216 stephan peter bumbacher
the upper end of the arm. The frequency with which this topic occurs
in the Indian literature, both non-Buddhist and Buddhist, and its late
occurrence in the Chinese Laozi-complex makes it most likely that this
topos was “transferred” from India to China, rather than suggesting an
independent parallel development in both cultures. Another important
motif is the following: The Buddha vita says:
[Asita] saw the thirty-two signs of beauty (lak aas) [on the baby’s body].^75- the body was golden in colour, 2. the top of the head had a eshy
protuberance (u
a), 3. his hair was blue black, 4. between his eyebrows
was a white tuft of hair that gave off rays of light (r), 5. his eyes were
purple in colour, 6. from top to bottom he was perfect, 7. his mouth had
forty teeth, all even and white. [.. .]^76
Compare this to the Laozi version where it says:
[In.. .] it is stated [.. .] that Laozi was of a yellow and white hue, had
elegant eye-brows, a broad forehead, long ears, large eyes, and widely
spaced teeth, as well as a square mouth and thick [lips?]. On his forehead
there were patterns [symbolizing] the three [powers] and the ve [phases],
the sun and the moon. His nose was high and straight. His ears had three
apertures each. On the soles of his feet were [patterns symbolizing] yin
and yang and the ve [phases], and in the palms of his hands there was
the character “ten” (sc. celestial stems).^77Again, there are differences in detail, especially with regard to the Daoist
symbols appearing on Laozi’s body. But the fact that so many elements
occur in both biographies cannot be just by accident. Therefore, Cam-
pany noted that the Laozi parallels “betray an imitation—probably a
consciously competitive imitation—of the conception and (more espe-
cially) birth scenes of the two earliest-known Chinese versions of the
life of Gautama Buddha.”^78
In contrast to Zürcher (1990) who differentiated analytically between
a cult based at the imperial court and a popular one, it seems more
likely that rst there were the popular cults of Xi Wang Mu and Laozi
which, as we have seen, became in uenced by popular cults of the
Buddha. As soon as these cults had gained in popularity and become
strong enough that even the court could no longer ignore them, the
same “amalgamation” found in the popular cult found its way to the
imperial court.
(^75) Xiuxing benqi jing 464a28, Eichenbaum Karetzky, p. 24.
(^76) Taizi ruiying benqi jing 474a8, Eichenbaum Karetzky, p. 24.
(^77) Campany 2002, pp. 198f.
(^78) Campany 2002, p. 209.