It is the same with us. We appeared in this
world, but we appeared in this world with a limitless background. We do not
appear all of a sudden from nothing. There must be something before we appear
in this world. And there must be something before Buddha also. That he was so
great means that he had a great practice. This point is very important for the
development of the idea of Buddha.
So he was described in various ways as a superhuman being. He had eighteen
characteristics and virtues which are completely different from those of a
usual person, and he also had the thirty-two physical marks. They say this is
just a “big adjective” for the Buddha. That may be so, but there is some reason
why they applied such a “big adjective” to the Buddha, to the extent that these
kinds of things were even described in the Agamas, which belong to Hinayana
Buddhism. This kind of Mahayanistic idea of Buddha is already included in the
Hinayana. So it is difficult to say which is the Mahayana teaching and which is
the Hinayana teaching, actually. If you read them closely, even Hinayana sutra
s have a Mahayanistic description of Buddha. ----------------------------- Excerpt from Shunryu Suzuki lecture - 68-10-20 as found on shunryusuzuki.com. Edited by DC - Going through Suzuki lectures and posting anything that can stand on its own. Not looking for zingers or "the best of." I find that following these excerpts daily provides another way to experience Suzuki's teaching. - DC
