Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Chapters 20 Discerning the Buddha by his body

"Subhūti, what do you think? Can the Buddha be discerned by seeing his perfectly-formed body?"
"No, World Honored One. The Tathāgata cannot be discerned by seeing his perfectly-formed body. Why? What the Tathāgata calls a perfectly-formed body is not a perfectly-formed body. Hence it is called a perfectly-formed body."
"Subhūti, what do you think? Can the Tathāgata be discerned by his perfect bodily characteristics?"
"No, World Honored One. The Tathāgata cannot be discerned by his perfect bodily characteristics. Why? Those characteristics that the Tathāgata has called 'perfect' are actually not perfect. Therefore he says that these characteristics are perfect."

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