Listed in The Question of Mañjuśrī as the twenty-second of the thirty-two signs of a great being.

Listed in The Question of Mañjuśrī as the twenty-sixth of the thirty-two signs of a great being.

Listed in The Question of Mañjuśrī as the fourth of the thirty-two signs of a great being. This sign is not mentioned in any of the other lists of thirty-two that we have investigated.

The Sanskrit īśvara literally means “powerful one.” In both Indian and Tibetan literature it is often an epithet applied to Śiva. However, here where the title is given to a “supremely great almighty brahmā, sovereign of a trichiliocosm” (tshangs pa stong gsum gyi stong chen po’i ’jig rten gyi bdag po dbang phyug chen po’i mchog), the term signifies that Brahmā, or rather a brahmā, is the overseer of an entire trichiliocosm.

Listed in The Question of Mañjuśrī as the twelfth of the thirty-two signs of a great being.

According to Buddhist tradition, one who is worthy of worship (pūjām arhati), or one who has conquered the enemies, the mental afflictions (kleśa-ari-hata-vat), and reached liberation from the cycle of rebirth and suffering. It is the fourth and highest of the four fruits attainable by śrāvakas. Also used as an epithet of the Buddha.

Seventy-fourth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Thirty-seventh of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

One of the eight “close sons” of the Buddha, the embodiment of compassion. He first appeared as a bodhisattva beside Amitābha in the Sukhāvatī Sūtra. The name has been variously interpreted. In his name meaning “the lord of avalokita,” avalokita has been interpreted as “seeing,” although as a past passive participle, it is literally “lord of what has been seen.” One of the principal sūtras in the Mahāsamghika tradition, not translated into Tibetan, was the Avalokita Sūtra, in which the word is a synonym for awakening, as it is “that which has been seen” by the buddhas. In the early tantras, he is one of the lords of the three families, as the embodiment of the compassion of the buddhas.

Forty-second of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Twenty-fifth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Twenty-third of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

This refers to the category of beings abiding in the fourth and highest level of the formless realm. These are either the gods that abide there or persons who have reached this state though meditative equipoise. This state is also referred to as the “peak of existence” (bhavāgra; srid rtse) and is located at the apex of saṃsāra. Abiding there, such beings do not experience perceptions and yet cannot be said to be without perceptions.

Aegle mermelos, also known as Indian bael or wood apple. Thirty-first of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata. Some sources seem to list the fruit and tree as separate designs (see n.29).

Most likely refers to the blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), also known as the Indian antelope. Thirty-second of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Forty-fourth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

One of the four modes of birth (caturyoni; skyes gnas bzhi).

One of the four modes of birth (caturyoni; skes gnas bzhi).

One of the four modes of birth (caturyoni; skes gnas bzhi). Tiny bugs and microbes are understood to be born from the confluence of heat and moisture.

One of the four modes of birth (caturyoni; skes gnas bzhi). Those who take miraculous birth are spontaneously born fully mature at the time of their birth. There are many categories of beings that can be born under these circumstances including gods, hungry ghosts, beings born in hell, beings born in the intermediate state (antarābhava; bar ma do), and even humans in special circumstances or in the pure realms.

Thirty-sixth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Sixty-eighth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Seventy-third of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

One of the primary deities of the Brahmanical pantheon, Brahmā occupies an important place as one of two deities (the other being Indra/Śakra) that are said to have first exhorted Śākyamuni to teach the Dharma. The particular heavens found in the form realm over which Brahmā rules are often some of the most sought after realms of higher rebirth in Buddhist literature. Since there are multiple universes and world systems, there are also multiple Brahmās presiding over them; however, The Question of Mañjuśrī describes sequentially higher brahmā gods as ruling over sequentially more numerous world systems. The image of the singular deity, Brahmā, is depicted as the forty-seventh of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Listed in The Question of Mañjuśrī as the seventeenth of the thirty-two signs of a great being.

A bull. Also the second zodiac sign, vṛṣabha, which corresponds to Taurus. Both vṛṣabha and ṛṣabha can be used as respectful epithets implying preeminence, usually in phrases such as “a bull among men” (a frequent epithet of the Buddha), “a bull among sages,” and the like. Here, the bull is the twenty-ninth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Tadorna ferrugine or ruddy shelduck. Nineteenth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

A cakravartin is a king who rules over at least one continent and gains his territory by the rolling of his magic wheel over the land. Therefore he is called a king with the revolving wheel. This is as the result of the merit he has accumulated in previous lifetimes. An illustrative passage about the cakravartin and his wheel can be found in Toh 95, The Play in Full 3.3–3.6 (here translated as “universal monarch”).

Listed in The Question of Mañjuśrī as the sixteenth of the thirty-two signs of a great being. Eṇeya (sometimes Aiṇeya) is the mythical king of ungulates, usualy depicted as an antelope.

Eighteenth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata. This most likely refers to the Indian Roller, Coracias indica, a small bird with bright blue plumage.

Listed in The Question of Mañjuśrī as the ninth of the thirty-two signs of a great being.

In Buddhist cosmology, a universe that itself contains a thousand world systems, each made up of its own Mount Meru, four continents, sun, moon, and god realms.

Forty-sixth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Listed in The Question of Mañjuśrī as the fourteenth of the thirty-two signs of a great being. In the Mahāvyutpatti and other sources this sign is expressed as “genitals concealed in a sheath” (kośa­gata­vasti­guhya; ’doms kyi sba ba sbubs su nub pa).

Seventy-first of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata. This design of the conch is represented separately from the Dharma conch found at the apex of the hierarchy of merit described in The Question of Mañjuśrī.

Seventy-seventh of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Listed in The Question of Mañjuśrī as the sixth of the thirty-two signs of a great being. This matches the list found in the Mahāvyutpatti, no. 240, but in other lists this is represented as two separate signs: “dark blue eyes” and “bovine eyelashes.”

In Buddhist cosmology, this is our own realm, the lowest and most coarse of the three realms of saṃsāra. It is called this because beings here are characterized by their strong longing and attachment to the pleasures of the senses. The desire realm includes hell beings, hungry ghosts, animals, humans, asuras, and the lowest heavens of the gods. Located above the desire realm is the form realm and formless realm.

Dhanada (“Wealth Giver”) is another name of Vaiśravaṇa (rnam thos sras, “Prince of the Distinctly Hearing One”), one of the Four Great Kings (rgyal po chen po bzhi) ruling the four directions of the desire realm. Vaiśravaṇa rules the northern direction and the yakṣas (gnod sbyin) that reside there. In The Question of Mañjuśrī his image is the fifty-third of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

One of the eight auspicious emblems. As a musical instrument, the conch is blown like a trumpet, and throughout India’s history it has been a symbol of power, authority, and auspicious beginnings. In Buddhism, the Dharma conch has been variously described to represent the Buddha’s speech, his thought or intention (dgongs), or the sound of his teachings‍—in essence the Dharma itself. The sound of blowing the Dharma conch awakens beings from their sleep of delusion and ignorance.

One of the Four Great Kings (rgyal po chen po bzhi) ruling the four directions of the desire realm. Dhṛtarāṣṭra rules the eastern direction and the gandharvas (dri za) that reside there. In The Question of Mañjuśrī the image of him is the forty-ninth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

One of the synonyms for meditation, referring specifically to states of mental stability or one-pointed abiding in an undistracted state of mind free from afflicted mental states. The term also refers to the specific states of absorption of the form and formless realms. Abiding in these absorptions can cause one to be reborn into these realms, and the states themselves also seem to have a spatial correlation to the form and formless realms. In this way there are eight progressive dhyānas; the first four rūpāvacara­dhyāna correspond to the form realm and the latter ārūpāvacara­dhyāna corrspond to the formless realms. See also n.19.

Sixth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

In Buddhist cosmology, a dichiliocosm is a galaxy or aggregate of universes that itself contains a thousand chiliocosms, or one million world systems.

Twenty-second of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Seventieth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Cynodon dactylon (syn. Panicum dactylon), a kind of grass that is used in a variety of Buddhist ceremonies. It is also one of the eight auspicious substances (bkra shis rdzas brgyad). Here it is sixty-sixth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Seventy-fifth of the eighty designs on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Eight Indian emblems signifying fortune and auspiciousness. They include the lotus, the śrīvatsa, the pair of golden fish, the parasol, the victory banner, the treasure vase, the conch, and the wheel. They are not discussed particularly in this sūtra, although several of the eight are also included in the list of eighty designs found on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata.

Eighty images found on the palms and soles of the Tathāgata. See Introduction and 1.17.