Manly strength may not be what we think it is

[sujato]

@llt

But when referring to the Buddha, I’ve often seen mahāpuruṣa translated as superman or great man.

The “marks of a great man” include a description of the Buddha’s genitals, so there’s that. But the actual description is intriguingly ambiguous.

The politics of the Buddha’s genitals

And the worst thing about this title is, I’m not even kidding. As sutta students are well aware of and somewhat embarrassed about, the suttas depict the Buddha as possessing 32 special marks, regarded as signs of a Great Man. Most of these are visible to a careful observer, but two are hidden: the nature of his penis, and the size of his tongue. When the Buddha realizes that someone wants to check out his equipment, he uses his psychic powers to reveal his genitals to that person. As respectfu…