sōgō 相好

Special bodily characteristics of the Buddha which symbolize his superhuman nature. These include many aspects of Buddha's appearance and posture, as well as qualities such as his voice and physical strength. Buddhist texts list these characteristics. The most important are the *sanjūnisō 三十二相 (32 characteristics), and the more detailed *hachijisshu gō 八十種好 (80 auspicious characteristics). Texts vary considerably in their description of these characteristics, but taken together they have formed the basis for many artists' image of the Buddha *nyorai 如来 and bodhisattvas *bosatsu 菩薩.