者、知宿命定，二者、生正法因定。善男子！菩薩從修三十二相業乃至得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，於其中間，多聞無厭。菩薩摩訶薩修一一相，以百福德而為圍遶，修心五十，具心五十，是則名為百種福德。」
The Buddha said: "Good son, it is from the very time a bodhisattva first cultivates the karma of the thirty-two marks. Good son, when a bodhisattva gathers together such karma, he earns the name 'bodhisattva,' and gains two concentrations besides: first, the concentration of bodhi; second, the concentration of secure existence. He gains two further concentrations: first, the concentration of knowing his own past lives; second, the concentration of being born into the causes of the true Dharma. Good son, from the time a bodhisattva begins cultivating the karma of the thirty-two marks until he attains unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening, throughout that whole interval he hears much and is never satisfied. As the bodhisattva-mahāsattva cultivates each single mark, one hundred kinds of merit surround and attend it — fifty from the cultivating mind, fifty from the mind fully accomplished — and these together are called the hundred kinds of merit."
Taixu reads the chapter's own title as a straightforward promise: to reach the highest bodhi at all, a practitioner must first cultivate the specific karmic causes behind these thirty-two marks — which is exactly why this chapter follows directly on the last. He glosses the four concentrations one by one: the concentration of bodhi means having turned decisively toward unsurpassed awakening in a way that no longer falls back; the concentration of existence means no longer falling into the three evil destinies among the twenty-five states of being; the concentration of knowing past lives is self-explanatory; and the concentration of being born into the causes of the true Dharma means being able to genuinely understand and practice it once encountered, rather than merely hearing it in passing.
He also unpacks the arithmetic behind "a hundred kinds of merit" so it reads as more than a round number: the ten wholesome deeds each carry five wholesome roots, which multiplied out gives fifty for the cultivating mind; the same ten wholesome deeds, once the mind has fully accomplished them, again yield fifty — and the two fifties together make the hundred merits said to surround every single mark.
2. Milestone: A Buddha's Merit, Beyond All Measure
Before saying anything about how the marks are earned, the Buddha first establishes just how disproportionate their merit actually is — building a ladder of comparison that starts with the whole world's collected merit and ends, several steps later, at a single mark so subtle it cannot even be seen.
「善男子！一切世間所有福德，不及如來一毛功德；如來一切毛孔功德，不如一好功德；聚合八十種好功德，不及一相功德；一切相功德，不如白毫相功德；白毫功德，復不得及無見頂相。」
"Good son, all the merit possessed by the entire world does not equal the merit of a single hair of the Tathāgata; the merit of all the Tathāgata's hair-pores together does not equal the merit of a single mark of excellence; the merit of all eighty marks of excellence gathered together does not equal the merit of a single major mark; the merit of all the major marks together does not equal the merit of the white curl between the brows; and the merit of the white curl itself still cannot reach the merit of the crown that no one can see."
Taixu reads this ladder of comparisons quite deliberately: it measures the merit of the entire threefold world against a single hair of the Buddha's, and finds the world's merit still coming up short. He singles out why the white curl and the crown mark stand at the very top of the ladder — the white curl is the point between the brows from which the Buddha is said to have emitted light while teaching the Lotus Sutra, and the crown mark is tied to the light emitted while teaching the Śūraṅgama Sutra, making these two the most exalted of all the marks in the tradition's own account.
3. Milestone: The Fruit of Great Compassion — Who Can Cultivate These Marks
Having established the scale of the merit involved, the text turns to its actual source, and to the strict conditions under which it can be earned at all: these marks are the direct fruit of great compassion sustained across limitless kalpas, produced through body, speech, and mind together, and available only to a specific kind of being in a specific kind of body.
「善男子！菩薩常於無量劫中，為諸眾生作大利益，至心勤作一切善業，是故如來成就具足無量功德；是三十二相，即是大悲之果報也。轉輪聖王雖有是相，相不明了具足成就。是相業體，即身、口、意業。修是業時，非於天中、北欝單曰，唯在三方，男子之身，非女人身也。菩薩摩訶薩修是業已，名為滿三阿僧祇劫，次第獲得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提。」
"Good son, a bodhisattva constantly, throughout limitless kalpas, works great benefit for all beings, striving with a whole heart to perform every good deed — and it is for this reason that the Tathāgata comes to perfect and complete limitless merit. These thirty-two marks are themselves the fruit and reward of great compassion. Although a wheel-turning sage king also possesses these marks, in him they are not bright, clear, and perfectly complete. The very substance of the karma that produces these marks is bodily, verbal, and mental karma. The time when this karma is cultivated is not among the gods, nor in Uttarakuru to the north — it is only in the other three continents, and only in a male body, never in a female body. Once a bodhisattva-mahāsattva has cultivated this karma to completion, having thereby fulfilled three incalculable kalpas, he attains unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening in due order."
Taixu notes that a wheel-turning king comes in one of four ranks — gold, silver, copper, and iron — and that even the highest of these, the gold-wheel king who rules all four continents, still displays the thirty-two marks in a dimmer, less complete form than a Buddha does; the marks are the same in kind but not in degree, because the compassion behind them is not the same in degree either. He identifies the "three continents" as Pūrvavideha in the east, Aparagodānīya in the west, and Jambudvīpa in the south — the only realms where this particular karma can actually be cultivated, since Uttarakuru to the north lacks the conditions for it. He also points out that being born in a male body is itself counted among the thirty-two marks, which is why it is named here as a condition rather than treated as incidental. Completing the full set of marks, on his reading, is simply what it means to have completed the three incalculable kalpas — the two are the same milestone described from two different angles.
4. Milestone: Three Buddhas, Three Kalpas — the Bodhisattva's Own Path
The Buddha now turns from principle to his own biography, naming the three Buddhas under whom he fulfilled each of his three incalculable kalpas in turn, and the still earlier Buddha under whom he first gave rise to the awakening-mind that set this entire path in motion.
「善男子！我於往昔寶頂佛所，滿足第一阿僧祇劫；然燈佛所，滿足第二阿僧祇劫；迦葉佛所，滿足第三阿僧祇劫。善男子！我於往昔釋迦牟尼佛所，始發阿耨多羅三藐三菩提心，發是心已，供養無量恒沙諸佛，種諸善根，修道持戒，精進多聞。善男子！菩薩摩訶薩修是三十二相業已，了了自知定得阿耨多羅三藐三菩提，如觀掌中菴摩勒果。其業雖定，修時次第不必定耶！」
"Good son, in ages past, at the place of Ratnaśikhin Buddha, I fulfilled the first incalculable kalpa; at the place of Dīpaṃkara Buddha, I fulfilled the second incalculable kalpa; at the place of Kāśyapa Buddha, I fulfilled the third incalculable kalpa. Good son, in ages past, at the place of a Śākyamuni Buddha, I first gave rise to the mind of unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening; having given rise to this mind, I made offerings to countless Buddhas as numerous as the sands of the Ganges, planted every root of goodness, cultivated the path, upheld the precepts, and was diligent and learned without limit. Good son, once a bodhisattva-mahāsattva has cultivated this karma of the thirty-two marks to completion, he knows for himself, with total clarity, that he will surely attain unsurpassed, perfect, complete awakening — as clearly as looking at an āmalaka fruit held in the palm of his hand. Although this karma is fixed in its outcome, the order in which it is cultivated need not be fixed at all!"
Taixu identifies Kāśyapa Buddha as the third Buddha of our present Fortunate Aeon, the one immediately preceding Śākyamuni himself — which places the completion of the third incalculable kalpa right at the threshold of this present age. He flags the "Śākyamuni Buddha" named just afterward as a distinct, much earlier Buddha who happened to share the same name — an ancient Śākyamuni under whom the bodhisattva first gave rise to the awakening-mind, not the Śākyamuni of our own era, so the sentence should not be misread as circular. He also glosses the āmalaka fruit as a plainly recognizable object across India — sometimes rendered "the fruit hard to distinguish" — commonly held out in the open palm as a stock image for something seen with total, unmistakable clarity, "as if displayed right there in the hand." He reads the final line — that the outcome is fixed but the order is not — as the hinge for everything that follows: several different accounts of "which mark comes first" can all be true at once, precisely because the sequence bends to circumstance even while the destination never wavers.
5. Milestone: Four Views on Which Mark Comes First
Before laying out a single fixed sequence, the text surveys four different traditional opinions about which mark a bodhisattva attains first — the ox-king's eyes, the eight Brahma-voice qualities, the unseen crown, and the white curl — each tied to a different lifetime's habit of virtue, and each, notably, attributed only to speculation rather than to the Buddha's own definitive word.
「或有人言：如來先得牛王眼相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，樂以善眼和視眾生，是故先得牛王眼相；次得餘相。
「或有說言：如來先得八梵音相，餘次第得。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，恒以軟語，先語實語教化眾生，是故先得八梵音相。
「或有說言：如來先得無見頂相，餘次第得。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，供養師長、諸佛、菩薩，頭頂禮拜破憍慢故，是故先得無見頂相。
「或有說言：如來先得白毫毛相，餘次第得。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世不誑一切諸眾生故，是故先得眉間毫相。善男子！除佛世尊，餘無能說如是相業。」
"Some say: the Tathāgata first attained the mark of the ox-king's eyes. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he delighted in gazing on all beings with kind, gentle eyes — and so he first attained the mark of the ox-king's eyes, attaining the rest only afterward.
"Some say: the Tathāgata first attained the mark of the eight Brahma-voice qualities, attaining the rest afterward, in order. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he constantly taught and transformed beings with gentle words, with words spoken first, and with truthful words — and so he first attained the mark of the eight Brahma-voice qualities.
"Some say: the Tathāgata first attained the mark of the crown that no one can see, attaining the rest afterward, in order. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he made offerings to his teachers, to all Buddhas and bodhisattvas, bowing his head to their feet in order to break through arrogance and conceit — and so he first attained the mark of the crown that no one can see.
"Some say: the Tathāgata first attained the mark of the white curl of hair, attaining the rest afterward, in order. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he never once deceived any being whatsoever — and so he first attained the mark of the curl between his brows. Good son, apart from the Buddha, the World-Honored One himself, no one else is truly able to explain this karma of the marks."
Taixu reads this passage as an open, general survey deliberately placed before the fixed sequence that follows — a way of showing that reputable opinions genuinely differed on which mark came first, precisely because the Buddha's own point is that the order really does bend to the particular conditions and encounters of a given lifetime rather than following one rigid template. He glosses several of the terms in passing: the "ox-king's eyes" as eyes like a blue lotus, with deep blue-black pupils, and "gazing with kindness" as looking on others with peace and compassion rather than judgment; the "eight Brahma-voice qualities" as a single utterance carrying eight distinct vocal merits at once; and "speaking first" as taking the initiative to greet or put another person at ease before they have to speak first themselves.
On the unseen crown, he recalls the traditional account behind the mark: that even the Buddha's own foster-mother could not see the top of his head at his birth, and that the bodhisattva Dharaṇiṃdhara, ascending through countless worlds above to look for it, still could not find its limit — a mark that stands, on his reading, for reality's own true character: one mark that is really no fixed mark at all, a point where ordinary language and ordinary thought both run out. He also distinguishes the "minor affliction" of conceit, which clings to one's own accomplishments, from the deeper "root affliction" of arrogance, which looks down on others — tracing the world's basic inequities back to this same root, and reading the gesture of bowing one's head to the feet of teachers and Buddhas as the direct antidote, the act that breaks through arrogance and opens onto a genuine sense of equality with all beings. On the white curl, he notes that some versions of the text write "light" rather than "hair" at this point, since the mark is described as transparent and luminous, able to extend and coil at will — a fitting image, he suggests, for a mark born specifically from a lifetime of never deceiving anyone, and standing here for the undistorted reality of the middle way.
6. Milestone: The Marks Take Shape, Part One — From the Soles of the Feet
Having surveyed the open question of which mark comes first, the text now lays out an actual fixed sequence, moving upward through the body one mark at a time, from the flat soles of the feet through to the golden color of the skin — each mark paired with the specific virtue, sustained across limitless lifetimes, that produced it.
「善男子！或復有人次第說言：如來先得足下平相，餘次第得。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世布施、持戒，修集道時其心不動，是故先得足下平相。
"Good son, there are also some who explain the order this way: the Tathāgata first attained the mark of flat, level soles of the feet, attaining the rest afterward, in order. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, in practicing giving and upholding the precepts, and in gathering together the path, his mind remained unmoved — and so he first attained the mark of flat, level soles of the feet.
「得是相已，次第獲得足下輪相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，供養父母、師長、善友，如法擁護一切眾生，是故次得手足輪相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained, in order, the mark of wheels on the soles of the feet. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he made offerings to his parents, teachers, and good friends, and lawfully protected all beings — and so he next attained the mark of wheels on his hands and feet."
「得是相已，次第獲得纖長指相。何以故？為菩薩時，至心受持第一、第四優婆塞戒，是故次得纖長指相、足跟長相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained, in order, the mark of long, slender fingers. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, he upheld the first and fourth precepts of a lay upāsaka with a whole heart — and so he next attained the mark of long, slender fingers, and the mark of long heels."
「得是相已，次第獲得身滿相。何以故？為菩薩時，善受師長、父母、善友所教勅故，是故次得身滿相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained, in order, the mark of a full, well-proportioned body. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, he received well the instruction of his teachers, parents, and good friends — and so he next attained the mark of a full, well-proportioned body."
「得是相已，次得手足合網縵相。何以故？為菩薩時，以四攝法攝眾生故，是故次得手足網縵相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained the mark of webbing joining his fingers and toes. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, he gathered beings to him through the four means of attraction — and so he next attained the mark of webbing between his fingers and toes."
「得是相已，次第獲得手足柔軟勝餘身相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，以手摩洗師長、父母身，除去垢穢，香油塗之，是故次得手足軟相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained, in order, the mark of hands and feet softer than the rest of his body. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he washed and massaged the bodies of his teachers and parents with his own hands, removing their dirt and filth and anointing them with fragrant oil — and so he next attained the mark of soft hands and feet."
「得是相已，次得身毛上向靡相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，常化眾生，令修施、戒一切善法，是故次得毛上靡相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained the mark of body-hair that lies flat, curling upward. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he constantly transformed beings, leading them to cultivate giving, precepts, and every good dharma — and so he next attained the mark of hair curling upward."
「得是相已，次第獲得鹿王腨相。何以故？為菩薩時，至心聽法、至心說法，為壞生死諸過咎故，是故次得鹿王腨相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained, in order, the mark of calves like the king of deer. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, he listened to the Dharma with a whole heart and taught the Dharma with a whole heart, in order to destroy the faults and errors of birth and death — and so he next attained the mark of the deer-king's calves."
「得是相已，次第獲得身方圓相，如尼拘陀樹王。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，常施一切眾生病藥，是故次得身方圓相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained, in order, the mark of a body as round and full as the king of nyagrodha trees. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he constantly gave medicine to all sick beings — and so he next attained the mark of a round, full body."
「得是相已，次第獲得手過膝相。何以故？為菩薩時，終不欺誑一切賢聖、父母、師長、善友、知識，是故次得手過膝相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained, in order, the mark of hands reaching past the knees. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, he never once deceived any sage, any parent, teacher, good friend, or acquaintance — and so he next attained the mark of hands reaching past the knees."
「得是相已，次得象王、馬王藏相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，見怖畏者能為救護，心生慚愧，不說他過，善覆人罪，是故次得象馬藏相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained the mark of concealment like the king of elephants or the king of horses. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, whenever he saw someone in fear he was able to rescue and protect them; he felt shame at his own faults, never spoke of others' faults, and skillfully covered over others' wrongdoing — and so he next attained the mark of concealment like the elephant-king or horse-king."
「得是相已，次得軟身，一一孔中一毛生相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，親近智者，樂聞樂論，聞已樂修，樂治道路，除去棘刺，是故次得皮膚柔軟，一一孔中一毛生相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained a soft body, with a single hair growing from each and every pore. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he drew close to the wise, delighted in listening and in discussion, and having heard the Dharma delighted in practicing it; he delighted, too, in repairing roads and clearing away thorns and brambles — and so he next attained skin soft to the touch, with a single hair growing from each and every pore."
「得是相已，次第獲得身金色相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世常施眾生房舍、臥具、飲食、燈明，是故次得金色身相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained, in order, the mark of a body the color of gold. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he constantly gave beings dwellings, bedding, food and drink, and lamps for light — and so he next attained the mark of a golden-colored body."
Taixu reads the flat-soled mark itself as a physical trace of realization: the bodhisattva path is precisely the realization of the empty equality of all phenomena, and a mind that has genuinely stopped shifting under conditions leaves a corresponding stillness, quite literally, underfoot. He notes that the mark of "long, slender fingers" as stated here actually folds together what other accounts count as three separate marks — slender fingers, full webbing, and rounded heels — a discrepancy he flags rather than smooths over, since different versions of the list group the thirty-two marks slightly differently. He identifies the "four means of attraction" behind the webbed-finger mark as giving, kind speech, beneficial conduct, and shared undertaking — the four classical ways a bodhisattva draws beings toward the Dharma without coercion.
He glosses "the king of deer" as the most graceful and well-formed of deer, lending its shape to the calves; the nyagrodha, or banyan, tree as a species whose trunk grows in perfectly straight, symmetrical proportion, which is exactly why an ordinary being's less evenly proportioned body lacks this particular mark; and the elephant-king or horse-king concealment mark as describing complete, unremarkable retraction, elsewhere called simply "the mark of full concealment." Throughout this stretch of the list he keeps returning to a single point: nothing here is arbitrary. Washing a teacher's body produces soft hands; clearing thorns from a road produces soft skin; giving shelter and lamps produces a golden body. The correspondence between a specific virtue and a specific physical trait is, on his reading, the entire teaching method of this section — the body itself made to testify to the deeds that shaped it.
7. Milestone: The Marks Take Shape, Part Two — Completing the Body and Crown
The sequence continues upward through the torso, jaw, teeth, and tongue, culminating in the same three supreme marks already singled out earlier in the chapter — the Brahma voice, the ox-king's eyes, the white curl, and the unseen crown — each now given its own specific cause in turn.
「得是相已，次第獲得七處滿相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，可瞋之處不生瞋心，樂施眾生隨意所須，是故次得七處滿相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained, in order, the mark of fullness in the seven places. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he did not give rise to an angry mind even in circumstances that called for anger, and delighted in giving beings whatever they themselves wished for — and so he next attained the mark of fullness in the seven places."
「得是相已，次第獲得缺骨滿相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，善能分別善不善相，言無錯謬，不說無義，可受之法口常宣說，不可受者不妄宣傳，是故次得缺骨滿相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained, in order, the mark of fullness where the collarbones meet. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he was skilled in distinguishing what is wholesome from what is unwholesome; his words were never mistaken, and he never spoke what was meaningless; he constantly proclaimed with his mouth whatever teaching deserved to be received, and never carelessly spread abroad what did not deserve to be received — and so he next attained the mark of fullness at the collarbones."
「得是相已，次得二相——一者、上身，二者、頰車——皆如師子。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世中，自無兩舌，教他不為，是故次得如是二相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained two marks — first, the upper body; second, the jaw — both like a lion's. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he himself never spoke with a forked tongue, and taught others not to do so either — and so he next attained these two marks."
「得是相已，次得三相：一、四十齒，二、白淨相，三、齊密相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，以十善法教化眾生，眾生受已，心生歡喜，常樂稱揚他人功德，是故次得如是三相。」
"Having attained these marks, he next attained three marks: first, forty teeth; second, teeth pure white; third, teeth even and closely set. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he taught and transformed beings with the ten wholesome dharmas, and beings, having received this teaching, gave rise to joy in their hearts; and he himself constantly delighted in praising the merits of others — and so he next attained these three marks."
「得是相已，次第獲得四牙白相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世修欲界慈，樂思善法，是故次得四牙白相。」
"Having attained these marks, he next attained, in order, the mark of four white eyeteeth. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he cultivated loving-kindness within the desire realm and delighted in reflecting on wholesome dharmas — and so he next attained the mark of four white eyeteeth."
「得是相已，次得味中最上味相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世不待求已然後方施，是故次得味中上味相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained the mark of tasting the very best of all flavors. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he did not wait to be asked before giving — and so he next attained the mark of the finest flavor in whatever he tasted."
「得是相已，次得二相：一者、肉髻，二、廣長舌。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，至心受持十善法教，兼化眾生，是故次得如是二相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained two marks: first, the fleshy crown-protuberance; second, a broad, long tongue. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he upheld the teaching of the ten wholesome dharmas with a whole heart, and also transformed beings with it — and so he next attained these two marks."
「得是相已，次得梵音相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，自不惡口，教他不為，是故次得梵音聲相。」
"Having attained these marks, he next attained the mark of the Brahma voice. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he himself never spoke harsh words, and taught others not to do so either — and so he next attained the mark of the Brahma voice."
「得是相已，次得牛王紺色目相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，等以慈善視怨親故，是故次得牛王目相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained the mark of the ox-king's deep blue eyes. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he looked upon enemy and kin alike with equal kindness and goodness — and so he next attained the mark of the ox-king's eyes."
「得是相已，次得白毫相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世宣說正法，實法不虛，是故次得白毫光相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained the mark of the white curl. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he proclaimed the true Dharma, teaching the real Dharma without falsehood — and so he next attained the mark of the radiant white curl."
「得是相已，次得無見頂相。何以故？為菩薩時，於無量世，頭頂禮拜一切聖賢、師長、父母，尊重讚歎，恭敬供養，是故獲得無見頂相。」
"Having attained this mark, he next attained the mark of the crown that no one can see. Why is this? Because when he was a bodhisattva, throughout limitless lifetimes, he bowed his head to the feet of every sage and worthy, every teacher and parent, honoring and praising them, revering and making offerings to them — and so he attained the mark of the crown that no one can see."
Taixu identifies the "seven places" of the body's fullness as the head, chest, navel, and four limbs, and reads the underlying logic quite plainly: an ordinary person's face visibly turns ugly under anger and pleasant under kindness, so a mind trained never to flare into anger even under provocation leaves its trace as fullness and ease across the body's own major regions. In the same vein, he reads "fullness at the collarbones" against its opposite — an ordinary body, with its many hollows and gaps at the joints — so that a joint fully filled in, without any hollow, mirrors a habit of speech that never left a gap between what was true and what was said. He counts the lion-like upper body and lion-like jaw as two separate marks, both flowing from a single lifetime's habit of never speaking with a forked tongue, and groups the forty teeth, their whiteness, and their even spacing as three marks arising together from teaching the ten wholesome deeds and delighting, in turn, in praising others' merits rather than competing with them.
On the closing sequence, he treats the Brahma voice as already explained earlier in the chapter, and separates the "ox-king's deep blue eyes" into two components bundled into one mark — the shape of the ox-king's eyelashes and the deep blue-black color of the pupils themselves, shape and color each doing their own share of the description. He notes that this particular listing names only thirty-one distinct marks rather than the full thirty-two found in some other treatises, missing, for instance, the halo at the neck and the auspicious mark at the chest recorded elsewhere — a discrepancy he simply records rather than resolves, since different scriptural lists of the thirty-two marks have never lined up perfectly. What he stresses instead is the shape of the whole sequence: it begins at the soles of the feet and rises, mark by mark, all the way to the crown, tracing in the body the very same order in which a householder practitioner's own training should unfold — beginning with giving and precepts and only then ascending. Every mark named here, he adds, is an undefiled fruit, arising from karma with no residue of taint or outflow left in it — which is precisely why a bodhisattva who wishes to save and liberate beings must cultivate this specific karma of the thirty-two marks, and not some more generic accumulation of merit.
8. Milestone: Closing — Householder and Renunciant, and the Harder Path
The chapter ends by returning to the distinction that runs through the whole of the sutra: between the bodhisattva still living at home and the bodhisattva who has left the household life, and by naming, plainly, which of the two faces the harder road in actually carrying out everything just described.
「善男子！菩薩二種：一者、在家，二者、出家。出家菩薩修如是業，是不為難；在家之人，是乃為難。何以故？在家之人多惡因緣所纏遶故。」
"Good son, there are two kinds of bodhisattva: first, the householder; second, the renunciant. For a renunciant bodhisattva to cultivate this karma is not difficult; for a person still living at home, it is difficult indeed. Why is this? Because a person living at home is entangled by many causes and conditions bound up with evil."
Taixu reads this closing line as encouragement rather than discouragement: a householder bodhisattva is genuinely more hemmed in by obstacles and entanglements than one who has left the household behind, and the sutra says so plainly precisely in order to spur greater diligence, not to excuse a lesser effort. Naming the difficulty honestly, on his reading, is itself part of the teaching — a householder who understands exactly why the path is harder for them is better equipped to meet that difficulty than one left to discover it by surprise.