long broad tongue ［広長舌］ ( kōchō-zetsu): One of a Buddha’s thirty-two features. It symbolizes the truth of a Buddha’s words, or his attitude never to tell falsehoods. The “Supernatural Powers” (twenty-first) chapter of the Lotus Sutra states that Shakyamuni Buddha extended his tongue up to the Brahma Heaven along with the other Buddhas from the ten directions, who were his emanations. It is also referred to as a face-covering tongue or a face-veiling tongue because a Buddha’s tongue is said to be large enough to cover his face.