Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Buddha's tongue

There are 32 signs of Buddhahood, and #27 is:
pahutajivho: large, long tongue (large enough to cover his whole face and long enough to lick ears -- contributes to melodious sound of the Buddha and accommodates exceptional tastebuds)

Long enough to lick ears? That is pretty long. But how did people discover this quality of Buddha? Did he sit around licking his ears all the time, until his disciples were like, "Stop it! Enough already, mister show-off!"

Or was it the other way around? Did they egg him on to do it? "Come on, show us the tongue thing again, please?"

"Oh, alright. But this is the last time, we really have to get back to meditation."

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