At this time of the year Buddhists are thinking about the Buddha more than they usually would – his attainments, his compassion, his skill in teaching and so on. The more devoted may even be trying to visualize him, imagining what he looked like. For those who do this it might be good to see what the Tipitaka, the Buddhist scriptures, say about the Buddha’s physical appearance.
So what did the Buddha look like to the people who saw and interacted with him? Did he have elongated ear lobes? Was his skin a bright yellow? Was his hair tightly curled nodules? Indeed, did he have hair at all? Except in the sculpture of Gandhara (now northern Pakistan and Afghanistan) from the 2nd to 5th century CE, throughout history the Buddha has usually been depicted in a stylized rather than realistic manner.
Even today, in depictions of his final passing he is always shown looking 25 or 30 at most, although we know he was about 80 when he died. But, tradition aside, the Tipitaka provides a great deal of interesting information about the Buddha’s physical appearance.
We are told that he was four finger-breadth’s taller than his handsome and younger half-brother Nanda, who was often mistaken for him from a distance.
According to the Buddha’s own comment, when young, before his renunciation, he had black hair, probably long, and a beard. Although statues of the Buddha always show him with hair, this is an iconographic convention and not historically accurate. After his renunciation, like all other monks, he “cut off his hair and beard” and there is no reason to doubt that he shaved his scalp and face regularly as did other monks.
All sources agree that the Buddha was particularly good-looking. The Brahman Sonadanda described him as “handsome, of fine appearance, pleasant to see, with a good complexion and a beautiful form and countenance”. Another witness, Dona, said, he was “beautiful, inspiring confidence, calm, composed, with the dignity and presence of a perfectly tamed elephant.” These natural good looks were enhanced by his deep inner calm. Another observer noted: “It is wonderful, truly marvellous how serene is the good Gotama’s presence, how clear and radiant is his complexion. Just as golden jujube fruit in the autumn is clear and radiant, so too is the good Gotama’s complexion.” However, like everyone else, the Buddha’s physical appearance declined with age.
Ananda said this of him in old age: “The Lord’s complexion is no longer pure and radiant, his limbs are flabby and wrinkled, his body stooped, and his faculties have changed.” In the last months of his life, the Buddha said of himself: “I am now old, aged, worn out, one who has traversed life’s path. Being beyond 80, I am approaching the end of my life. Just as an old cart can only be kept going by being patched up, so too my body can only be kept going by being patched up.”
Physically, the Buddha looked much like most other human beings. What made him distinct, perhaps even super-human, was not his body but his mind and the breadth of his understanding, something that cannot be depicted in art visually or in art.